Gijs van Campenhout

Gijs van Campenhout (1986) holds a Research Master’s degree in Regional Studies (2011) from the Faculty of Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, and an Educational Master’s degree for Pre-Higher Education Teaching in Geography (2012) from the Faculty of Behavioural and Social Sciences, University of Groningen.

For his Research Master thesis, Gijs combined two of his passions: Sport and Geography. This research focused on place making activities of rugby players at their New Zealand rugby club representing the (local and national) identity of the place. Furthermore, these activities were considered as the (masculine) identity formation of the players. In a revised form, Gijs his thesis is published (in 2014) as an article in the journal ‘Gender, Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography'. In his PhD project, Gijs maps the (historical) occurrence (how often and why) of nationality transfers of football players in the FIFA World Cups (1930-2014). Based on this mapping, Gijs will study the consequences of citizenship changes for (sending and receiving) states, the FIFA and football players. He will extensively discuss the influences that these nationality changes have on the public, mediatized debate around nation and national identity.