Staff Profile
Mr Alex
Alex is a researcher and educator whose work explores the social and cultural dynamics that shape contemporary sport and media. His research focuses on gendered inequalities in sports journalism and the emerging media spaces created by the rapid growth of women’s sport. His work has been published in leading outlets such as the International Journal of Sport Communication, and he has presented at major international conferences including Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise (QRSE) and the International Association for Communication and Sport.
With over a decade of professional experience across journalism, marketing, communications and PR, Alex has worked within the Netball Superleague, SuperLeague basketball, and professional football. His journalism has appeared in national and regional publications, including work published in The Guardian, giving him first‑hand insight into the realities of the sport media industry.
Alex is an experienced and versatile lecturer, having taught at University College Birmingham, Nottingham Trent University, Birmingham Newman University, and the University of Worcester. This breadth of experience means he brings a wide range of perspectives, real‑world examples and current industry practice directly into his teaching across multimedia sports journalism. He is currently completing a PhD examining gender inequality in sports journalism, further strengthening his expertise in critical sport studies.
Across his research, teaching and professional practice, Alex is committed to helping students understand how sport and the media shape society — and to developing the creative, analytical and professional skills they need to thrive in today’s sport and communications industries.
Alex is part of several professional research communities that shape current thinking in sport, media and society.
Alex teaches on the Multimedia Journalism and Multimedia Sports Journalism pathways on the following modules:
- The International Sports Industry
- Specialist Sport
- Journalism Now
- Digital Skills for Journalists
- Digital Skills for Sports Journalists
- Sports Newsgathering
JOURNAL ARTICLE PUBLICATIONS
Harris, A. and Bowes, A. (2025) ‘Still the outsiders? Women in sport journalism’, International Journal of Sport Communication, pp. 1–11. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2025-0031.
JOURNAL ARTICLE PUBLICATIONS
Harris, A. and Bowes, A. (2025) ‘Still the outsiders? Women in sport journalism’, International Journal of Sport Communication, pp. 1–11. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2025-0031.
ACADEMIC CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Nicholson, R., Thompson‑Radford, H., Belas Trindade, J., Harris, A (2026, April) ‘Women’s sports reporting and autoethnography: Challenging the status quo of journalism and journalism research’. 2026 Summit on Communication & Sport, Dublin City University.
Harris, A (2024, January) ’I don’t know if I’d like to work in the men’s game. I’d actually like to help continue to grow the women’s game’: An investigation of female sports journalists’ experiences of working in the UK.’ Sports Media Identity Network Conference, Northumbria University, London.
Harris, A (2024, April) ‘“If I say something sport wise, I’m questioned on it”: The language use of UK women sports journalists’. The 15th Meeting of the British Association of Applied Linguistics’ Special Interest Group for Language, Gender and Sexuality: Language, Gender and Sexuality in Sport: De Montfort University, Online.
Harris, A (2024, August) ‘Exploring the media production of women’s sports using event ethnography’. Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise 2024 International Conference, University of Bath.
PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS
- International Association for Communication and Sport (IACS)
- British Association for Applied Linguistics (BAAL) – Special Interest Group for Language, Gender and Sexuality (LGaS)
- British Sociological Association (BSA)
- International Sociology of Sport Association (ISSA)