Dr Blair Biggar

  • Lecturer in Sociology, Research Associate, Lecturer (Sociological & Cultural Studies)
  • Associate (School of Health & Wellbeing)

Biography

Dr Blair Biggar is a Lecturer in Sociology and Research Associate in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow. He contributes to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and supervision, while working across interdisciplinary research projects. His research interests centre on gambling, health, migration, and inequalities.

Since completing his PhD in Central and Eastern European Studies in 2022 on the "lived citizenship" experiences of EU Roma migrants in Scotland, he has worked as a Research Associate on several projects, including Football Fans and Betting (FFAB), the Lancet Public Health Commission on Gambling, Words Matter: A language guide for reporting on gambling, and Retirement at Risk: Exploring gambling harm amongst older adults.

Blair has published his work in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and reports, with several outputs currently under peer review. Blair regularly engages with the media to share his research, with invitations from The Guardian, BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio Scotland, and BBC Scotland’s The Nine. He is also an invited peer reviewer for academic journals and funding bodies.

Blair is affiliated with the School of Health and Wellbeing as an Associate and serves as a convenor for Glasgow’s Social Scientists in Health Group. He is an active member of several research collectives, including the SPS Research-Only Network, Gambling Research Glasgow, the Migration and Mobilities research group, and the Academic Forum for the Study of Gambling (AFSG).

Research interests

Gambling Studies

Citizenship, inequalities, and everyday life

Community

Migration Studies

Qualitative research

 

Research groups

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 | 2019
Number of items: 20.

2025

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Champion, Hannah, Jones, Matthew, Dighton, Glen, Larcombe, Justyn, Fossey, Matt and Dymond, Simon (2025) Help and support for gambling harm among United Kingdom Armed Forces personnel: A mixed-methods study. Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, (doi: 10.1177/13558196251409041) (PMID:41420411) (Early Online Publication)

Bunn, Christopher ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6604-1305, Ukhova, Daria ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9554-8604, Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Pryce, Rob, Abdelhadi, Yasir, Hussain, Uzmah, Hughes, Colin, Inston, Fiona and Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 (2025) Gambling Harms in Blackburn with Darwen: a needs assessment. Documentation. University of Glasgow. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.352430/).

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164 (2025) How to keep your ‘story straight’: exploring lived citizenship through documents in the case of EU Roma migrants in Scotland. Citizenship Studies, (doi: 10.1080/13621025.2025.2542181) (Early Online Publication)

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164 (2025) Language, citizenship, and community: insights from ethnographic fieldwork with EU Roma migrants in Scotland. Language and Intercultural Communication, (doi: 10.1080/14708477.2025.2519907) (Early Online Publication)

Reith, G. et al. (2025) Group-based interventions to reduce gambling involvement among male football fans: a synopsis of findings from a feasibility study. Public Health Research, 13(6), pp. 1-24. (doi: 10.3310/SWWP9393) (PMID:40690427)

Champion, Hannah, Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Jones, Matthew, Larcombe, Justyn, Fossey, Matt and Dymond, Simon (2025) A qualitative analysis of the experience of gambling harm and accessing support among United Kingdom Armed Forces personnel. Discover Psychology, 5, 30. (doi: 10.1007/s44202-025-00357-0)

Biggar, B. et al. (2025) An uneven playing field: a mixed methods, multiphase feasibility study of a programme to reduce gambling among at-risk men in a professional football club setting. OSF Preprints, (doi: 10.31219/osf.io/wt2yc_v1)

2024

Wardle, H. et al. (2024) The Lancet Public Health Commission on gambling. Lancet Public Health, 9(11), e950-e994. (doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(24)00167-1) (PMID:39491880)

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Reith, Gerda ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6539-0295 and Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 (2024) The Football Fans and Betting Project – Findings from an Early Intervention for Male Sports Bettors. Lisbon Addictions, European Conference on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies, Lisbon Congress Centre, 23-25 October 2024.

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164 and Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 (2024) Words Matter: A language guide for respectful reporting on gambling. Documentation. University of Glasgow, Glasgow. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.330660).

2023

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 and Reith, Gerda ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6539-0295 (2023) The Football Fans and Betting Project – Preliminary Findings From an Early Intervention for Male Sports Bettors. 2023 Football Collective Conference, Leeds Beckett University, 25-26 November 2023.

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164 (2023) Language, Citizenship, and Community: Insights from Ethnographic Fieldwork with EU Roma Migrants in Scotland. BASEES Conference, Cambridge, UK, 5-7 April 2024. (Accepted for Publication)

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 and Reith, Gerda ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6539-0295 (2023) The ‘Football Fans and Betting’ Project: Challenges and Lessons Learned from an Early Intervention for Male Sports Bettors. 16th European Public Health Conference, Dublin, Ireland, 9-11 November 2023.

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Kesaite, Viktorija, Ukhova, Daria ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9554-8604 and Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 (2023) Young women sports bettors in the United Kingdom: an overlooked demographic? In: McGee, Darrah and Bunn, Christopher (eds.) Gambling and Sports in a Global Age. Series: Research in the sociology of sport (18). Emerald: Leeds, pp. 145-167. ISBN 9781801173056 (doi: 10.1108/S1476-285420230000018010)

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Reith, Gerda ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6539-0295 and Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 (2023) The ‘FFAB’ project: Lessons learned from an early health intervention for male sports bettors. European Journal of Public Health, 33(S2), ckad160.17. (doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckad160.173)

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Zendle, David and Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 (2023) Targeting the next generation of gamblers? Gambling sponsorship of esports teams. Journal of Public Health, 45(3), pp. 636-644. (doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdac167) (PMID:37000185) (PMCID:PMC10470326)

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 and Reith, Gerda ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6539-0295 (2023) The ‘Football Fans and Betting’ Project: Challenges and Lessons Learned from an Early Intervention for Male Sports Bettors. Current Advances in Gambling Research (CAGR 2023), London, UK, 28-29 June 2023.

2022

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 and Zendle, David (2022) Targeting the Next Generation of Gamblers? Gambling Sponsorship of Esports Teams. Current Advances in Gambling Research (CAGR 2022), Cardiff, UK, 19-20 May 2022.

2019

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164 (2019) Sam Beck and Ana Ivasiuc, eds. 2018. Roma Activism: Reimagining Power and Knowledge. New York: Berghahn Books. Critical Romani Studies, 2(1), pp. 86-91. (doi: 10.29098/crs.v2i1.48)[Book Review]

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164 (2019) Contesting (In)security: Reflections on the Location of Solidarity in the Everyday Lives of Roma in Scotland. UAES 2019 Inter-Congress “World Solidarities”, Poznan, Poland, 27-31 August 2019.

This list was generated on Wed Jan 14 21:04:20 2026 GMT.
Jump to: Articles | Book Sections | Book Reviews | Research Reports or Papers | Conference or Workshop Item
Number of items: 20.

Articles

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Champion, Hannah, Jones, Matthew, Dighton, Glen, Larcombe, Justyn, Fossey, Matt and Dymond, Simon (2025) Help and support for gambling harm among United Kingdom Armed Forces personnel: A mixed-methods study. Journal of Health Services Research and Policy, (doi: 10.1177/13558196251409041) (PMID:41420411) (Early Online Publication)

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164 (2025) How to keep your ‘story straight’: exploring lived citizenship through documents in the case of EU Roma migrants in Scotland. Citizenship Studies, (doi: 10.1080/13621025.2025.2542181) (Early Online Publication)

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164 (2025) Language, citizenship, and community: insights from ethnographic fieldwork with EU Roma migrants in Scotland. Language and Intercultural Communication, (doi: 10.1080/14708477.2025.2519907) (Early Online Publication)

Reith, G. et al. (2025) Group-based interventions to reduce gambling involvement among male football fans: a synopsis of findings from a feasibility study. Public Health Research, 13(6), pp. 1-24. (doi: 10.3310/SWWP9393) (PMID:40690427)

Champion, Hannah, Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Jones, Matthew, Larcombe, Justyn, Fossey, Matt and Dymond, Simon (2025) A qualitative analysis of the experience of gambling harm and accessing support among United Kingdom Armed Forces personnel. Discover Psychology, 5, 30. (doi: 10.1007/s44202-025-00357-0)

Biggar, B. et al. (2025) An uneven playing field: a mixed methods, multiphase feasibility study of a programme to reduce gambling among at-risk men in a professional football club setting. OSF Preprints, (doi: 10.31219/osf.io/wt2yc_v1)

Wardle, H. et al. (2024) The Lancet Public Health Commission on gambling. Lancet Public Health, 9(11), e950-e994. (doi: 10.1016/S2468-2667(24)00167-1) (PMID:39491880)

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Reith, Gerda ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6539-0295 and Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 (2023) The ‘FFAB’ project: Lessons learned from an early health intervention for male sports bettors. European Journal of Public Health, 33(S2), ckad160.17. (doi: 10.1093/eurpub/ckad160.173)

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Zendle, David and Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 (2023) Targeting the next generation of gamblers? Gambling sponsorship of esports teams. Journal of Public Health, 45(3), pp. 636-644. (doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdac167) (PMID:37000185) (PMCID:PMC10470326)

Book Sections

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Kesaite, Viktorija, Ukhova, Daria ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9554-8604 and Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 (2023) Young women sports bettors in the United Kingdom: an overlooked demographic? In: McGee, Darrah and Bunn, Christopher (eds.) Gambling and Sports in a Global Age. Series: Research in the sociology of sport (18). Emerald: Leeds, pp. 145-167. ISBN 9781801173056 (doi: 10.1108/S1476-285420230000018010)

Book Reviews

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164 (2019) Sam Beck and Ana Ivasiuc, eds. 2018. Roma Activism: Reimagining Power and Knowledge. New York: Berghahn Books. Critical Romani Studies, 2(1), pp. 86-91. (doi: 10.29098/crs.v2i1.48)[Book Review]

Research Reports or Papers

Bunn, Christopher ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6604-1305, Ukhova, Daria ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9554-8604, Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Pryce, Rob, Abdelhadi, Yasir, Hussain, Uzmah, Hughes, Colin, Inston, Fiona and Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 (2025) Gambling Harms in Blackburn with Darwen: a needs assessment. Documentation. University of Glasgow. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.352430/).

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164 and Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 (2024) Words Matter: A language guide for respectful reporting on gambling. Documentation. University of Glasgow, Glasgow. (doi: 10.36399/gla.pubs.330660).

Conference or Workshop Item

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Reith, Gerda ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6539-0295 and Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 (2024) The Football Fans and Betting Project – Findings from an Early Intervention for Male Sports Bettors. Lisbon Addictions, European Conference on Addictive Behaviours and Dependencies, Lisbon Congress Centre, 23-25 October 2024.

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 and Reith, Gerda ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6539-0295 (2023) The Football Fans and Betting Project – Preliminary Findings From an Early Intervention for Male Sports Bettors. 2023 Football Collective Conference, Leeds Beckett University, 25-26 November 2023.

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164 (2023) Language, Citizenship, and Community: Insights from Ethnographic Fieldwork with EU Roma Migrants in Scotland. BASEES Conference, Cambridge, UK, 5-7 April 2024. (Accepted for Publication)

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 and Reith, Gerda ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6539-0295 (2023) The ‘Football Fans and Betting’ Project: Challenges and Lessons Learned from an Early Intervention for Male Sports Bettors. 16th European Public Health Conference, Dublin, Ireland, 9-11 November 2023.

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 and Reith, Gerda ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6539-0295 (2023) The ‘Football Fans and Betting’ Project: Challenges and Lessons Learned from an Early Intervention for Male Sports Bettors. Current Advances in Gambling Research (CAGR 2023), London, UK, 28-29 June 2023.

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164, Wardle, Heather ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1361-3706 and Zendle, David (2022) Targeting the Next Generation of Gamblers? Gambling Sponsorship of Esports Teams. Current Advances in Gambling Research (CAGR 2022), Cardiff, UK, 19-20 May 2022.

Biggar, Blair ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5733-0164 (2019) Contesting (In)security: Reflections on the Location of Solidarity in the Everyday Lives of Roma in Scotland. UAES 2019 Inter-Congress “World Solidarities”, Poznan, Poland, 27-31 August 2019.

This list was generated on Wed Jan 14 21:04:20 2026 GMT.

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

Blair convenes and delivers Class and Stratification and Class in Everyday Life. He also lectures on Sociology of Addiction, Substantive Topics in the Sociology of Consumption, and Introduction to Social Theory for Researchers in the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Glasgow. During his PhD, he taught on CEES Level 1a: Central and Eastern Europe in the Age of Stalin and CEES Level 1b: The Collapse of Communism, and guest lectured on the pre-sessional Master’s programme in the School of Modern Languages and Cultures, University of Glasgow.

Blair has additionally delivered invited guest lectures at Justus Liebig University, Giessen, on Material culture of everyday life, and at the University of Córdoba on Public Health Approaches to Gambling