Meet The Team
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MADELEINE ORR, Ph.D.
SEG Founder & Industry Lead
Past Co-Director
Assistant Professor at University of Toronto
madeleine.orr@utoronto.ca
BRIAN MCCULLOUGH, Ph.D.
Past Co-Director
Program Chair and Associate Professor at University of Michigan
brianpmc@umich.edu
WALKER J ROSS, Ph.D.
Director and Communications Lead
Lecturer at University of Edinburgh
walker.ross@ed.ac.uk
JESSICA MURFREE, PhD
Membership Lead
Assistant Professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
jessica.murfree@unc.edu
Research Lead
Postdoctoral Researcher at Senckenburg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center
ugo.arbieu@senckenberg.de
KYLE S BUNDS, PhD
Teaching Lead
Associate Professor at North Carolina State University
ksbunds@ncsu.edu
TIM KELLISON, Ph.D.
SEG Member
Associate Professor at Florida State University
tkellison@fsu.edu
SYLVIA TRENDAFILOVA, Ph.D.
SEG Member
Professor at University of Tennessee at Knoxville
sylviat@utk.edu
JONATHAN CASPER, Ph.D.
SEG Member
Associate Professor at North Carolina State University
jmcasper@ncsu.edu
SEG Member
Assistant Professor at Jacksonville University
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SEG Member
Senior Lecturer at Cardiff University
collinsa@cardiff.ac.uk
SEG Member
Lecturer and Researcher at La Trobe University
g.dingle@latrobe.edu.au
SEG Member
Associate Professor at University of South Carolina
nmwatana@mailbox.sc.edu
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SEG Member
Assistant Professor at University of Connecticut
cchen@uconn.edu
SEG Affiliate Member
Assistant Professor at
Towson University
sclevenger@towson.edu
SEG Member
Associate Professor at Universidade Portucalense
rcayolla@upt.pt
SEG Member
Deputy Dean at University of Hertfordshire
a.e.cain@herts.ac.uk
![[Picture_Background] Young Do Kim.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/a700be_e5d9bca28bdb412abeabe5c3b814fd58~mv2.jpg/v1/crop/x_0,y_65,w_592,h_595/fill/w_216,h_217,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/%5BPicture_Background%5D%20Young%20Do%20Kim.jpg)
SEG Member
Associate Professor at Elon University
ykim4@elon.edu
SEG Member
Assistant Professor at University of Florida
gjakar@ufl.edu
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SEG Member
Postdoctoral Researcher at KU Leuven
sean.heath@kuleuven.be
SEG Member
Senior Lecturer at Loughborough University
j.a.kenyon@lboro.ac.uk
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SEG Member
Researcher and Lecturer, University of Freiburg
amanda.shuman@sinologie.uni-freiburg.de
SEG Member
Associate Clinical Professor at Drexel University
jfl82@drexel.edu
SEG Member
Senior Lecturer at Nottingham Trent University
seth.kirby@ntu.ac.uk
SEG Member
Associate Professor at Brock University
nburton@brocku.ca
Andy Carmichael, PhD
SEG Member
Postdoctoral Researcher at Central Lancashire University
acarmichael2@uclan.ac.uk
SEG member
Lecturer at Keele University
m.hutchinson@keele.ac.uk
Madeleine Orr is the Founder and Industry Lead of The Sport Ecology Group, formerly Co-Director from 2019-2024, and an Assistant Professor of Sport Ecology at the University of Toronto. Previously she was a lecturer at Loughborough University London where she developed the world's first Masters program in Sport and Sustainability.
Madeleine researches the impacts of climate change on the sport sector, with a focus on vulnerability and resilience at the organizational and community levels. Her work has been published in several journals including the WIRES Climate Change, Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, and the Journal of Sport & Tourism. Her first book, Warming Up, was published by Bloomsbury in 2024 to wide acclaim.
Madeleine is a board member for Eco-Athletes. Her work has been recognized by Forbes (30 Under 30 in Sports, 2021); Corporate Knights (30 Under 30 in Sustainability Leadership, 2020); and the North American Association for Environmental Education (30 Under 30 in Enviro Ed, 2020). She was the University of Minnesota College of Education and Human Development's Rising Alumni Award recipient in 2022, and in 2023 she was shortlisted for the Outstanding Contribution to Environmental Leadership Award in the Times Higher Education Awards. From 2023-2024 she was a Future of Canada Fellow.
Dr. Brian McCullough is the Past Director of the Sport Ecology Group (2019-2024) and the Program Chair and Associate Professor of Sport Management at the University of Michigan. He previously held faculty positions in the Department of Kinesiology and Sport Management at Texas A&M University and the Albers School of Business at Seattle University.
Dr. McCullough has published more than 55 articles in peer-reviewed journals, including Sport Management Review, Journal of Sport Management, European Sport Management Quarterly, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Climatic Change, and Sustainability Science, and has been the lead co-editor of two books on sustainability in the sport sector. He has also received over $500,000 in funding. He has consulted for environmental organizations such as Protect Our Winters, Keep America Beautiful, Green Sports Alliance, and sport entities such as the International Olympic Committee, UEFA, International Biathlon Union, USA Special Olympic Summer Games, and various collegiate athletic departments. He has presented his research over 100 times to practitioner and academic audiences worldwide. He has been featured in numerous media outlets such as Forbes, USA Today, PBS News, Sports Illustrated, and The Athletic.
Dr. Walker J. Ross is the Director and Communications Lead of the SEG, and a Lecturer at University of Edinburgh. He has professional experience in marketing, promotions, and event management through work in NCAA athletics, professional men's and women's football, and sportswear product testing. His research has on contexts including the Olympic Games, men's and women's World Cup events, venues, and sport more broadly. This research has been featured in journals like Event Management and Managing Sport and Leisure, and he has contributed to the UNEP's Sport for Nature Handbook, as well as Protect Our Winters reports on winter sport and cycling. His work and expertise has been featured in the popular press including the Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, DW, and the Financial Times. He maintains active memberships in the European Association for Sport Management, the Leisure Studies Association, the North American Society for Sport Management, and the University of Edinburgh's Academy of Sport.
Dr. Jessica Murfree is the SEG Membership Lead and an Assistant Professor of Sport Administration and Hyde Family Foundation Fellow at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has previously held faculty positions at the University of Cincinnati, Texas A&M University, and the University of Louisville.
Jessica studies the effects of climate change on sport through societal implications of climate risks and environmental disparities. Her expertise has informed organizations like UNEP, Climate Week NYC, and Climate Central. Her work has contributed to sport industry conversation in Forbes (30 Under 30), Sports Illustrated, Scientific American, The Weather Channel, and The Athletic. She earned Yale University’s School of Public Health Certificate in Climate Change and Health.
Dr. Ugo Arbieu is the Research Lead at the SEG and a postdoctoral researcher at the Université Paris-Saclay (Paris, France). Previously he was a researcher at Senckenburg Biodiversity and Climate Research Center and a Research Associate at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute (Washington D.C., USA).
His main interest is in social-ecological research, investigating attitudes towards charismatic species, human-carnivore coexistence, and more generally, the human dimensions of wildlife conservation. Recently, Ugo has been exploring the applicability of conservation marketing in the sports context, to investigate the links between team identification and pro-conservation behavior.
bio coming soon
Timothy Kellison is Associate Professor in the Department of Sport Management at Florida State University. His research is primarily focused on sport in the urban environment, with emphases on sport ecology, urban and regional planning, public policy, and politics. He has published research on sport and environmental sustainability in sport management’s leading academic journals like the Journal of Sport Management, Sport Management Review, and European Sport Management Quarterly; written multiple book chapters; and presented research on sport ecology in North America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and Europe. Additionally, he has edited or coedited several volumes on the subject, including Sport Stadiums and Environmental Justice. Kellison has received multiple recognitions for his work, including being designated a North American Society for Sport Management Research Fellow and being named a Fulbright Specialist in Urban Planning.
Dr. Sylvia Trendafilova is a professor of sport management in the Department of Kinesiology, Recreation and Sport Studies at the University of Tennessee (Knoxville, TN). She earned her Ph.D. in Sport Management at the University of Texas at Austin. She also holds a B.S. in Physics (minor in Mathematics) from Sofia University, a M.S. in Environmental Studies, and another M.S. in Sport Management, both from Baylor University. Dr. Trendafilova’s main area of research focuses on the sustainable management of sport. She is also interested in the theory of collective action and its applications in the realm of sport. Her work is informed by theories from political economy, sociology, and behavioral analysis. She is well known internationally and has been a visiting professor at the Plymouth Marjon University in the UK and at the Université Gustave Eiffel in France. She has worked with doctoral students around the world (UK, Italy, South Africa, Belgium, Germany, Norway and Australia). She is an elected governing board officer for the North American Society for Sport Management (NASSM).
Dr. Casper's research seeks to apply and integrate sport ecology into organizational operations, marketing, and fan engagement. He believes that sport can serve as an informal educational setting (or platform) which may influence sustainable behavior change or alter dispositions related to the natural environment. He has collaborated extensively with collegiate athletic departments/conferences, professional sport teams, and corporate sponsors who wish to implement and evaluate strategic sustainability efforts and has received external funding for sustainability education, evaluation, and engagement. Dr. Casper co-edited “Sport Management and the Natural Environment: Theory and Practice”. He has published in leading peer-reviewed academic journals specific to sport and sustainability and presented his findings at international conferences.
Dr. Pelcher began her career as an entrepreneur, owning and operating multiple businesses in the restaurant, event catering, hospitality, equine, and service industries. Additionally, she served as a business consultant to several local sport clubs and teams. Following a life-changing event, she enrolled in college and discovered her passion for environmental sustainability while completing her business administration degree.
After being awarded the Chancellor’s Scholarship at Western Carolina University, she combined her lifelong love of sports with her business experience to earn B.S.B.A degrees in Sport Management and Finance, with a minor in Economics. During her studies, she obtained her U.S.G.B.C. LEED Green Associate certification as part of Seattle University’s Sport Sustainability Leadership master’s certificate program. Continuing her academic journey, Dr. Pelcher returned to Western Carolina University to pursue an MBA. She later attended the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, where she served as a Graduate Teaching Associate and earned her doctoral degree in Kinesiology and Sport Studies, specializing in Sport Management, in May 2022.
Before joining the Davis College of Business & Technology at Jacksonville University, Dr. Pelcher was an Assistant Professor of Sport Management at the Lewis Bear Jr. College of Business at the University of West Florida. Her primary research focus is on sport ecology education in higher education institutions.
Dr. Andrea Collins a Senior Lecturer at the School of Geography and Planning at Cardiff University. Andrea’s research interests focus on assessing the environmental impacts of major sporting events and festivals. She has published her research in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, Journal of Travel Research and Tourism Management. Andrea has worked with UK Sport and Partners to develop the environmental section of its eventIMPACTS toolkit, and Golf Environmental Organisation to develop its International Sustainability Standard for Golf Tournaments.
Greg Dingle, Ph.D., is a Lecturer in Sport Management, and a Researcher at the Centre for Sport and Social Impact, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia. Greg’s research is focused on the impacts of climate change on sport, and associated risks, vulnerability, resilience, and adaptation responses. Greg has published refereed articles in Managing Sport and Leisure, Science of the Total Environment, the International Journal of Sport Marketing & Sponsorship, and the International Journal of Environmental Sustainability. He has co-edited the Routledge book, Sport and environmental sustainability: Research and strategic management, and contributed to the Routledge handbook of sport and the environment.
Bio coming soon.
Dr. Chen Chen (陈晨) is an Assistant Professor of Sport Management at the University of Connecticut. Previously he completed a postdoctoral fellowship and his PhD at the University of Alberta, where he was a grateful visitor to amiskwaciwâskahikan (in Plains Cree: "Beaver Hill House") on Treaty 6 Territory in what known today as Edmonton, Canada. Drawing important insight from his community organizing work with Climate Justice Edmonton, a grassroots collective, his academic work takes an interdisciplinary lens and addresses the intersection of sport, colonialism, and socio-ecological (in)justice. He is particularly interested in how knowledge and ways of being from various marginalized communities can mobilize sport and movement spaces to be more just and equitable, and facilitate more meaningful community-building towards decolonization (the restitution of Indigenous land). His work has been published in leading outlets in sport management, sport sociology, sport history, and urban studies.
Samuel M. Clevenger is an assistant professor in the sport management program at Towson University. His research centers on two interrelated topics: the significance of sport and physical culture in our present era of anthropogenic environmental degradation; and the ways in which historical analysis can help human society envisage ecological, post-capitalist, and postcolonial forms of sport and physical culture. His research has been published in such international journals as Rethinking History, Sport in Society, Communication & Sport, and The International Journal of the History of Sport. He is currently working on a book project for the publisher Palgrave Macmillan on the meaning of sport, recreation, and leisure in the history of the international garden city movement of the early twentieth century and the role of sport in the planning of "post-growth", sustainable planned communities.
Jordan P. Howell is associate professor of sustainable business in the Rohrer College of Business at Rowan University. Jordan's research and teaching examine the roles for markets and businesses in achieving sustainability goals. In his work, he explores the history of ‘how we got here’ with a particular problem in addition to proposing solutions. Jordan firmly believes that we must not limit ourselves to a single approach to environmental problem-solving. Regulations, educational & behavioral initiatives, and market-based solutions all have an important role in effective governance. We also have to be careful to understand the different attitudes and cultures surrounding the environment and sustainability before we act. Jordan’s work has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the US Environmental Protection Agency, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection, among other sources. Jordan is an avid golfer, tennis player, and yoga enthusiast and sees tremendous potential for sport to play a starring role in addressing environmental and social problems.
In the field of consumer neuroscience, through the execution of original ideas and the integration of investigations carried out in neurosciences, Ricardo Cayolla links the results achieved to different business areas. Consumer Neuroscience, Consumer-Brand Relationship, Sport Marketing and Sport Ecology are the research areas.
Beyond the academic field, former professional tennis player, Ricardo is also a tennis coach, writer, sports manager and with a presence in the media. Ph.D. in Marketing and Strategy, Ricardo Cayolla has also a course of Design Thinking for Business Innovation in ESADE. He is a Sports Specialist, presenting and advocating a thesis about his training system, applied for over twenty years.
Alison Cain is Deputy Dean of the School of Life and Medical Sciences at the University of Hertfordshire. Her research interests centre on the multifaceted and bidirectional relationship between sport and the environment, the potential of sport as a means of promoting pro-environmental behaviours, and environmental sustainability policy in sport. She has developed curriculum materials in these areas for BSc (Hons) degree programmes as well as supervising numerous student research projects on related topics at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.
She regularly reviews book proposals for Routledge and Sage, is a peer reviewer for various journals, and is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE (formerly the Higher Education Academy).
Her Bachelor’s degree is in Leisure Studies and Marketing, and she earned a Master of Science degree in Sociology of Sport with Distinction from the University of Leicester. She is currently nearing completion of a programme of doctoral research focusing on interpretation, implementation and impacts of the IOC’s environmental sustainability agenda, with the Tokyo Games as illustrative example.
Young Do Kim is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sport Management at Elon University. His ongoing research projects focus on examining the benefits and effectiveness of sport organizations’ pro-environmental initiatives. He is actively involved in sport sustainability research projects with undergraduate students. Further, Dr. Kim has dedicated time to integrating sport sustainability principles and practices in his sport marketing and facility management courses. These courses are designated as a sustainability-inclusive course by The Office of Elon Sustainability. He is a U.S. Green Building Council LEED Green Associate and served as a member of the Elon Environmental Advisory Council.
Gidon Jakar is an Assistant Professor in the University of Florida’s Sport Management Department, he completed a PhD from the University of Michigan in June 2020 in the Department of Sport Management, and a PhD in Geography and Urban Studies in May 2020 in the Geography Department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Following his PhD, Gidon was a postdoctoral research assistant at the University of Michigan. The research in both PhD studies included Sport Management related qualitative and quantitative analyses. Gidon's recent studies incorporate the extensive use of ESRIs Geographical Information System (GIS) ArcGIS, including spatial analyses and data mapping. Prior to his PhD studies, Gidon was part of an EU funded international research group examining coastal development and policies and wrote his Master’s thesis on the paradigmatic shifts in planning and development along coastlines.
Sean Heath, PhD, is a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology at KU Leuven.. His research examines the emplaced sensory entanglements and the environmental impacts of outdoor swimming in all manner of “blue spaces.” Hi is an active member of the International Network of Sport Anthropology (INSA) and NGO Football 4 Peace International (F4P).
Dr. Jamie Kenyon is a Senior Lecturer in Sport Management at Loughborough University. His expertise lies in the strategic marketing and management of sport events and organisations, ranging from community-based organisations and small-scale events to international counterparts like NGSOs (e.g., the IOC) and mega-events such as the Olympic Games. Jamie’s research specifically focuses on three key areas: the impacts and legacies of sports events, including image, the climate and environment, volunteer engagement, and sport policy; branding and relationship management in sport, specialising in sport marketing and engaging supporters; and, youth sport and community and volunteer sport organisations (CVSOs). Research in these three key areas has increasingly been located within the sport ecology context. Jamie was also one of the founding members of Loughborough University’s Sports for Climate Action and Nature (SCAN) research cluster, alongside Maddy Orr and other colleagues, where he currently leads teaching activities within the group. You can learn more about SCAN here.
Dr. Amanda Shuman is a Lecturer and Researcher at the University of Freiburg (Germany) and technical manager of the Maoist Legacy Database (https://maoistlegacy.de). She received her PhD from the University of California, Santa Cruz, and is currently finishing a book manuscript on the politics of sports and physical culture in China during the Mao era (1949-1976). She has widely published on related topics, including China’s involvement in transnational and international sports networks during the Cold War. She is also an avid trail runner and has published on leisure running practices and the marathon craze in China. Her more recent research and teaching interests are at the intersection of environmental history and the politics of sport in both China and in Germany, especially as related to the last four decades of the Olympic movement.
Dr. Jeffrey Levine is an Associate Clinical Professor of Sport Business at Drexel University’s LeBow College of business. He leads the Esport Business Undergraduate Program and is a member of the College’s DEI Action Group. Jeffrey’s research explores emerging issues involving sport and leisure in society. His work with the Sport Ecology Group focuses on investigating the legal implications of climate change in sport and leisure. Jeffrey’s scholarship has been published in journals such as the Journal of Legal Aspects of Sport, the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law, and Sport in Society, among others. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the Sport and Recreation Law Association (SLRA) as President Elect and is a SRLA Research Fellow. Jeffrey graduated with a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership and Organizational Development with a specialization in Sport Management from the University of Louisville. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Sport Management and Communications from the University of Michigan and received a Juris Doctor from Tulane University Law School with a certificate in sports law, where he was the managing editor of the Sports Lawyers Journal. Prior to going back for his Ph.D., Jeffrey worked in the legal department of several professional sports organizations before transitioning into private practice.
Seth I. Kirby is a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Leisure Management in the School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, UK. His research activity is linked to exploring critical issues and perspectives in events and sports, and include topics such as event impacts, legacy, regeneration, leveraging, and sustainability.
Prior to entering academia, Seth worked for a range of sustainability organisations including the Environmental Association for Universities and Colleges (EAUC, now The Alliance for Sustainability Leadership in Education) as well as on environmental projects and campaigns, such as National Ethical Investment Week (now Good Money Week). Additionally, he has written and contributed to reports and guides on sports and climate action, sustainable tourism and green festivals.
Nick Burton is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sport Management at Brock University (St. Catharines, Ontario). He received his PhD in Strategy and Applied Management from Coventry University, an MSc in Sport Business from Birkbeck College, University of London, and a Bachelor of Sport Management from Brock University.
Nick’s research focuses on marketing and sponsorship strategy in sport and the geopolitical economics of sport business and management. His work has been published in leading journals including the Journal of Advertising Research, Thunderbird International Business Review, the Journal of Political Marketing, and Sport Marketing Quarterly. Extending this line of research, Nick’s present work seeks to examine the intersection of marketing strategy and environmental sustainability, exploring sustainable marketing practices and purpose branding in and through sport.
Andy is a post-doctoral researcher employed at the University of Central Lancashire on externally funded projects focusing on disaster risk reduction. Recently this has taken him to Sri Lanka, Thailand, and the Philippines to collaborate with colleagues on building resilience to climate change threats. His interest in sport ecology goes back many years, to when he worked as a greenkeeper and groundsperson, later going on to lecture in sports turf management. In 2011 he was funded by the ECB to research Environmental Sustainability in Cricket while at Cranfield University. His PhD employed participatory action research to develop environmental practices within a community sports club. Andy’s most recently published work includes investigating the built environment needs of displaced persons and a skills competency audit of built environment professional documentation. He continues to write on sports turf management as a regular contributor to the publications of the Grounds Management Association.
Dr. Michael R. Barnes is a Researcher and Lecturer in the Department of Horticultural Science at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. He specializes in utilizing interdisciplinary approaches to understand complex socio-ecological-technological systems and works at the intersection of social science, horticulture, sustainability, and health. For the past decade his work has sought to understand people’s relationship with the main surface on which many sports take place: turfgrass. Recently Dr. Barnes’ work has expanded to include human-nature interactions with artificial turf surfaces and aspects of seasonality, specifically winter.
Dr. Matthew Hutchinson is a lecturer in Sports Business Management at Keele University. He earned his PhD in Sports Consumer Behaviour from Manchester Metropolitan University, an MSc. in International Business Management and BSc in Sports Studies from Teesside University. Dr. Hutchinson’s main research interests are focused on fans. This comes from how they perceive environmental sustainability issues; the actions sport is taking to become more environmentally sustainable and . Matt has also worked on the development of several new modules focusing on sustainability in sports and esports and embedding environmental sustainability within the curriculum.
Harry Rice, PhD
SEG member
Researcher at
University of Surrey
h.rice@surrey.ac.uk
Harald (Harry) Rice completed his PhD in Climate Change Risk and the Swedish Ski Industry at Surrey University and previously studied Geography at Kings College London and Durham University.
Harry’s research has spanned both the physical impacts of climate change on skiing through climate modelling whilst also investigating ski resort adaptations, stakeholder perceptions and tourist behaviours relating to climate change. This work has been published in sector-leading journals and been presented at international conferences and featured in several Swedish and UK media outlets including the BBC, LBC and Svenska Dagbladet. Outside skiing, he is a passionate grassroots cricketer and cricket coach and looks forward to exploring sustainability in cricket in the future