Management School academic selected as champion for Women’s Football Network

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Dr Daniel Parnell, Football Exchange Women’s Network Champion

Dr Daniel Parnell has been appointed as a champion for the Football Exchange Women’s Network at Liverpool John Moores University.

The Football Exchange Women’s Network is a new initiative to support women football researchers. Dr Parnell was nominated based on his track record for supporting women in their research and scholarship and, after a rigorous selection criteria, was selected as a male champion.

Dr Parnell commented “We have grown up facing major issues, which has led me towards campaigns for real and genuine change, supporting the White Ribbon UK, Sisters Uncut and On the Baw, in a bid to play a part in making our communities a better place.

Sport is often a mirror of society, and like in the academy, work needs to be done to attend to gender inequalities from leadership and decision-making through to the publication process. We all need to do more to support others and invest in the broader collective. Accepting this opportunity to work with colleagues at LJMU will be part of my continued commitment to tackling inequalities.”

In addition to his appointment, Dr Parnell has recently been involved in a number of knowledge exchanges.  He was invited to provide a workshop to Dundee United FC’s first team football department on the importance of relationships for effective performance.  The session showcased some of his forthcoming research considering role boundaries, ambiguity, conflict and performance in elite sporting environments.  As well as this he ran a workshop as part of The FA’s Level 5 Technical Directors course which prepares current and future football leaders for the challenges associated with the game.  The session was informed by ongoing research and close engagement with industry.

Dr Parnell was also invited to present at the 2021 Seoul International Conference on Science & Football. The presentation examined the impact of COVID-19 on the Football Industry and was informed by our research, analysis and sport industry engagement since March 2020.