Professor Joseph Maguire

PhD, FAcSS

  • Emeritus Professor
Joseph Maguire

Professor Maguire completed his PhD in Sociology at the University of Leicester. He is a two–term former President of the International Sociology of Sport Association. He was also formerly an executive board member of the International Council for Sports Science and Physical Education, Velux Visiting Professor at the University of Copenhagen, and Professor Extraordinaire at the University of the Western Cape. Currently, he is a Visiting Professor at the AISTS programme hosted by EPFL and UNIL in Lausanne.

Professor Maguire has received a number of major accolades:

  • Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences for his contribution to sociology and the social sciences of sport (2012).
  • The International Sociology of Sport Association ISSA Honorary Member's Award (2011).
  • The North American Society for the Sociology of Sport (NASSS) The Distinguished Service Award (2010).

Professor Maguire has published extensively in the area of sport, culture and society. Areas examined include violence, pain and injury, sport and the body/emotions, sport and the media.

His most cited work focuses on the area of sport and social theory, and sport and globalisation. Here his research on globalisation examines inter-civilisational relations, the Olympics and mega-events, migration, media and national identity, and sport and development.

Currently, his major focus is on Irish – British relations dating from the formation of the Irish Free State to the present day. Professor Maguire uses the context of the Olympics to track the socio-political aspects of the struggle for recognition, jurisdiction and identity that has characterised this history. In addition, he also examines current socio-cultural relations expressed through sport, especially with reference to a possible border referendum and a Future Ireland. 

  • Member of the FWO (Research Foundation of Flanders) Postdoctoral Evaluation Panel 2021-
  • Member of ESRC Peer Review College 2021-
  • Member of FWO (Research Foundation of Flanders) PhD Evaluation panel 2021-
  • Member EU European Commission Research Experts Council 2022-
  • PhD External Examiner: 2021-2022: University of Edinburgh; University of Worcester
  • External Reviewer for Professorial Promotions for universities in Europe / North America and South Africa 2020-
  • External PhD Advisor University of Ulster 2020-
  • President of International Sociology of Sport Association, 2002-04 and 2004-08.
  • Member of editorial board of the Int Rev Sociol Sport; Sportswissenschaft; Eur Phys Ed Rev; Facta Universitatis: PE and Sport.
  • Executive Board Member of International Council for Sport Science and Physical Education 2004-2011.
  • Member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities Scholarship Scheme 2004-2007.
  • Visiting Adjunct Professor, University of Toronto, 2004-2008.

Selected Invited Conference Keynote and Speaker Presentations

  • Presentation to the Houses of the Oireachtas Seanad Public Consultation Committee on  on the subject Sport, Culture and Identity, October 2022
  • Ireland, Sport, Identity, Jurisdiction and Regulation European Association of Sport Management Malmo, Sweden, 2019.
  • Global Sport: Power, Prestige, Emulation and Resistance at the Sport and Globalization: Concepts, Structures and Cases Conference: Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies University of Toronto & Department of Dutch and Germanic Studies Cambridge University, June 2011.
  • European Body Cultures and the Making of the Modern World. ISHPES Congress. From Gymnastics to Sports -- Relations, Interactions, Contradictions in the Past and the Present: A Congress on the Occasion of the Founding of the German Turner Movement in 1811, Frankfurt 2011.
  • Sport and Globalisation 25th special anniversary conference of the Korean Society for the Sociology of Sport. Seoul, Korea, June 2010.
  • Migration and Sport: the state of play.  Conference: Sport as a Global Labour Market. University of Copenhagen, December 2010.
  • Invictus or evictus-us?: Media images of South Africa through the lens of the FIFA world cup.  Conference Beyond 2010: International Reflections. Cape Town, South Africa, September 2011.
  • Sport and Being British. Embodying the Nation: Body, Culture and Collective Emotions Universität Hamburg, Germany, 2009.
  • International and Comparative Perspectives in Sport. National Research Doctoral School for Social Sciences of Sport, University of Goteborg, Sweden, 2009.
  • Imagined, Invented and ‘Real’ Migrant Experiences. Sport and Diaspora Conference Institute of Social Sciences University of Lisbon, Portugal, 2009.
  • Globalisation and the Rise of ‘Soccer’ in Australia.  Sports Journalism and the Media: the State of Play in Research and Curriculum. La Trobe University, Melbourne, Australia, 2009.

Selected Recent Research Projects and Sources of Funding

  • Submission to Ireland’s Future: Sport, Identity, Recognition and Jurisdiction, 2022.
  • Submission to Royal Irish Academy: Project Analysing and Researching Ireland North and South (ARINS) A Shared Ireland? Identity, Sport, Representation and Meaning, 2022.
  • Submission to the Republic of Ireland Government Seanad Public Consultation Committee on the Future of the Island of Ireland:  Sport, Culture and Identity, 2022-
  • Scandinavian women's football goes global: A cross-national study of sports labour migration as challenge and opportunity for Nordic civil society. The project is based on a grant of 600,000 Euro from the NOS-HS Joint Committee for Nordic Research Councils for the Humanities and the Social Sciences – affiliated to project as a visiting professor at the University of Copenhagen.
  • Branding, Identity and the 2004 Olympics: A Case Study of Global Media-Sport Economic and Social Research Council, £45,022.
  • Sport and National Identity: Anglo-Polish Relations British Council, £2000.

Featured publications

Book Publications

  • Maguire, J., Liston, K. & Falcous, M (eds). (Palgrave, 2021).
  • Maguire, J., Liston, K. & Falcous, M (eds).  (Cengage / MacMillan, 2019) Finalist for the Dartmouth Prize, 2020, PROSE Winner 2020* 
  • Hughson, J, Moore, K, Spaaij, R, Maguire, J (2016). , ISBN: 9780415815109. DOI: .

*The Business and Culture of Sports: Society, Politics, Economy, Environment has received an award from the Association of American Publishers. It won a 2020 PROSE Award in its category of multi-volume reference works. The PROSE Awards annually recognize the very best in professional and scholarly publishing by bringing attention to distinguished books, journals, and electronic content.  

Books In Press / Under Preparation

  • Liston, K and Maguire, J (2023) Irish-British Relations: Sport, Identity and Diplomacy (Taylor & Francis).
  • Maguire, J, Liston, K & Falcous, M (eds). Handbook of Migration and Sport (2023) (Edward Elgar). 

Recent Publications

  • Liston, K and Maguire, J (2022) , Irish Studies in International Affairs, 33(2), pp.101-132, ISSN: 0332-1460. DOI: .
  • Liston, K and Maguire, J (2022) , Journal of War and Culture Studies, 15(1), pp.21-41, ISSN: 1752-6272. DOI: .
  • Building Brexit: Football, sporting disasters and the thin veneer of Englishness (2022). Mediapolis 15, pp. 9-26 
  • Liston, K. & Maguire, J. ‘The “Great Game” and Sport: Identity, Contestation and Irish-British Relations in the Olympic Movement’, In Hurcombe, M & Philip Dine, P. (eds). Sport and the Pursuit of War and Peace from the Nineteenth Century to the Present. Routledge: London (in press).
  • Liston, K and Maguire, J (2020) , Sport in Society, 23(10), pp.1587-1605, ISSN: 1743-0437. DOI: .
  • Maguire, J. (2017), , Reflections on Sociology of Sport (Research in the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 10), Emerald Publishing Limited, Bingley, pp. 101-117. DOI: 
  • Liston, K and Maguire, J (2016) , Statecraft and Diplomacy, 27, 2, pp.314-339, ISSN: 0959-2296. DOI: .
  • Maguire, J (2015) Theorizing sport in the global process. In Karen, D & Washington, R. , pp.511-528, ISBN: 9780415718394. DOI: .