Dr Emily Hayday

Emily's research interests relate to sports participation and community level, grass root sport. Previous research has investigated the policy implementation processes undertaken within National Governing Bodies, exploring the perceptions and attitudes of senior managers towards SMEs.

Some of Emily's additional research into the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games has investigated the legacy and capitalisation opportunities for non-traditional English sports, such as Judo and Fencing. Emily is also interested in sport for development, and her previous role at the West Ham United Foundation allowed practical involvement with community and educational programmes, which aimed to increase social mobility and provide opportunities for young people within East London communities.

Emily holds a BSc in Sport Science and Coaching from the University of Southampton, as well as a PhD from the University of Kent, in Sport Management. Her PhD focused on  sports mega-events and legacies by investigating policy implementation within National Governing Bodies. She examined the processes involved in leveraging a mass-participation legacy within voluntary sports clubs, within the context of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Professionally, Emily used to work at a Premier league Football club, as the head of education for West Ham United Foundation. This role was primarily focused on creating and delivering Higher Education programmes with the University of East London, with a focus on widening participation and offering opportunities for local residents in East London to continue their educational journey.

Emily has lecturing and teaching experience within the fields of sports marketing, research methods, new media and analytics for sport business and sport sponsorship. Emily has also supervised undergraduate and master’s dissertation research projects and is strongly involved in the pastoral care and management of degree programmes as a programme director and personal tutor.  

Leadership Roles (School and Institute level)

• Programme Director- MSc in Sport Business and Innovation (2021 – Present)
• Vice Chair- Institute for Sport Business Advisory Board (2018 – Present)
• Lead- Institute for Sport Business Careers Symposium annual event (2018 – Present)
• Co-Led- Loughborough London’s Family Fun Day (2021-Present)

Current research examines the potential for esport to be used as a vehicle for social change, by exploring the formation of digital communities, interactions, and the key actors evident within online spaces. Emily’s interest specifically focuses on the possibility of esport to support gender inclusivity and broader social inclusion agendas, as esports popularity and structures may offer new opportunities, especially to support sport for development agendas.

Emily is also heavily involved in research that explores online abuse in social media contexts. This has resulted in her being the principal investigator on an International Olympic Committee (IOC) grant, which examined social media abuse and safeguarding elite athletes. A further research pillar relates to Mega Sports Events and examining the associated legacy and leveraging processes.

Emily has successfully supported four PhD students through to completion and she is currently supervising multiple PhD students, with research areas including:

• Social media communities (Instagram and Tik Tok)
• Female leadership (differing contexts)
• Global esport clusters
• Data trust in esport 
• Sport ecosystems 
• Social Development of elite youth athletes 

Recent publications (journals, books and book chapters)

• Burch, L., Hayday, E, J., Geurin, A., Smith, A., & Hushon, B. (In Press) Discriminatory Virtual Maltreatment and Online Abuse in Digital Sporting Spaces: An Examination of the Experiences of six Olympic Athletes. The International Journal of Sport and Society.

Hayday, E, J., Collison-Randall, H., & Loat, R. (2023) Conceptualising the Social Inclusion Potential of Esport to Support Future Sport for Development Agendas: A Capabilities Perspective. Journal of Electronic Gaming and Esports.1(1) 

• Burch, L., Fielding-Lloyd, B., & Hayday, E, J. (2023) Get back to the kitchen, cos u talk s*** on tv”: Gendered Online Abuse and Trigger Events in Sport. European Sport Management Quarterly. 1-22 
• Hayday, E, J., Collison- Randall, H., & Kelly, S. (2022). Esports Insights. Routledge.
• Hayday, E, J., & Collison, H., (2022). Esport: Digital Mediation in a Restricted World. In Frawley, S., & Schulenkorf, N. (Eds), Routledge Handbook for Sport and COVID-19. Routledge.
• Hayday, E, J., & Collison, H., (2022). Understanding the potential for esports to support social inclusion agendas. In Tjønndal, A. (Ed), Social Issues in Esports,
• Collison, H., Hayday, E, J., & Loat, R. (2022). Innovation and Spheres of Change: Esport in the SDP sector. In McSweeney, M., Svensson., P. G., Hayhurst, L. M., Safai, P. (Eds) Social innovation, entrepreneurship, and sport for development and peace.

External grants

Hayday, E.J., Geurin, A., Burch, L., & Smith, A. (June 2022). “Safeguarding online sporting spaces: Examining virtual maltreatment, abuse and toxic social media practices experience by Olympic and Paralympic athletes”. International Olympic Committee’s Advanced Olympic Research Grant Programme, Grant amount: $18,741 USD.

Read, D. & Hayday, E, J. (January 2022) Optimal Brand Distinctiveness in Women's Football: A Case Study of the FA Women's Super League. FIFA Research Scholarship 2022. Grant amount: $10,000 USD.

Emily has been heavily involved in the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) strategies and community within Loughborough London campus. As the female representative on the LUL EDI Committee, she has been instrumental in identifying that there was a social need to enhance the inclusivity of our campus. Through a community centred approach, she led on the development of a ‘caring community’ vision and set of principles conceived through a series of workshops, discussions, and consultation with members of the school. Alongside a colleague Dr Ksenija Kuzmina this initiative has now been adopted by LUL is leading to transformational change within both the school and the wider university through the creation of actions and future policy change (HR structures, parental leave policies, visibility of parents and careers) to ensure we are striving for an equitable campus. 

She was awarded the Distinguished Vice Chancellor Award (EDI-Campus Development) in 2022 for this work and the initiative is being discussed at the university level through her involvement with the MAIA and Parents and Careers staff networks. She and Ksenija also conceived and deliver the LUL’s annual Family Fun Day which had its inaugural event in 2021.