Dr Brent Mcdonald

Brent McDonald is a senior lecturer and research fellow in the Institute for Health and Sport and a member of the Sport, Diversity and Social Change Research Group. His research focuses on two clearly identified areas; the sociology of sport and Japanese studies. The interest in Japanese studies emanates from his experiences of playing rugby in Japan in the mid-1990s and his PhD examined the role of sports clubs in Japanese universities as a site for socialisation and embodied learning. He held a visiting professor position at Doshisha University in 2013 and has been an invited speaker to several Japanese universities including Waseda, Meiji and the University of Tsukuba.

Brent’s research in the sociology of sport has concentrated on race, migration and identity, specifically contextualised within post-colonial Australian society. Driven by a social justice agenda, his work seeks to deconstruct dominant and common-sense notions of diversity, inclusion and race, and in doing so understand persistent inequities and exclusionary practices that occur in sport, exercise, and physical education spaces. His research directly informs his teaching practice in the College of Sport, Health and Engineering.

Brent is the Vice President of the International Sociology of Sport Association, and co-founder and co-convener of the Sport Thematic Group for the Australian Sociological Association.