Public lecture - Dope and Glory: The disruption and legitimation of the Enhanced Games

Dr Alex Thurston is a Lecturer in Sport Management in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University, England. He has a Ph.D. in Sport Policy and Management from Loughborough University. His research interests focus on sport-related organisational responses to changes in the operating environment, examined through policy, governance and management theory. Alex has a growing list of publications in peer-reviewed journals, textbooks, and is co-editor (and author of several chapters) of a seminal sport management textbook; Understanding Sport Organizations: Applications for Sport Managers (3rd Edition). 

Dr Mathew Dowling joined the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences in 2024. He is a senior lecturer in sport management. His research interests focus on sport policy and governance, organisational theory, professionalisation, comparative methodology, and government involvement in sport. Mathew is an internationally recognised expert in sport policy and governance and his research focuses on sport governance and organisational and systemic change within not-for-profit sport organisations. He has an established track record of publishing in leading journals within the field and has co-authored books within sport management, sport governance, and comparative methods in sport.