News

16 Sep 2025

Welcome Dr Luke White and Dr Thabata Telles to the MASJ Editorial Team

We’re thrilled to announce two new members joining the Martial Arts Studies Journal editorial team!

Dr Luke White (Middlesex University) brings extensive expertise in visual culture, masculinity, and philosophy, with a strong engagement in martial arts as embodied and performative practice. His interdisciplinary perspective will be a great asset to the journal’s continued development.

Dr Thabata Telles (University of Maia / Polytechnic Institute of Maia) adopts an interdisciplinary approach to human movement, focusing on martial arts and combat sports, phenomenology, cognitive sciences, embodiment, and perception–action processes. She also holds a 2nd dan black belt in Shotokan Karate and a purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Welcome aboard, Luke and Thabata—we’re excited to have you with us!

New Articles Published in Issue 17 of MASJ

We’re delighted to announce three new articles published in Martial Arts Studies Journal Issue 17, completing the issue:

Lobo, “'Bruised but engaged': Exploring the predictive power of the tripartite model of individual interest on study engagement of university students within taekwondo-based physical education"
Penglase, “The Invisibility of Race in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: The Gracies versus Capoeira and Judo”
Bonn et al., “Learning Self-Defence on the Go? A Review of Mobile Applications”

You can read the full issue here: Martial Arts Studies Journal – Issue 17

Issue 18 will be launching soon—stay tuned!

ICM–MASA Joint Event

MASA board members are delighted to be jointly organising a special event with the UNESCO International Centre of Martial Arts (ICM). This collaboration showcases the growing international reach of martial arts studies, and we look forward to sharing insights, dialogue, and future opportunities for research and practice.

A full report with highlights and photos will follow in our next newsletter.

Winter Webinar Series – Announcement Coming Soon

We are preparing to announce our upcoming Winter Webinar, with a call for papers (CFP) due at the end of October. Watch this space for details!

Survey: Contribute to Developing a Research Tool for Martial Arts and Mental Health

Colleagues at Victoria University in Melbourne, Australia are working to develop an updated version of the Martial Arts Inventory—a research tool designed to assess what actually happens during martial arts training sessions.

The aim is to better understand the relationship between different types of training and their effects on mental health outcomes. This kind of tool has the potential to significantly enhance the methodological precision of research in martial arts studies.

They would greatly appreciate your support—either by completing the survey yourself or sharing it with colleagues and practitioners in your network:

Take the survey

If you’re planning an academic event related to martial arts studies, such as conferences, symposia, and research workshops, please feel free to contact Dr Wayne Wong (k.wong@sheffield.ac.uk). We’d love to help promote relevant activities and connect them to wider networks of research and practice.

18 Jul 2025

New Journal Articles and Board Members

We hope this message finds you well. As we move into summer, we’re pleased to share a few updates from the Martial Arts Studies Association, including two newly published articles in Martial Arts Studies Journal, a new podcast episode, and a reminder of how you can get more involved with the community.

We’ve recently published two excellent articles exploring martial arts practice in both Southeast and East Asia:

The New Powerhouse of Taekwondo: Thailand

By Udo Moenig & Hyunmin Choi

An insightful look at how taekwondo rose to prominence in Thailand—home of Muay Thai—and how it became a consistent Olympic medal winner for the country.

From Club to Symbols: An Ethnographic Method for Developing a Notation System for Arnis

By Joan Grace E. Pacres

This paper presents a proposed notation system for arnis, developed through fieldwork with Filipino grandmasters, aimed at supporting PE instruction and preserving the art.

Read the full articles at: https://www.martialartsstudies.org/journal

8th Scientific and Professional Conference "Applicable Research in Judo"

12–13 November 2025, Zagreb, Croatia

The European Judo Union, in collaboration with the University of Zagreb and the Croatian Judo Federation, is now accepting contributions for this unique conference that bridges scientific research and practical expertise in judo.

Meet the MASA Board – Who Does What?

As we continue to grow, we’d like to share a brief snapshot of how the MASA Board is structured:

Executive Committee Members hold voting roles and lead the Association’s operations:

Chair, Treasurer, Communications Secretary, Membership Secretary

Non-Executive Board Members contribute to discussions and support various initiatives, though they do not vote:

Journal Editor, Early Career Researcher (ECR) Representative, Ordinary Members

We’re delighted to welcome two current non-executive officers to the team:

Emily Dobrich (University of Toronto), serving as our Early Career Researcher Representative

Carlos Gutiérrez-García (University of León), serving as an Ordinary Board Member

They both bring a wealth of insight and energy to MASA, and we look forward to their contributions to the community.

As MASA develops, these board positions will be opened up for election among the membership. More details will be announced later this year, so watch this space!

23 May 2025

Upcoming Events: Martial Arts, Movement, and Embodied Learning Across Disciplines

We’re excited to share two dynamic research seminars taking place in early June that explore martial arts and movement practices as transformative tools for education, skill acquisition, and cultural engagement.

1. Constraint vs Instruction: What Movement Practice Tells Us About Teaching, Learning and Skill Acquisition

Wednesday 4 June 2025, 14:00–15:00 (UK Time), Online via Zoom

Hosted by the Pedagogic Research Group (School of Performance and Cultural Industries) and the Leeds Movement and Physical Activity Interdisciplinary Research Network, this online seminar features a dialogue between Greg Souders (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and coach) and Dr Campbell Edinborough (University of Leeds). Through the lens of ecological dynamics theory and constraint-led coaching, the session examines how martial arts practice can illuminate broader pedagogical insights relevant to arts, humanities, and sports education.

No prior knowledge of martial arts is required—this event is open to all curious about embodied learning and teaching.

2. Media, Text, and Sound in East Asia Research Seminar

Embodied Pedagogies: Martial Arts, Consent, and Cultural Belonging

Friday 6 June 2025, 14:00–17:30, The Diamond Workroom 1, University of Sheffield

This in-person seminar brings together innovative research on martial arts as a site of cultural education and empowerment.

Dr Wayne Wong (University of Sheffield) will present Project Sifu, a Sheffield-based initiative combining martial arts choreography and digital filmmaking to foster intercultural belonging and co-creative agency among diasporic youth.

Dr Alex Channon (University of Brighton) will lead a workshop on Love Fighting Hate Violence, a consent education programme using adapted martial arts to teach young people positive values through physical practice.

Together, these sessions challenge conventional views of martial arts and reframe physical movement as a relational, inclusive, and politically engaged pedagogy.

9 May 2025

UNESCO ICM's Martial Arts Research Project

UNESCO ICM (International Centre of Martial Arts for Youth Development and Engagement under the auspices of UNESCO) is seeking original research contributions for the 2025 edition of their World Martial Arts In-Depth Research project.

This year focuses on traditional martial arts from the Pacific-Oceanic region. Any researchers with relevant expertise on the culture, history, contemporary practices, pedagogy, or related aspects of martial arts in this area are welcome to submit an abstract (350 words) and research plan (1000 words).

Here is the link to submit your proposal; the provisional deadline will be extended to 31st May, so please feel free to submit before then. Submissions of final research reports will be due later in the year (TBC) and will be up to 7,000 words.

Participating researchers will be paid an honorarium for their contribution of KRW 4,000,000 (approx. USD 2,700).

For an example of the intended final publication, interested authors can download last year's in-depth research report on Central Asian martial arts from here.

For more information, please reach out to DongChan Kim at ICM directly: dc.kim@unescoicm.org

6 May 2025

Exciting Updates on Martial Arts Studies Journal

Great news! Our journal is Cardiff University Press’s most-read academic journal, based on website views. We’re also happy to share that three articles made it into the top five most-downloaded papers of 2023/24:

1st place: Greet De Baets, "Je Suis Pas Tatamisé: Five Spectrums of Variation in the Narratives of 20 Aikido Experts Worldwide in 2020"

3rd place: Peter Jensen, Matthew Smith, and Jack Sampson., "Autobiographical accounts of military hand-to-hand combat"

5th place: Wendi Bacon and Rowan Wilson, "MASS-12: Evidence-based Martial Arts Striking Sports Injury Prevention Programme"

Additionally, MASJ is now ranked Q2 in the Scimago Journal Rank (SJR) in both Social Sciences and Arts & Humanities categories.

We invite academic contributions on a range of martial arts-related topics for consideration. If you’re interested in submitting your own manuscript, you can find the journal and more details here.

Congratulations to all involved, and thank you for your continued support of the journal!

That’s all for now—have a great weekend!

10 Apr 2025

Exciting Opportunities: ICM 2025 Research Project & Global Martial Arts Research Survey

We have been invited by UNESCO’s International Centre of Martial Arts for Youth Development and Engagement (ICM) to share two exciting opportunities with you.

1. ICM 2025 Research Project: World Martial Arts In-depth Research: Pacific-Oceanic Martial Arts

ICM is inviting institutions and researchers (or practitioners) to engage with their 2025 research project. They are currently seeking:

Applicants for their Examination and Editorial Board (Pacific-Oceanic Martial Arts).
Research abstract and plan submissions focused on Pacific-Oceanic martial arts and their cultural significance.

2. ICM Martial Arts Research Survey

ICM is conducting a survey to gather insights on the needs and demands of martial arts research worldwide. The aim is to connect researchers and practitioners in the field, assess the current landscape of martial arts research, and explore potential collaborations.

Please take a moment to complete the survey and feel free to share it with others who may be interested.

That’s all for now—have a great weekend!

7 Mar 2025

The Martial Arts Studies Association is Taking Shape!

We are excited to share that the Martial Arts Studies Association (MASA) is in the process of becoming an official entity! Until recently, the founding board for MASA was comprised of the sitting Martial Arts Studies Journal editors: Dr. Alex Channon, Dr. Lauren Miller, and Dr. Wayne Wong.

However, as we work through the steps of establishing MASA as a Community Interest Company (CIC)—including drafting our by-laws and setting up our structures—we are pleased to welcome Dr. George Jennings as a new board member.

MASA is being designed as a platform for fostering collaboration, research, and engagement in the growing field of martial arts studies. While our plans are still unfolding, we are laying the groundwork for an association that will serve as a hub for scholars, practitioners, and enthusiasts alike. Our new website is slowly coming together, and you can check that out here: https://www.martialartsstudies.org/about

Over the coming weeks, we’ll be sharing more details about MASA, including our initial board members’ roles, as well as exciting updates on membership, our first fellows, and upcoming activities.

Stay tuned—this is just the beginning!

News from Martial Arts Studies Journal

We are also very happy to share that Dr. Peter Katz has recently joined the editorial team of the Martial Arts Studies journal, working alongside Lauren, Wayne, and Alex. The journal continues to provide a leading open-access space for interdisciplinary research, published by Cardiff University Press. Please join us in welcoming Peter to the role!

Also, just fresh off the press is our first article of 2025’s Issue 17: ‘Striking a Balance: Exploring the Evolution and Interaction of MMA and Traditional Martial Arts in Vietnam’, by Augustus Roe. Check it out at the MASJ website here: https://mas.cardiffuniversitypress.org/articles/10.18573/mas.209

Upcoming Conferences

Last but not least, a further reminder about two conferences for 2025.

Firstly, the 12th Annual Conference of the dvs Commission on Martial Arts and Combat Sports will be held at Georg-August University in Göttingen, from 11th to 13th March. Registration has now closed, and we wish all attendees, and especially the organisers (Martin Minarik and Dinah Kretschmer) all the best for the event!

Secondly, there is still time to submit an abstract for the 14th Conference of the International Martial Arts and Combat Sports Scientific Society (IMACSSS), organised by Carlos Gutiérrez García, María Perrino Peña and Luis Santos Rodríguez, held at the University of León, from 9th to 11th July. Submissions are due by 15th March; all details here: https://congresos.unileon.es/imacsss2025/.

Last of all, if any of our colleagues are planning to host workshops, conferences, or other events that may be of interest to the martial arts studies community, please get in touch to let us know.

That’s all for now—have a great weekend!

27 Feb 2025

Workshop - Encounters between Japanese Budo and Western Combative Sports: Cultural Confrontation and Exchange through Interdisciplinary Matches

Organized by Goka Tomotsugu (International Budō University), Yabu Kōtarō (Ritsumeikan University), and Andreas Niehaus (Ghent University)

Joined workshop by The Budo and Sports Research Institute Research Project “The Study of Interdisciplinary Matches Conducted with the Spread of Budo Internationally” and Ghent University Centre for Research on Body Cultures in Motion.

More information at https://www.japan.ugent.be/activiteiten/encounters-budo-and-combative-sports/

11 Jan 2025

Project Sifu: Empowering Youth Through Martial Arts Cinema and Practice (University of Sheffield, School of East Asian Studies)

This project (1 Feb – 31 May 2025) is a university-funded initiative that offers young people in the UK an exceptional opportunity to combine martial arts training with filmmaking, working closely with professional filmmakers, actors, and martial arts instructors. See more details here.

3 Jan 2025

Special Issue Call for Papers: Theoretical and Conceptual Development in and through Martial Arts Studies

As the field of martial arts studies continues to grow and mature, the theoretical and conceptual frameworks informing its constitutive work must evolve to keep pace with the changing landscape of the knowledge it creates. To date, many key efforts in the field have drawn on and applied existing academic ideas to the subject matter of martial arts. However, constructing original models and perspectives, purpose-made for analysing our object of study, may hold great potential for developing the field in its own right and on its own terms. Such work might demonstrate not only that ‘martial arts’ can be most fruitfully explored within the specific field of ‘martial arts studies’, rather than other disciplines and fields, but also that such dedicated study can create concepts and paradigms which may enrich other fields besides.

As such, this special issue of Martial Arts Studies asks: what specific theoretical developments can the field of martial arts studies produce? It invites papers that engage with new theories developed in the field, from novel adaptations of existing theoretical frameworks to the construction of entirely new perspectives and approaches. Articles that report on empirical research, literature reviewing, and/or theoretical argument are also invited, provided that they address the core question of the development of new conceptual ideas from/within martial arts studies, and not simply the application of existing models to the study of martial arts.

Full article submission is due by 30th April 2025. We expect to publish this special issue as either our autumn/winter issue for 2025, or spring/summer issue for 2026.

Submissions will be treated as normal ‘research articles’ as per submission instructions found on the MASJ website (https://mas.cardiffuniversitypress.org/about/submissions). They should be no longer than 8,000 words inclusive of references and be formatted using APA 7th edition style guidelines.

To enquire or register interest please email Alex Channon (a.channon@brighton.ac.uk). See more details here.

1 Jan 2025

We have grown and moved!

The Martial Arts Studies Research Network has grown and moved! For the Martial Arts Studies Association, please visit our new website at: www.martialartsstudies.org

The old website can be accessed here.

6 November 2024

The Ethics and Ideologies of Self-Defence: A one-day symposium of current research (Cardiff University, School of Journalism, Media & Culture)

What are the ethics and ideologies of self-defence? Self-defence has a variety of legal and ideological cultural histories, shapes and forms (Bowman, 2023; Dodsworth, 2015). Scholars have shown that, in different countries, at different times, the right to self-defence has been heavily allocated to certain subjects (e.g., white, propertied, male) and withheld from others (Light, 2017). Others have shown the extent to which women’s self-defence was a significant element of the first wave of the feminist movement in the UK (Dodsworth, 2019; Godfrey, 2012), and argued that learning how to fight and be aggressive may be an enabling and potentially emancipatory element of physical feminism (McCaughey, 1997).

But, as philosopher Elsa Dorlin asks (Dorlin, 2022), is self-defence ethical? Is teaching self-defence ethical, and who can or should teach whom? What should be taught, to whom, and based on what qualifications? Where does self-defence begin and end? Where does the ‘self’ to be defended start and end, and what are the limits of ‘defence’ – the body, the mind, clothing, technology, architecture, or the physical management of space? Ultimately, as philosopher Peter Sloterdijk has argued, almost everything that humans have done to ward off one or another kind of threat might be viewed as self-defence (Sloterdijk, 2013).

This symposium starts from the most conventional understanding of ‘self-defence’: as learned, taught and practised interpersonal, face-to-face, body-to-body skills, training, techniques, tactics, strategies, rationales, outlooks and ideologies. See more details here.

See more previous events and activities here.

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