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Applications are invited for a fully-funded three year PhD to commence in October 2026.

The PhD will be based in the Faculty of Business and Law, and will be supervised by Dr Christina Philippou, Dr Imad Chbib and Dr Rebecca Nicolaides.  

Candidates applying for this project may be eligible to compete for one of a small number of bursaries available. Successful applicants will receive a bursary to cover tuition fees for three years and a stipend in line with the UKRI rate (£20,780 for 2025/26). Bursary recipients will also receive a contribution of £2,000 towards fieldwork.

Costs for student visa and immigration health surcharge are not covered by this bursary. For further guidance and advice visit our international and EU students ‘Visa FAQs’ page.

This funded PhD is only open to new students who do not hold a previous doctoral level qualification.

The costs to society created by administration given participation and engagement is often complex to measure but is vital to understand when considering both the value of football clubs and policies that distribute financial support. Impact can manifest through changes to health and wellbeing of participants in sport, or changes to education and criminal activity, amongst other factors.

The introduction of a football regulator following the Football Governance Act 2025 will bring further need for robust literature around the consequences of sport failure, as currently most literature rests on financial unsustainability and potential for insolvency, so the evidence surrounding the social impact of football administrations is underdeveloped. Evidence of the social and economic impact of English football clubs remains a gap in current scientific knowledge.

It is envisaged that the candidate will employ a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research methods. 

The initial data collection will be a quantitative one, with collection of relevant financial and economic data for analysis of clubs that have entered administration. There are a variety of methodological approaches used to measure social value, with Social Return on Investment being favoured over contingent valuation or cost benefit appraisal amongst recent research (see, for example, Davies et al., 2019), as well as economic value. 

The second part of the data collection will result from qualitative research methods, including the potential for interviews and/or focus groups across a number of stakeholders whose clubs have experienced insolvency events such as administration.

This thesis will contribute to the literature on social and economic impact of football club administrations by collating data and producing a framework to better understand social and economic impact of club level administrations on local communities in England. The results will be of direct relevance in ongoing policy discussions for professional football clubs, league organisers, and central government.

How to apply

We’d encourage you to contact Dr Christina Philippou (christina.philippou@port.ac.uk) to discuss your interest before you apply, quoting the project code.

When you are ready to apply, you can use our . Make sure you submit a personal statement, proof of your degrees and grades, details of two referees, proof of your English language proficiency and an up-to-date CV. Our ‘How to Apply’ page offers further guidance on the PhD application process.

Please also include a research proposal of 1,000 words outlining the main features of your proposed research design – including how it meets the stated objectives, the challenges this project may present, and how the work will build on or challenge existing research in the above field.

If you want to be considered for this funded PhD opportunity you must quote project code AEF50770126 when applying.