Historical, Sociological and Sports Management aspects of Disability and Paralympic Sport; Legacy and mega events, especially the Paralympic Games; The use of disability sport in the rehabilitation of military and non-military victims of violent conflict; Sport as a Tool for Promoting Peace.

Ian Brittain is an Associate Professor in the Centre for Business in Society at Coventry Business School. He is an internationally recognised expert in the study of disability and Paralympic sport and has attended five summer Paralympic Games from Sydney to Rio. He is an experienced researcher and is widely published in a variety of books/book chapters and journals. Dr Brittain is an active reviewer for a number of journals, book publishers and funding bodies including the Economic and Social Research Council and the International Olympic Committee. He has presented at a variety of national and international conferences and has been successful in a number of large grant applications. These include an Economic and Social Research Council UK-Japan Connections grant worth £44,100, a Marie Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange Scheme bid worth €852.600 on human rights, diversity and inclusion in the sporting mega even bidding and hosting process, a Marie Curie International Research Staff Exchange Scheme bid worth €772.800 on managing the impact of mega-events, and two Marie Curie International Incoming Fellowships for Dr Leonardo Mataruna from Brazil and Prof. Jill LeClair from Canada for which Dr Brittain acts as Scientist in Charge.

Area of Expertise:

Sociological, Historical and Sports Management aspects of disability and Paralympic sport

My main interest is in the transformative potential of sport on the lives of people with disabilities. I am particularly interested in the impact of the Paralympic Games upon the lives of people with disabilities living in the host city/country. To this end I hope to start two long term projects investigating the social impact of the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games upon the lives of people with disabilities in Brazil and Japan. This is an issue that has not really been investigated in any real depth thus far. I am also interested in whether the cultural context has any bearing upon these potential impacts. My other main interest is in the history of particularly the early Paralympic Games and Stoke Mandeville Games, which I take every opportunity to improve. As a result of this I have one of the largest personal archives of Paralympic historical material in the world.