Declan Hill, D.Phil.

Declan Hill headshot
Associate Professor

Division of Government and Public Service, Investigations Program
Henry C. Lee College of Criminal Justice and Forensic Sciences
Education

D.Phil., Oxford University

B.A, University of Toronto

About Declan

Declan Hill is a journalist, academic and consultant. He is one of the world’s foremost experts on match fixing and corruption in international sports. In 2008, Hill, as a Chevening Scholar, obtained his doctorate in Sociology at the University of Oxford.

His book ‘The Fix: Organized Crime and Soccer’ has appeared in twenty-one languages. Hill was the first person to show the new danger to international sport posed by the globalization of the gambling market and match-fixing at the highest levels of professional football (soccer) including the Champions League and FIFA World Cup tournaments. Part of the book details his involvement with an Asian match-fixing gang as they travelled around the world to fix major football matches.

Hill has also published a number of academic articles, was a reviewer for Global Integrity and has probed the impact of the Russian mafia on professional ice hockey in the NHL. In 2011, he pioneered the first on-line anti-match-fixing education course for Sport Accord that was eventually used by Interpol – the International Police Force.

In his spare time, Hill is a keen amateur boxer and martial arts enthusiast. He leads groups of recreational and competitive fighters to train in Havana, Cuba. On March 31, 2012, Hill won a charity boxing match that was part of the historic Trudeau-Brazeau night – as part of Fight for the Cure in support the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation.

Hill speaks four languages – English, French, Spanish and (poor) Italian.

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Publications

Declan Hill has written journal articles, book sections and an academic book Insider’s Guide to Match-Fixing in Football to explain the new phenomenon of globalization and match-fixing in professional sports.

Hill’s other academic interests are corruption studies, organized crime and ‘informal governance’ – or the analysis of power structures in societies that are outside formal governments.

Hill is driven by evidence-based work: research methods should fit the topic that is being examined, rather than shaping the topic to use a favourite research method. Therefore, Hill uses both qualitative (interviews, text analysis) and quantitative methods (statistics) in his research.

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News and In the Media

In the Media

CNN: Russia Keeps Up Attacks Despite Pledge to Scale Back

Vahid Behzadan, assistant professor of cybersecurity, computer and electrical engineering; Declan Hill, associate professor of investigations; Olena Lennon, an adjunct professor of political science and international affairs; David Sacco, a practitioner in residence of finance; and Howard Stoffer, professor of national security and international affairs, took part in a panel discussion on the war in Ukraine and it’s impact. The special program was part of collaboration with WFSB, with the show airing on WFSB+ and WFSB’s Facebook page.

In the Media

Eyewitness News 3: ANSWER DESK SPECIAL REPORT TONIGHT: Crisis in Ukraine

Vahid Behzadan, assistant professor of cybersecurity, computer and electrical engineering; Declan Hill, associate professor of investigations; Olena Lennon, an adjunct professor of political science and international affairs; David Sacco, a practitioner in residence of finance; and Howard Stoffer, professor of national security and international affairs, took part in a panel discussion on the war in Ukraine and its impact. The special program was part of collaboration with WFSB, with the show airing on WFSB+ and WFSB’s Facebook page.