Dr Alberto Testa

Alberto Testa has an academic background in Law and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Brunel University. He is a social behaviorist and a mainstream Clinical and Applied sociologist; He has achieved Certified Sociological Practitioner status (C.S.P.) which is granted by the Association of Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS) and recognized by the USA Commission on the Accreditation of Programs in Applied and Clinical Sociology (CAPACS) and the American Sociological Association. Applied sociology can be defined as the "practical side" of sociology Alberto’ research interests lie in the application of sociological theory, methods and research for the solution of social problems and the promotion of social change.. His particular focus is on problem solving at MICRO and MESO level.

Alberto also holds a Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education (PGCLTHE). He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA) and a Fellow of the UK Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (FCIEA).

Alberto is currently engaged in two international collaborative projects: one is an evaluation focusing on European Counter-Hooliganism Models and Policing and the other one is researching Muslim Youth, Sport and Social Inclusion.

He is available for research and Media consultancy on European Neo-Fascist and Neo-Nazism Activism; Sport Crowd Disorders/Soccer Violence and Counter-Hooliganism Law and Policing. And on all his other research interests (Cf. the Research Interests page).

Visiting Titles & External Academic Appointments

Visiting Senior Research Fellow (Sociology and Qualitative Research Methods) at the SportComLab, Laboratorio di Comunicazione sportiva dell "Alma Mater Studiorum", University of Bologna, Italy.

External Examiner to the Allied Health & Medicine Department; Faculty of Health, Social Care & Education; Anglia Ruskin University.

Professional organisations membership:

• Member of the Moral Panic Studies Research Network (School of Social Sciences –Brunel University)
• Member of the Association of Applied and Clinical Sociology
• Member of the American Society of Criminology
• Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)
• Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (FCIEA)

Pedagogical and editorial posts:

• Editorial Board Member for ‘Sport in Society’ (Routledge)
• Editorial Board Member for ‘Sport Social Studies’ published by the University of Lille 2, France
• Peer reviewer for the following academic journals: Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture; Modern Italy; Urban Studies; Sport in Society and Sociology Mind.
• Peer reviewer of monographs published by Pearson Education
• Member of the European Applied Social Sciences Research Network led by Prof. Dr. Nicola Porro (Professor of Sociology and President of the European Association for Sociology of Sport)

 Media contribution

Alberto is a regular contributor to newspapers, magazines, radio programmes, and online social media; its research on Italian Neo-fascism has been covered internationally by media such as the BBC; CNN; CBC.

Recent Radio Interviews

CBC Radio (Canada); ‘The Current’ (hosted by Anna Maria Tremonti) as an applied sociologist. Topic: Italian Neofascism and Football & Politics (April, 2013)

BBC Radio 5 Live Breakfast as an applied sociologist and Fascism expert. Italian Expert on Fascism: 'I believe Paolo di Canio is not a Racist'. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0174ckb  (April, 2013)

Recent Newspapers/Internet contributions

CNN International Edition, 3^rd April 2013: ‘'Fascist' Di Canio polarizes opinion. (Journalist Ravi Ubha).

http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/03/sport/football/di-canio-sunderland-football/index.html?hpt=isp_t3

CNN International Edition, 21^st February 2013: ‘For Italy's 'ultras,' nothing black and white about football and racism’ (Journalist John Sinnott)

Hobbies

In his spare time Alberto is a 4th dan in Full Contact Karate and Self Defense Instructor (British Combat Association) and a Fitness and Weight training enthusiast.

Martial Arts website: http://authentic-okinawan-karate-uk.com/alberto-testa.html

Alberto’s roles are:

• Sport Sciences Placement Co-ordinator
• Programme Leader: Sport Sciences Placement Degree Courses.
• Member of the University Placement and Career Center Forum
• University Internal validation panel member

Alberto also delivers on the following undergraduate modules:

• SP1041: Sociology and Management of Sport
• SP2040: Sporting Environments
• SP2045: Management of Sports Development
• SP2055: Work Placement

Research Interests

• Sport Sociology and Sport Development (in particular policy and socio-legal issues in sport)
• Islam and Islamophobia
• Socio-Psychological aspects of Deviance
• Policing
• Fascism, Neo-Fascism and Populist Movements
• Italian society/ politics

His recent book publication is:

Testa, A. and Armstrong, G. (November 2010). Football, Fascism and Fandom: The UltraS of Italian Football, A&C (Bloomsbury), London, Black Publishers.

Research Centre

Publications

Journal Papers

(2013) Testa, A., Normalization of the Exception: Issues and Controversies of the Italian Counter-hooliganism Legislation, Sport in Society 16 (2) : 151- 166

(2012) Testa, A. and Armstrong, G., The Articulations of the True Believers: Football and Neo-Fascism in the Eternal City., Journal of Mediterranean Studies 21 (1) : 25- 52

(2012) Testa, A. and Armstrong, G., “We Are Against Islam!” The Lega Nord and the Islamic Folk Devil, Sage Open 2 (4)

(2011) Testa, A., Experiences of Online Learning: An evaluation of first-year Sport Sciences University students’ attitudes towards the use of U-Link, International Education Studies 4 (4) : 13- 21

(2010) Testa, A., Contested meanings: The Italian media and the UltraS, Review of European Studies 2 (1) : 15- 24

(2010) Testa, A. and Armstrong, G., Purity and Danger: Policing the Italian Neo-Fascist Football UltraS, Criminal Justice Studies: A Critical Journal of Crime, Law and Society 23 (3) : 219- 237

(2009) Testa, A., The UltraS: an emerging social movement, Review of European Studies 1 (2) : 54- 63

(2008) Testa, A. and Armstrong, G., Words and actions: Italian ultras and neo-fascism, Social Identities 14 (4) : 473- 490

(Accepted) Testa, A., La Partecipazione Sportiva Secondo L’ Islam. Analisi e riflessioni., Lancillotto e Nausica.

Conference Papers

(2012) Testa, A., 'Practicing' Sociology and the Italian Muslim Youth: Context and strategies., “Applied and Clinical Sociology: Doing It Our Way!”

(2011) Testa, A., The normalization of the exception: Issues and controversies of the Italian counter hooliganism model, 13th Annual Conference on Global Sociology for a Global World

(2010) Testa, A., Using Moral panic to shape the Padania Identity: the Italian Lega Nord and the Islam Invasion, Moral Panics in the Contemporary World.International Sociological Conference

(2010) Testa, A., ‘Getting off on the wrong foot can doom a relationship before it begins’: An evaluation of first year sport sciences university students’ attitudes towards the use of the online virtual learning system, 9th Annual Hawaii International Conference on Social Sciences

(2009) Testa, A., The importance of ethnography in making sense of sport, 16th Erasmus-Socrates Sociology Intensive Course

(2007) Testa, A., Revolution from the right? Neo-Fascism in the 21st century Italian football stadia and society, Local Sport in Europe. Proceedings of the 4th EASS Conference of the European Association for the Sociology of Sport., In D. Jutting, B. Schulze and U. Muller (Eds) 142- 144

(2006) Testa, A., The Italian ultras and nationalism. Sport, Nation and Nationalism, Proceedings of 3S International Conference on Social Science in Sport and 8th ISHPES Seminar. (International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport and the International Sociology of Sport Association)

Book Chapters

(2012) Testa, A., Bare Sovereignty, the football banning order and the Italian football Fan.. In: Mastrogiannakis, D. and Dorville, C. eds. Risk Management and Sport Events.. Paris- France : Le Manuscrit 87- 107

(2012) Testa, A. and Armstrong, G., The UltraS: the extreme right in comtemporary Italian football. In: Mammone, A., Godin, E. and Jenkins, B. eds. Varieties of Right-Wing Extremism in Contemporary Europe.. Oxford : Routledge Chapter 17-

(2011) Testa, A., Bosman Ruling. In: Sports Around The World: History, Culture and Practice. Santa Barbara, CA : ABC-CLIO

Books

(2010) Testa, A. and Armstrong, G., Football, fascism and fandom: The UltraS of Italian football. A and C Black Publishers Ltd