Here are some comments about my work from people I have worked with.
“A lovely man with a lust for knowledge.”
George Lamb, television and radio presenter
“Through an engaging guided tour through new source material, Martin Polley explores challenging methods, and raises questions on how we interpret sports practices from a social science perspective. He demonstrated to the international audience at the Centers and Perepheries Conference in Malmö, Sweden 2010 the importance of being a thourough historical researcher. He is an excellent key note speaker.”
Professor Susanna Hedenborg, Professor in Sport Sciences, Malmö University
“During my time at the University of Southampton I worked with Martin across various modules and as my final year dissertation tutor, a module within which I achieved a first class mark which greatly contributed to my overall first class classification. However, I feel that without Martin’s incomparable knowledge of his subject area and his continual support I would not have achieved such success. Martin encourages students to build close working relationships with him, and always makes himself available to offer guidance. When working with Martin you get the sense that he is a genuinely nice guy who cares about his students.”
Tom Chisholm, BSc (Hons) Sport Studies graduate, University of Southampton
“Dr Martin Polley is an inspiring lecturer and dissertation tutor. His enthusiasm, knowledge and love of his subject, really helped to bring things to life for me as a student. He helped me to consider things from different view points and to be more critical. He is always seeking to encourage the young academic.”
Natahniel Soderberg, BSc (Hons) Sport Studies graduate, University of Southampton
‘Martin’s workshop was both informative and engaging, and provided our cast with an excellent contextual knowledge of the time periods and events that our production was concerned with. By drawing comparisons with present day events, Martin enabled participants to develop their understanding of Olympic history in a way that was relevant to the project, and it was accessible to all.’
Paul Edwards, director of White City/Black Country for the National Youth Theatre
“This was a very entertaining and well-informed session which made us better appreciate the depth of history behind what sometimes seems like the superficial hype of ‘2012’ “.
Jane Furness, ECA Library, University of Edinburgh, on my keynote lecture for ARLIS, 2012