Daniel Parnell is a Senior Lecturer in Business Management at Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK. He is also co-founder of The Football Collective and Research Director of Connect Sport.

He has published academic research in journals including European Sport Management Quarterly, BMC Public Health, the Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events and publishes widely across online platforms including The Football Collective, Connect Sport, The Conversation and the University of Edinburgh’s Sport Matters blog.

Daniel is interested in the social role of sport, specifically football and has expertise in the evaluation of organisational and community-based interventions. He currently works with a number of sport based organisations and professional football clubs, this has included, the Football League Trust, the English Premier League, the Street Football Association (previously, English Homeless FA), International Olympic Committee and the Football Foundation (the UKs largest sports charity).

Dan has led a number of interventions including those based within the Everton Active Family Centre (a unique centre based at Goodison Park the home of Everton Football Club), completed the national evaluation of the Extra Time programme, alongside the completion of a further three national evaluations concerning school sport, coach education and sustainable community facility investment.

Dan is currently focused on building two academic communities of practice, one focused on football research, The Football Collective, and the other focused on community sport, Connect Sport.