Contact details
https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/aprilhenning
I joined the University of Stirling in 2018 as a Lecturer in Sport Studies. I have a PhD in Sociology and completed pre- and post-doctoral fellowships supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) in the United States. My main research area is substance use in sport and fitness contexts, including gender, sports doping, fitness doping and image and performance enhancing drug (IPED) use, harm reduction, and anti-doping policy. My first book (with Jesper Andreasson; Common Ground Publishers), Performance Cultures and Doped Bodies, was published in 2021 and my second, Doping: A Sporting History (with Paul Dimeo; Reaktion Books), was published in 2022. My forthcoming book Hegemony & Sport (with Andreasson; Common Ground), will be published in June 2022. I am also editor of the Covid-19 and Sport series of edited volumes, Time Out (vol 1 and 2; 2021) and Restart (2022), published by Common Ground, and editor of the forthcoming anthology Doping in Sport and Fitness (2023; Emerald Publishers).
I am a Director of the S3RG Research Group within the Faculty of Health Sciences and Sport and a member of the Faculty Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. I have active roles within my research sub-field. I am also Director of the International Network of Doping Researchers (INDR) and a Steering Committee member of Anabolic Steroids UK (ASUK). I am an Associate Editor at the journal Performance Enhancement & Health and an Editorial Board member of the Sport & Society journal and research network.
I coordinate and deliver the module Doping in Sports: Scandals and Policy Response (SPSU9DS) and Sport Studies - Issues and Concepts (SPSUS13; Singapore). I also teach on various undergraduate and post-graduate modules and supervise undergraduate and post-graduate dissertations.
Director, Sport Social Science Research Group
Director, International Network of Doping Researchers (INDR)
My research considers the intersection of sport, substance use (e.g. doping, IPED use), and gender. I have particular interests in health, policy, and harm reduction. I have recently completed projects funded by the Wellcome Trust, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
IPEDs and Polydrug Use: Knowledge, Services, and Gaps
PI: Dr April Henning
Funded by: The Wellcome Trust
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Social Change and doping decision-making: building a conceptual framework and survey development
PI: Dr April Henning
Funded by: World Anti-Doping Agency
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Article
Preventing, producing, or reducing harm? Fitness doping risk and enabling environments
Henning A & Andreasson J (2022) Preventing, producing, or reducing harm? Fitness doping risk and enabling environments. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 29 (1), pp. 95-104. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2020.1865273
Authored Book
Henning A & Dimeo P (2022) Doping: A Sporting History. London: Reaktion Books. http://www.reaktionbooks.co.uk/display.asp?ISB=9781789145274&nat=false&stem=true&sf1=keyword&st1=april%2Bhenning&m=1&dc=1
Article
Henning A & Andreasson J (2022) 'There's a new sheriff in town': The Rodchenkov Act, anti-dopism, and the hegemony of WADA in international sport. Sport in Society. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2022.2064100
Website Content
Gym Culture and IPEDs: The pre-history of IPEDs and the golden era of bodybuilding, 1900-1980s
Andreasson J & Henning A (2022) Gym Culture and IPEDs: The pre-history of IPEDs and the golden era of bodybuilding, 1900-1980s. Think Steroids [Blog post] 15.02.2022. https://thinksteroids.com/articles/gym-culture-ipeds-prehistory-golden-era-of-bodybuilding-1900-1980s/
Website Content
Fitness Culture and IPEDs: Crisis, revolution, and the digital push, 1990-2020
Andreasson J & Henning A (2022) Fitness Culture and IPEDs: Crisis, revolution, and the digital push, 1990-2020. Think Steroids [Blog Post] 23.02.2022. https://thinksteroids.com/articles/fitness-culture-ipeds-crisis-revolution-1990-2020/
Website Content
Henning A & Andreasson J (2022) “Oh my, the bigger and more fuller clit is amazing”: Reclaiming the female body through a women-only forum. Steroid Articles [Blog post] 13.01.2022. https://thinksteroids.com/articles/bigger-fuller-clitoris-is-amazing-women-only-forum/
Edited Book
Time Out: National Perspectives on Sport and the Covid-19 Lockdown
Krieger J, Henning A, Pieper L & Dimeo P (eds.) (2021) Time Out: National Perspectives on Sport and the Covid-19 Lockdown. Sport & Society. Champaign, Illinois: Common Ground Research Networks. https://doi.org/10.18848/978-1-86335-232-1/cgp
Edited Book
Time Out: Global Perspectives on Sport and the Covid-19 Lockdown
Krieger J, Henning A, Pieper L & Dimeo P (eds.) (2021) Time Out: Global Perspectives on Sport and the Covid-19 Lockdown. Sport & Society. Champaign, Illinois: Common Ground Research Networks. https://doi.org/10.18848/978-1-86335-230-7/cgp
Book Chapter
Krieger J & Henning A (2021) Drug Testing. In: Pedersen PM (ed.) Encyclopedia of Sport Management. Elgar Encyclopedias in Business and Management series. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 153-154. https://www.e-elgar.com/shop/gbp/encyclopedia-of-sport-management-9781800883277.html
Book Review
Book Symposium: Ask Vest Christiansen's Gym Culture, Identity and Performance-Enhancing Drugs
Christiansen AV, Henning A, Lopez Frias FJ & Hoberman JM (2021) Book Symposium: Ask Vest Christiansen's Gym Culture, Identity and Performance-Enhancing Drugs. Review of: Gym Culture, Identity and Performance-Enhancing Drugs: Tracing a Typology of Steroid Use, Ask Vest Christiansen, London: Routledge, 2020, 252pp. ISBN: 9780367863302. Sport, Ethics and Philosophy, 15 (4), pp. 572-593. https://doi.org/10.1080/17511321.2021.1949386
Authored Book
Performance Cultures and Doped Bodies: Challenging categories, gender norms, and policy response
Andreasson J & Henning A (2021) Performance Cultures and Doped Bodies: Challenging categories, gender norms, and policy response. Sport and Society. Champaign, IL, USA: Common Ground Research Networks. https://doi.org/10.18848/978-1-86335-242-0/CGP
Article
Henning A & Andreasson J (2021) "Yay, Another Lady Starting a Log!": Women's Fitness Doping and the Gendered Space of an Online Doping Forum. Communication and Sport, 9 (6), pp. 988-1007. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167479519896326
Editorial
New frontiers in IPEDs and polydrug use: Knowledge gaps and new perspectives
Henning A & Andreasson J (2021) New frontiers in IPEDs and polydrug use: Knowledge gaps and new perspectives. Performance Enhancement and Health. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peh.2021.100206
Website Content
Anti-Doping: Producing Health or Harm?
Henning A & Andreasson J (2021) Anti-Doping: Producing Health or Harm?. MESO-Rx Forum [Blog post] 29.09.2021. https://thinksteroids.com/articles/anti-doping-producing-health-or-harm/
Website Content
Dude, make some space – Women’s experiences in an online steroid community
Henning A & Andreasson J (2021) Dude, make some space – Women’s experiences in an online steroid community. MESO-Rx Steroids [Blog post] 03.09.2021. https://thinksteroids.com/articles/dude-make-some-space-womens-experiences-in-an-online-steroid-community/
Review
Dealing with doping. A plea for better science, governance and education
Heuberger JAAC, Henning A, Cohen AF & Kayser B (2021) Dealing with doping. A plea for better science, governance and education. British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology, 88 (2), pp. 566-578. https://doi.org/10.1111/bcp.14998
Keynote
Challenging categories and contexts in doping
Henning A (2021) Challenging categories and contexts in doping. Twelfth International Conference on Sport and Society, Granada, Spain, 24.06.2021-25.06.2021. https://sportandsociety.com/about/history/2021-conference
Article
Risk and enabling environments in sport: Systematic doping as harm reduction
Henning A, McLean K, Andreasson J & Dimeo P (2021) Risk and enabling environments in sport: Systematic doping as harm reduction. International Journal of Drug Policy, 91, Art. No.: 102897. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102897
Article
Andreasson J & Henning A (2021) Challenging Hegemony Through Narrative: Centering Women's Experiences and Establishing a Sis-Science Culture Through a Women-Only Doping Forum. Communication and Sport. https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795211000657
Editorial
Bodies of knowledge: Women, ethnopharmacology, and online space
Sverkersson E & Henning A (2020) Bodies of knowledge: Women, ethnopharmacology, and online space. Performance Enhancement and Health, 8 (2-3), Art. No.: 100183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peh.2020.100183
Article
Fifty shades of grey? On the concept of grey zones in elite cycling
Fincoeur B, Henning A & Ohl F (2020) Fifty shades of grey? On the concept of grey zones in elite cycling. Performance Enhancement and Health, 8 (2-3), Art. No.: 100179. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peh.2020.100179
Article
Life after doping - A cross-country analysis of organisational support for sanctioned athletes
Hong HJ, Henning A & Dimeo P (2020) Life after doping - A cross-country analysis of organisational support for sanctioned athletes. Performance Enhancement and Health, 8 (1), Art. No.: 100161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peh.2020.100161
Article
Henning A & Krieger J (2020) Dropping the Amateur: The International Association of Athletics Federations and the Turn Toward Professionalism. Sport History Review, 51 (1), p. 64–83. https://doi.org/10.1123/shr.2019-0024
Article
Who Governs a Movement? The IAAF and Road Running - Historical and Contemporary Considerations
Krieger J & Henning A (2020) Who Governs a Movement? The IAAF and Road Running - Historical and Contemporary Considerations. Journal of Sport History, 47 (1), pp. 59-75. https://doi.org/10.1353/sph.2020.0003
Article
Glocal fitness doping: Policy, practice and prevention in the United States and Sweden
Andreasson J & Henning A (2019) Glocal fitness doping: Policy, practice and prevention in the United States and Sweden. Performance Enhancement and Health, 6 (3-4), pp. 103-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peh.2018.11.001
Newspaper Article
The Outer Line: WADA, and the future of anti-doping
Dimeo P & Henning A (2018) The Outer Line: WADA, and the future of anti-doping. VeloNews. 12.12.2018. https://www.velonews.com/2018/12/commentary/the-outer-line-wada-and-the-future-of-anti-doping_482188
Book Chapter
The Decline of Trust in British Sport Since the London Olympics: Team Sky’s Fall from Grace
Dimeo P & Henning A (2018) The Decline of Trust in British Sport Since the London Olympics: Team Sky’s Fall from Grace. In: Fincoeur B, Gleaves J & Ohl F (eds.) Doping in Cycling: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Ethics and Sport. London: Routledge, pp. 177-188. https://www.routledge.com/Doping-in-Cycling-Interdisciplinary-Perspectives-1st-Edition/Fincoeur-Gleaves-Ohl/p/book/9781138477902
Book Chapter
Substance Use, Anti-Doping, and Health in Amateur Cycling
Henning A (2018) Substance Use, Anti-Doping, and Health in Amateur Cycling. In: Fincoeur B, Gleaves J & Ohl F (eds.) Doping in Cycling: Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Ethics and Sport. London: Routledge, pp. 45-54. https://www.routledge.com/Doping-in-Cycling-Interdisciplinary-Perspectives-1st-Edition/Fincoeur-Gleaves-Ohl/p/book/9781138477902
Website Content
Dimeo P & Henning A (2018) How to improve anti-doping. The Sports Integrity Initiative [Blog Post] 23.08.2018. http://www.sportsintegrityinitiative.com/how-to-improve-anti-doping/
Research Report
Henning A & Dimeo P (2018) Perceptions of legitimacy, attitudes and buy-in among athlete groups: a cross-national qualitative investigation providing practical solutions. World Anti-Doping Agency. Montreal: University of Stirling. https://www.wada-ama.org/sites/default/files/resources/files/ssr_dimeo-henning.pdf
Article
The new front in the war on doping: Amateur athletes
Henning AD & Dimeo P (2018) The new front in the war on doping: Amateur athletes. International Journal of Drug Policy, 51, pp. 128-136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2017.05.036
Article
'Counting your steps': The use of wearable technology to promote employees’ health and wellbeing
Henning A & van de Ven K (2017) 'Counting your steps': The use of wearable technology to promote employees’ health and wellbeing. Performance Enhancement & Health, 5 (4), pp. 123-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peh.2017.11.002
Article
Challenges to promoting health for amateur athletes through anti-doping policy
Henning A (2017) Challenges to promoting health for amateur athletes through anti-doping policy. Drugs: Education, Prevention and Policy, 24 (3), pp. 306-313. https://doi.org/10.1080/09687637.2016.1208732
Article
Henning AD & Dimeo P (2015) Questions of fairness and anti-doping in US cycling: The contrasting experiences of professionals and amateurs. Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy, 22 (5), pp. 400-409. https://doi.org/10.3109/09687637.2015.1029872
Article
Health Culture and Running: Non-Elite Runners' Understandings of Doping and Supplementation
Henning AD (2015) Health Culture and Running: Non-Elite Runners' Understandings of Doping and Supplementation. Journal of Amateur Sport, 1 (2), pp. 51-77. https://doi.org/10.17161/jas.v0i0.4936
Website Content
Forget Lance Armstrong, the next big cycling doper could be your dad
Henning A & Dimeo P (2015) Forget Lance Armstrong, the next big cycling doper could be your dad. [The Conversation] 27.01.2015. https://theconversation.com/forget-lance-armstrong-the-next-big-cycling-doper-could-be-your-dad-36734
Article
Henning AD & Dimeo P (2014) The complexities of anti-doping violations: A case study of sanctioned cases in all performance levels of USA cycling. Performance Enhancement and Health, 3 (3-4), pp. 159-166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.peh.2015.08.001
Article
(Self-)Surveillance, Anti-Doping, and Health in Non-Elite Road Running
Henning AD (2014) (Self-)Surveillance, Anti-Doping, and Health in Non-Elite Road Running. Surveillance & Society, 11 (4), pp. 494-507. https://ojs.library.queensu.ca/index.php/surveillance-and-society/article/view/doping/runners
Book Chapter
Normalized elites: rethinking doping as abnormal practice
Henning A (2010) Normalized elites: rethinking doping as abnormal practice. In: Ettorre E (ed.) Culture, Bodies and the Sociology of Health. Farnham: Ashgate, pp. 45-62.
Article
Toole J & Henning A (2006) Does International Moral Suasion Influence Democratic Development? The Nobel Peace Prize and Political Reform in Burma and East Timor. Journal of Social, Political, and Economic Studies, 31 (4), pp. 415-446.
Module Coordinator:
SPSU9DS (Doping in Sport: Scandals and Policy Response)
SPSUSI3 (Sports Studies - Issues and Concepts; Singapore campus)
Module Contributor:
SPSU913 (Sports Studies - Issues and Concepts)
SPSU9SB (Managing the Business of Sport)
SPSU9SG (Sport Governance)
SPSU059 (Sport Management Challenges)
SPSU9RP (Major Projects in Sport Studies)
SPSU053 (Research Project in Sport Management)
