Exploring women’s experiential narratives in martial arts and combat sports

Applications are invited for an Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP-funded Collaborative Doctoral Award at The Open University, in partnership with British Taekwondo.

This fully funded studentship is available from October 2025. Further details about the value of an Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC DTP award are available on the DTP’s studentships page. 

Closing date: 7th January 2025, midday UK time

Interview date (flexible): 3rd February 2025

Project overview

Women are often excluded from martial arts and combat sports (MACS) research, and women’s experiences of MACS can be challenging (Kavoura et al., 2014; Tjønndal, 2019). Issues and themes related to gender are often foregrounded by participants and observers, such as problematic contact, conforming to gender norms, MACS being perceived as a men’s space, invisible women and patriarchy identified in MACS settings (Lindsay et al., 2023).

Promoting positive experiences can widen participation and help to ensure women have equal access to the benefits associated with MACS including improved balance, cognitive function and psychological health (Origua Rios et al., 2018).  Participation can enable women to challenge patriarchal structures and gender norms (Channon, 2014). Understanding how gender dynamics influence women’s MACS experiences can inform future interventions to improve women’s experiences and address inequalities. This PhD is intended to contribute to the research and knowledge base in these and similar areas related to MACS.

Methods

The successful candidate will undertake an interdisciplinary project combining methods and resources from the disciplines of gender studies and medical humanities, as applied to the experience of participating in MACS. A qualitative methodology via ethnographic interviews will be employed to investigate women’s experiences in MACS, a well-established method drawn from researchers (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011). The candidate will share women’s stories through illustrative arts-based methods (for example, photos and vignettes), an innovative method shown to evoke cultural change (Earle, 2020), and identify and design possible interventions to improve women’s experiences and address inequalities.

Research Questions

The candidate will have the opportunity to shape the project in line with their own experience, research interests and reflections; two research questions that could be explored include:

  1. What are women’s experiences of the coach-athlete relationship in MACS? (Gender studies)

The coach-athlete relationship is an important factor in athlete wellbeing and success. The dynamics of this complex relationship are influenced by the culture of the sporting environment. MACS culture often emphasizes tradition, with a strict hierarchy which can conflict with coaches’ duty of care to provide a safe environment. The power invested in a coach provides a unique sociocultural context with multiple potentialities for gendered maltreatment, exploitation (Owton & Sparkes, 2015) and misuse of power (Stirling & Kerr, 2009) that warrant deeper cultural investigation.

  1. What are women’s psychosocial injury experiences in MACS? (Medical humanities)

Female athletes experience injuries at higher rates (Frank et al., 2017). Poor understanding of the female body due to underrepresentation of women in sports medicine research may contribute to poor support for the prevention and treatment of injury from coaches and other support staff, negative psychosocial outcomes, and a lower return to sport. Exploration of the psychosocial experiences of women’s injury and return to sport (or not), and its impacts on the coach-athlete-relationship, training, sense of safety, identity, trust, confidence and community in MACS requires further investigation.

Together, these research questions explore the crucial role of a coach in fostering an environment conducive to an athlete's holistic growth and healing—physically, mentally, and emotionally—while considering the gender dynamics and the distinctive subculture of MACS.

Impact & Project Partner

This PhD project is provided in partnership with British Taekwondo. British Taekwondo will provide access to participants for studies through their extensive membership, as well as membership and retention statistics from their own interventions aiming to improve women’s experiences in MACS. They will incorporate educational outcomes from this project into their coaching training programme, as well embed any interventions proven by this project into their organisation.

Dissemination opportunities for research outputs will include British Taekwondo’s newsletters / email listings, as well as the research team’s wider network (https://better-martial-arts.org).

Ultimately, the candidate will seek to explore women’s experiences of working with coaches in taekwondo and dealing with injuries to provide recommendations that enhance coach understanding and increase women’s retention in British Taekwondo clubs and MACS more broadly.

Supervision

The candidate will be co-supervised between The Open University and British Taekwondo.  

The Open University

Dr Helen Owton | Lecturer in Sport & Fitness, Faculty of Wellbeing, Education & Language Studies

Dr Caroline Heaney | Senior Lecturer in Sport & Fitness, Faculty of Wellbeing, Education & Language Studies

Dr Wendi Bacon | Senior Lecturer in Health Sciences, Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics

Owton and Heaney are sports psychologists and bring unique practitioner expertise alongside expertise in gender dynamics (Owton) and psychosocial aspects of injury (Heaney) in sport. Bacon researches injury prevention in martial arts & combat sport.

Project Partner: British Taekwondo

Richard Gottfried is the Marketing, Digital & Media Manager of British Taekwondo. British Taekwondo bring an expanding martial arts infrastructure with access to study participants and the potential for project outputs to be put into practice.

The candidate will have access to all Open University doctoral training opportunities in addition to OOC-DTP resources and training.

Candidate Specification

Required

Desired

  • Experience working with coaches and/or athletes
  • Research experience in sport

How to apply 

In making an application you are applying to both the OOC DTP and to the OU. This means you will need to complete two application forms. Please read OU guidance and OOC guidance before completing the application forms.

  • OOC DTP Application form – this includes a research proposal and a statement of suitability to undertake the proposed research project.
  • OU Application form  and the documents listed in the application check list.
  • You are reminded that you must sign the form and should give the names, addresses and institutional email addresses of two academic referees who are willing to comment on your academic achievements to date and on your potential for undertaking research. (Please check that your referees will be available to be contacted during the application period.)  

indicating your subject area in the subject of your application email

(e.g. SURNAME_Martial_Arts_OOC _DTP)

We recommend that you make contact/apply at the earliest stage so that we can work with you to maximise your potential for a successful application. Please note you are responsible for making sure that all required documents, including references, are submitted before midday 7th January 2025 and meet the University’s requirements. If your application is submitted late, and/or it is incomplete, it will not normally be assessed.