Mr Charlie Fennelly
PhD Student

Summary

Charlie is a PhD researcher funded by the ESRC Grand Union Doctoral Training Partnership in the Department of Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences at Brunel University London. His research explores how community football clubs can advance sustainable development and wellbeing, with the aim of identifying and understanding the sustainability-wellbeing nexus of community football and supporting people in optimising the benefits of engaging with local football activities. Supervised by Professor Vassil Girginov and Professor David Gallear, Charlie’s interdisciplinary project integrates insights from health and life sciences, sport management, sustainability studies, and organisational theory, using participatory research methods with amateur football clubs across London and the South East of England.

Before beginning his PhD, Charlie completed an MSc in Organising for Global Social Challenges at Tilburg University and worked as an assistant economist at the National Physical Laboratory, where he developed expertise in impact analysis and data-driven policy research.

Outside academia, Charlie is an active footballer who insists on calling his recreational Sunday league appearances “fieldwork.”