Dr Blair Biggar
- Lecturer, Research Associate (Sociological & Cultural Studies)
- Associate (School of Health & Wellbeing)
Biography
Dr. Blair Biggar received his PhD in Central and Eastern European Studies from the University of Glasgow in 2022, focusing on the "lived citizenship" experiences of EU Roma migrants in Scotland.
Since early 2024, Blair has held the position of SPS Investigator Fellow in Sociology. In addition to his fellowship duties, he is actively engaged in three ongoing projects: Football Fans and Betting (FFAB), Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling, and Words Matter: A language guide for reporting on gambling.
Since becoming a Research Associate at UoG, Blair has completed two projects: an exploratory study on the sponsorship arrangements between gambling companies and esports teams, published in the Journal of Public Health, and a quantitative examination of female sports bettors in the UK, published in Gambling and Sports in a Global Age. Moreover, he has several articles currently under review by academic journals.
Blair has been invited to discuss his work on platforms such as the Guardian, BBC Radio Four, and BBC Scotland the Nine. He is also actively involved in peer-reviewing articles for various academic journals.
Blair is affiliated with UoG’s School of Health and Wellbeing as an Associate and serves as a convenor for Glasgow’s Social Scientists in Health Group. Furthermore, he contributes actively to UoG’s Migration and Mobilities research group and the Academic Forum for the Study of Gambling (AFSG).
Research interests
Gambling Studies
Citizenship, inequalities, and everyday life
Migration Studies
Qualitative research
Grants
2024 - SPS Investigator Fellowship
2023 - Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund
2022 - Chancellor’s Fund at the University of Glasgow
2021 - Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic
2019 - ESRC Overseas Institutional Visit (OIV)
2019 - Central Eastern European University (CEU)
2018 - Network of Academic Institutions in Romani Studies (NAIRS)
2017 - Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic
2017 - Erasmus+
2016 - Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic
2016-2020 – ESRC studentship
Teaching
Lecture and course design
Since 2023, Blair has lectured and designed parts of the Honours course Sociology of Addiction in the School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Glasgow.
Since 2024, Blair has lectured and designed parts of the Honours course Substantive Topics in the Sociology of Consumption in the School of Social and Political Sciences, The University of Glasgow.
Guest Lectures
In 2019, Blair gave a guest lecture at Justus Liebig University (JLU) Giessen, Germany on "Materiality of everyday life and the reproduction of social relations" as part of the course “Material culture of everyday life”.
In 2018 and 2019, Blair gave guest lectures at the University of Glasgow as part of the pre-sessional Master's course within the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, The University of Glasgow.
Teaching
Between 2018-2022, Blair taught on CEES Level 1a: Central and Eastern Europe in the age of Stalin and CEES Level 1b: The Collapse of Communism in the department of Central and Eastern European Studies within the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, The University of Glasgow.