Philippa Velija

I am a Professor of Sociology and Deputy Dean in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Roehampton, with strategic and operational oversight of social sciences, history and politics.

My research focuses on understanding social inequalities in sport and leisure, providing a sociological theorectical analysis of inequality and power relations. Drawing on qualitative data from women and girls involved in sport, I have published articles in several international journals on womens cricket, martial arts, leadership and sport.  I am author of a monograph Women's Cricket and Global Processes, the first academic text to provide a sociological global analysis/explanation of the emergence and development of women's cricket. I have co-authored texts, Gender Equity in UK Sport Leadership and Governance and Figurational Research in Sport, Leisure and Health. This body of research sits within sociology providing an academic understanding of gender and power in sport participation to leadership.

I am currently (2023) involved in two collaborative projects which include understanding female students experiences of sexual harm in Higher Education contexts, and the use of Bystander Interventions to address cultural awareness and ways to address gender regimes in Higher Education cultures. The second project is understanding pre-school commerical enrichment activites and considering how the development of these activities reflects forms in intensive parenting and may contribute to long term gaps in particpations around socio-economic status, gender and opportunity.

Other research related activity includes PhD supervision, and I am one of the co-founders of the critical pedagogies in sport network. I commit to a number of academic citizenship activites and I sit on the advisory editoral board for Leisure Studies.