Simon Gerard

I joined Coventry University in September 2017 as a Lecturer in Sport Management in the School of Management and Marketing. My primary teaching areas are Management of Sport Organisations, Management and Leadership in Sport and Events, Contemporary Issues in Sport Management and Disability Sports. Before working at Coventry University I did my PhD at the Université catholique de Louvain (Belgium) and a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Ottawa (Canada). I am also a Research Associate in the Olympic Chair Henri de Baillet Latour & Jacques Rogge in Management of Sport Organisations (Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium) and in the Center for Research in Entrepreneurial Change and Innovative Strategies (Louvain School of Management, Belgium).

My research primary focuses on organization theory and more specifically on institutional change in the Paralympic Movement. I am interested in understanding how and why the Paralympic Movement has evolved since its creation during the 1940s and what is its transformative potential for para-athletes and people with an impairment. I have published articles on institutional change and institutional entrepreneurship in various journals and authored chapters in several academic books such as the Routledge Handbook of Football Business and Management, the Management global du sport or Research Handbook on Sports Governance. I have presented multiple papers in prestigious international conferences, such as the European Academy of Management (EURAM), European Group for Organisation in Studies (EGOS) and the European Association for Sport Management (EASM). At Coventry University, I am part of a multi-disciplinary research project related to the Inaugural IWAS Women’s World Games taking place at the University of Worcester (UK) in August 2018.

Research Interests: Sport Governance, Institutional change, Historical and Management aspect of Disability and Paralympic Sports