Matt Ventresca

Dr. Matt Ventresca is a critical sports studies researcher whose work is situated across the sociology of sport, media studies, and science and technology studies. His current work at Georgia Tech has involved two main projects: 1) the COVID Sports Project, an online hub of digital resources and analysis exploring the intersections between sports and the COVID-19 pandemic (coming fall 2025!); and 2) Sound, Sport, and the Digital, an event series and network of scholars/artists exploring the social and political dimensions of sports soundscapes. Dr. Ventresca is also a Research Associate at Western University (School of Kinesiology) and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian National University (School of Regulation and Global Governance). 

Dr. Ventresca has spent the past decade researching sociocultural inequities within sport’s “concussion crisis." This work has entailed examinations of: media/scientific discourses around Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE); conceptions of scientific uncertainty and the politics of ignorance; media narratives linking brain injury to racialized constructions of deviance and crime; athlete experiences of concussion recovery in elite and youth sports contexts; theoretical approaches to qualitative research on concussion; and racial bias within concussion science. Matt's new book Violent Impacts: How Power and Inequality Shape the Concussion Crisis (2025), co-authored with Dr. Kathryn Henne (Australian National University), explores how structural violence influences experiences and understandings of brain injury across different social contexts. He also co-edited Sociocultural Examinations of Sports Concussions (with Dr. Mary McDonald, Georgia Tech) which was the first interdisciplinary collection of critical research on the topic. Additionally, Matt's interest in sports injury inspired research exploring the cultural politics shaping the use of painkillers in elite sports.

Dr. Ventresca's work increasingly involves projects grounded in media studies, the digital humanities and digital scholarship. He helps lead new research investigating sociological trends in Canadian sports media, including the experiences of racialized workers within the industry. Through the COVID Sports Project and Sound, Sport, and the Digital, Matt is exploring research directions that harness digital technologies with a focus on sound studies and audio production techniques.