Nigel completed his Ph.D. in 2006 at the University of Brighton, which examined the meaning of sport in the lives of Canadian and British gay men. The research critically aids in understanding how the lived experiences of gay men taking part in sport relate to and inform relevant hegemonic and queer theoretical debates.  He concluded that gay men are not overtly challenging traditional forms of hegemonic masculinity and sporting institutions as a whole, although on many occasions they subtly contest and disrupt these conservative ideological notions through their (queer) embodied practices.

Nigel undertook his M.A. in Leisure Management at the University of Sheffield (1996) and his B.A.A. in Geography at Ryerson University in Toronto (1986). 

He worked for 6 years as a consultant specializing in tourism, recreation and cultural master plans and feasibility studies in Toronto before returning to academia in England where he has lectured from 1996 to the present.

I have successfully supervised a number of PhDs to completion, with candidates getting academic publications as part of their journey even before they defend their thesis.  I am interested in supervising research projects on gender and sexuality, the cruise sector, sport tourism, sport and event sponsorship, sport event legacies, the socio-cultural impacts of tourism and events, and leisure management.

I enjoy being in the classroom environment hoping to create critical dialogue with students via interactive lectures and workshops. While I must lecture some material, I enjoy most the discussions with students based on prior reading tasks or case studies. I see a strong value in role playing where students have to present and debate tourism related topics, especially on subjects they might not necessarily agree with. I try to encourage all students to become critical thinkers and to say what they believe in the class so I can respond to their ideas.  This is especially important for service industries students as so many need to develop their public speaking and presentation skills before they enter the workplace.

Beside traditional lectures and workshops, I also employ a business simulation exercise in one of my modules. After a series of lectures and field trips to various attractions that underpin their learning, student teams run an online virtual theme park outside of the class setting, with students saying they enjoy this different type of learning activity.  It provides them a chance to put theory into practice in an innovative digital space.

I strongly believe in the value of field trips for all my modules. Whilst being in the classroom is a great learning space, including bringing in guest speakers from industry, students really respond to learning about tourism when they visit local, regional and international attractions and natural environments, and engage with managers, local residents and government planners.

Postgraduate Student Supervision MPhil/PhD (4 completions; 7 current as of Sept 2022)

• Rodrigo Lucena De Mello – Gay and Lesbian Parented Families: Travel Motivations and Destination Choice (awarded Ph.D. 2015)

• Angela Wichmann - Tourism, Turnen, Tournaments: Understanding sports event tourists in the context of the 2011 World Gymnaestrada in Lausanne (awarded Ph.D. 2014)

• Mana Al Mashreef - Community Understanding of Tourism Planning and Development in the Najran Region, Saudi Arabia (awarded Ph.D. 2020)

• Abby Barras. Transgendered People’s Experience of Sport (awarded 2021)

• Hanno Martens - A Gadamerian Approach to Tourist Experience - Understanding the Expectations, Perceptions and Memories of German Soft Adventure Tourists in Oman (started 2016)
  

• Judith Romhild-Raviart - Sustainable Behavour of Cruise Tourists (started 2016)
• Rebecca House - The experiences of bisexual athletes (started 2016)
• Tom Taylor - English football fans’ experiences of Muslims and Islam, in the context of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar.(started June 2020)
• Samuel Tomlinson - Racial stacking in the National Football League (started February 2022)
• Wael Albogami - The impacts of Formula One Grand Prix on local residents and their perceptions of this event on Saudi Arabia’s tourism image: A case study of Jeddah city (started spring 2022)
• Rory Phibbs - Exploring women coaching men in field hockey, do male athletes impact a female coach’s position in cross-gender coaching? (started October 2022) * South Coast Doctoral Training Partnership Full ESRC Scholarship Winner

List of Conference Presentations and/or Keynote:

Jarvis, N. (2017).  Researching LGBT Sport.  Out on the Pitch: Sexuality and Men's and Women's Sport, 1970-Present. Research Network Event. Strathclyde University. Glasgow.

Jarvis, N. and Weeden, C. (2016).  Rough Seas? Undertaking Covert Research on a Cruise Ship, University of Surrey Tourism Conference.

Jarvis, N. (2015). The Legacies of the 2014 Cleveland/Akron Gay Games.  Federation of Gay Games General Assembly. Limerick, Ireland.

Weeden. C. and Jarvis, N. (2013). Challenging heteronormativity: employees¹ experiences of working on a gay cruise. Work ­Continuities and Disruptions in Modern Life: The First International Conference on Research on Work. University of Turku, Finland.

Jarvis, N. (2011).  The Politics of Heterosexual Men’s Participation in Gay Sport Clubs. International Sociology of Sport Association Conference, Havana, Cuba.

Jarvis, N., Weeden, C. and Lester, J. (2011) Gay men’s motivations and perceptions of the mainstream and gay cruise sector. "Advancing the Social Science of Tourism" Conference, Guildford, University of Surrey, UK.

Weeden, C., Jarvis, N, and Lester, J. (2011). Comparative analysis of lesbian and gay men’s motivations and perceptions of the (gay) cruise market. IV International Critical Tourism Studies Conference, UWIC, Welsh Centre for Tourism Research, Cardiff, UK.

Pulido, A. and Jarvis, N. (2009). The Impacts of Climate Change on Small Hotels in Granada Spain. 7^th International Symposium on Tourism and Sustainability – Travel and Tourism in the Age of Climate Change. Eastbourne, University of Brighton, England.

Jarvis, N. (2008). Cocks and Balls:  Sex and Desire among British Badminton and Canadian Softball Gay Male Athletes. Royal Geographical Society, London, England.

Jarvis, N. (2008).  The Politics of Heterosexual Men’s Participation in Gay Sport. North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, Denver, USA.

Jarvis, N. (2005). The Sport Career Paths of Gay Canadian and British Men. International Sociology of Sport Association Conference, Third World Congress, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Jarvis, N. (2003). Gay sports and queer theory: Confirming or challenging the heterosexual social order?  International Sociology of Sport Association Conference, Second World Congress, German Sports University, Cologne, Germany.

Jarvis, N. (2003). Gay sporting masculinities in softball and badminton. North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, Montreal, Canada.

Jarvis, N. (2002).  Twelve Men Out:  Observations from a Gay Men’s Softball Team.  Out From The Centre Queer Studies Conference, University of Newcastle, Newcastle, Australia.

Jarvis, N. (2000). The Commodification of the Gay World Series. North American Society for the Sociology of Sport, Colorado Springs, USA.