Professor Tim Breitbarth

Biography

Tim's particular experience, expertise and enthusiasm lies with organisational strategy/change, corporate responsibility/environmental sustainability, marketing/communication and international comparison/knowledge transfer.

Tim worked in Germany, the USA and New Zealand before accepting his first academic position in the UK. His past industry work includes corporate marketing roles for Siemens and the German national broadcaster ARD. He was a co-founder and director at Orange Consulting leading large-scale public service performance evaluation projects, among others. Also, he is a founder and organiser of the bi-annual industry conference series ‘German CSR Communications Conference’ hosted by the German Federal Environmental Foundation since 2015.

Tim conducted his PhD research at University of Otago on the business case for corporate social responsibility in Europe. His 2008 article (with Harris) on conceptualising CSR in the football industry is a top-viewed and -cited article and has framed international research and practice in this space. Tim has provided CSR/sustainability integration, management and communication advise, for example, to UEFA, German Football Association, European professional football clubs and the German Olympic Sports Confederation.

Tim is a past Board Member and the Scientific Chair of the European Association for Sport Management, including the 'European Sport Management Conference' series. Among other books, he edited the first academic book on global golf business and management, endorsed by The R&A and IMG.

Tim is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Public Affairs, overseeing the sustainability, climate change and sport portfolios. In addition he is on the editorial board of five sport and management journals. He has led journal special issues on progressing CSR, environmental sustainability and marketing in Corporate Governance (2015), Journal of Public Affairs (2018) and European Sport Management Quarterly (2019). Currently, he co-edits the 2022 ESMQ special issue on 'Environmental Matters in Sport Management'. 

Tim has led global academic partnership development, including international student exchange and intercultural learning opportunities. He was an appointed International Higher Education Reform Expert by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research / German Academic Exchange Service, focusing on internationalisation as an important catalyst for organisational change and competitiveness. He was the proud initiator and mentor to an international student entrepreneur team that won an international innovation competition hosted by Bayern Munich and Procter & Gamble (organised by Futury).

At Swinburne University, Tim looks after the growing B.Sc. Business, Sport Management Major; is a founding member of the Sport Innovation Research Group; affiliated to the Social and Environmental Sustainability in Organisations Research Group; and, among other, active in the United Nations Principles of Responsible Management Education Community of Practice. He has led the introduction of the accredited Carbon Literacy Training for staff, students and further university partners at Swinburne in collaboration with the Carbon Literacy Trust (UK) and other Australian universities.

Tim was a visiting/adjunct professor at the University of Otago, University of Cologne, German Sport University Cologne, University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Wismar University and Surrey University. Over the last decade, he has been on study visits to twelve universities in nine different countries and been invited to 30 guest presentations. He is a former youth elite football player, tennis coach, marathon runner and generally enjoys an active lifestyle.