Darragh McGee

Having completed a PhD at the University of Toronto, Canada, I joined the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Bath in September 2015. 

My research examines the shifting global relationship between gambling and sport, notably how rapid industry expansion and technological innovation has engendered growing concerns about the welfare and wellbeing of young people. I am particularly interested in the role of digital technologies in shaping the uptake and normalisation of risky modes of consumption, as well as in the surveillance mechanisms that accompany capitalist leisure industries. My research has been funded by grants from the British Academy, Leverhulme Trust and the Global Challenges Research Fund, and has been featured in a range of international media, including The Guardian, WIRED, The Globe and Mail, and CBC. In 2020, I was named a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker, and have developed publically acccesible radio and podcast programmes, including for BBC Radio 3’s Free Thinking and The Essay. 

Research interests

• The globalisation of the sports gambling industry
• Digital technologies, surveillance capitalism and young people
• Youth livelihoods, welfare and wellbeing in the Global South
• Human rights, poverty and inequality