Professeur des Universités, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne

Mike Duignan is Professeur des universités at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (France), and the Editor-in-Chief of Event Management Journal - the leading academic journal for the study and analysis of events and festivals, founded in 1993, and based in New York (USA). He is also the Founder and CEO of the Centre for Events and Festivals (CEF) – launched on the 1 May 2025 – dedicated to providing events and festivals practitioners and policy makers with world leading research and resources to help make better decisions.

Over the past 15 years, Mike has held a mixture of university and private sector roles. He has been the Director of Research, Intelligence and Education at Trivandi; Head of Department and Reader at the University of Surrey, where he also served as the Director of the UK Olympic Studies Centre; and an Associate Professor at the University of Central Florida (USA) - the #1 UK, European and USA universities for the study of events and festivals. Over this time Mike has been researching, analysing, commentating, writing, publishing, and teaching on the economics and social impacts of staging major events, with the view to improve delivery and leave a sustainable legacy for the communities, people and places that play host.

Mike has travelled the world examining the economics and social impacts of hosting major events, including the London 2012, Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020 and now the Paris 2024 and LA 2028 Games, alongside various other events like the Commonwealth Games and regional sports and cultural events. His research has been published in leading journals and funded by large- and small-scale grants from the International Olympic Committee to the European Union, and applied to over 50 consultancy projects across diverse settings, from small festivals to large-scale major sporting events.

Visit www.MikeDuignan.com for more information.