Inaugural professorial lecture of Professor Daniel Kilvington

In this Inaugural Professorial Lecture, Dan will begin by sharing his journey into academia, noting some of the key lessons learnt along the way as well as highlighting and thanking some of the people that have supported him in this journey.

He will then discuss some of the projects he has worked on which also represent some of his proudest moments in academia. These include delivering a TEDx Talk entitled The Virtual Stages of Hate (2020); and working on the externally funded projects Tackling Online Hate in Football (TOHIF) (2021-25); Anti-Racist Football Coaching: Offering a Best Practice Guide for Coaches Working with Players from Diverse Ethnic, Cultural and Religious Backgrounds (2022-24); and the Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP), Increasing Diversity in Refereeing and Match Officiating in English Football with PGMO (2025-).

The common link across all of these projects, and his wider research, is a commitment to critically understand inequities within sport and new media. Using the empirical evidence, his goal has always been to challenge social injustice and help drive positive and transformative change through a myriad of ways.

As an action researcher, Dan has therefore always attempted to use his research to develop outputs which leads to real-world impact. Impact has been secured through, for example, developing policies through evidence, changing attitudes and behaviours through newly developed educational resources, and using data to inform protection and support mechanisms for those affected by abuse.

Along this journey, Dan has learnt many lessons and in this IPL, he will share five essential principles which help turn evidence into impact.

About Professor Dan Kilvington

Daniel Kilvington is a Professor in Media and Culture at Leeds Beckett University. His teaching and research focuses on race/ethnicity, racism, anti-racism and anti-discrimination more broadly in sport and new media contexts.

He is widely published in academic journals, and is author of six books, including Sport, Racism and Social Media (2015), Online Research Methods in Sport Studies (2019), and Sport, Media and Discrimination (2025). He is the co-founder of the annual Sport and Discrimination Conference series, and has presented a number of keynote papers at academic and industry events.

He has secured significant external funding for research with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the British Academy (BA) and Innovate UK, and has undertaken research collaborations with stakeholders including the English Premier League (EPL), Kick It Out, Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE), The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), Sport England, The Rugby Football Union (RFU), to name but a few. Across these externally funded collaborations he has generated significant impact through the development of new EDI related policies and resources.

This lecture is part of Leeds Beckett University's inaugural professional lecture series.