David Kotthaus

David Kotthaus is a Lecturer in Sports Business Management at the University of Hertfordshire. Before moving to England he worked as a Sport Management Lecturer at the University of Applied Sciences in Jyväskylä, Finland as well as at the University of Jyväskylä.

He completed his PhD in Sport Management at the University of Jyväskylä by analysing the opportunities for businesses through sport facility management in an international three-case study at the German Sport University Cologne, the University of Umeå/Sweden and the University of Jyväskylä.

His research interests deal with the influences of business theories (stakeholder management and entrepreneurship) on sport, sport facility management, sport planning for recreation and improved physical activities and strategic sport planning for sport organisations.

He also worked in 2015-2016 in a long-term project of the EU about Improving Physical Activity in Local Area (IMPALA), which relates to neighbourhood sport facilities. The project was carried out in an international collaborative study between partner universities and research institutions in Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Italy, Austria, the Netherlands and Denmark. After the official end of the project a book was published in 2017 describing the IMPALA-project in Finland and some of the participating countries.

Before going to Finland, David studied Sport and Media Communication at the German Sport University Cologne (Diploma, equiv. to MSc).