Durban - Driving out online abuse in sport around the world is behind a new plan to offer scholarships to earn a degree.
“This is a global scholarship offered by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). There are six available to anyone around the world, and we hope South Africans apply and that at least one of the six is awarded to them,” said Motorsport South Africa chairperson and FIA Senate member Anton Roux.
“It is a global degree offered by the University of Dublin ‒ where the FIA is partnering with Dublin City University (DCU) Business School ‒ one of the lead partners on the Tackling Online Hate in Football project funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council and the Irish Research Council. This research initiative will expand DCU Business School’s research on hate speech and online abuse into other sports, including motor sports.”
Roux was responding to a recent statement by FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem, who spoke about recent cases of online abuse in motorsport, tarnishing its image. Last year, female FIA steward Silvia Bellot was the subject of death threats after her decision to penalise two-time Formula 1 World Champion Fernando Alonso during the US Grand Prix. He initially finished seventh before being demoted to 15th, only to be reinstated at seventh.
Roux says that globally, marshals and officials of the sport needed to be applauded rather than subjected to any kind of hate speech on social channels.
“They volunteer their time for racing and, as Ben Sulayem says, it is ‘utterly deplorable’ that a volunteer such as Bellot, or any of our marshals and officials, are the subject of such hatred.”
He added that without these people, there would be no racing, and if this kind of behaviour was left unchecked, it could destroy the sport.
The FIA’s Member Clubs in 146 countries and their local academic partners have an opportunity to have their students participate in the selection process for the scholarship.
The scholarship will be a distance-learning programme spanning two years part-time and starting in January 2024.
Applications for the scholarships close on September 30. For further information and an e-brochure, visit https://www.fia.com/news/fia-announces-global-research-scholarships-part-online-abuse-campaign or contact scholarship@fia.com.
The Independent on Saturday