Starting 2021, the World Anti-Doping Agency’s (WADA) International Standard for Education (ISE) mandates the four must-have components for anti-doping education delivered to athletes, one of which is values-based education (WADA, 2021). The guidelines for ISE and values-based education state that all participants should be exposed to a common set of positive values, regardless of their social background, nationality, ethnicity, or sexual orientation (WADA, 2020). The guidelines further suggest approaching VbE with the intention to convince athletes to behave or act in a certain way, as expected by the organisations with responsibility for anti-doping. This approach to values-based education assumes that athletes subscribe to and endorse the values deemed important by the society and thus endorsed by the organisations responsible for anti-doping.

The potentially problematic misalignment between organisational missions and decision-making by athletes in daily situations has been flagged (Petróczi & Boardley, 2022) for ISE. The values-based component further exacerbates this potential disconnection between what values organisations want to promote and what values guide athletes’ decisions and actions.

A recently completed project – funded by the International Olympic Committee - on athletes’ values, value priorities, value conflict management, and their implications for values-linked education. Results showed that athletes’ personal values and value priorities could differ from the societal values to protect the ‘spirit of sport’, not equally endorsed by athletes globally, and changes over time and across situations. Taken all together, they present a significant challenge for organisations with responsibility for anti-doping education to deliver meaningful values-based education and to evaluate its effectiveness.

The proposed project will build on these findings and aim to explore a selected set from the following (indicative) research questions: (1) how do values manifest in sport?; (2) what are athletes’ and anti-doping stakeholders’ values and value-priorities around the world?; (3) how do athletes adapt and internalise societal values that are thought to manifest in or promoted via sport; (4) what are the values and value priorities of athletes who were sanctioned for anti-doping rule violations?; (5) how do athletes solve or manage situations when their personal values conflict situational demand; (6) what role (if any) do anticipated future thoughts, feelings and consequences play in this process, and how can this cognitive process be developed for better self-awareness and improved decision-making skills?; (7) how oganisations with responsibility for anti-doping interpret, deliver and evaluate values-based education?.

It is envisaged that the project will employ a pragmatic mixed-method design, applying a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods to a range of primary and secondary data to address these research questions.

To apply for this project, please submit an application for October 2025 entry at this link ( How to apply for a research degree (PhD, Professional Doctorate, MPhil, MA/MSc by Research) - Kingston University London ) and ensure that you upload a document as part of your application that states you are applying for a studentship and the name of the project that you are applying for.