Professionals

Professor Klaus Nielsen is a Professor of Institutional Economics at Birkbeck, University of London, and a member of the Birkbeck Sport Business Centre. He teaches courses in research methods, innovation, European business, and the economics of sport.

His research spans a wide range of topics, including:

• Varieties of capitalism

• Innovation

• Social capital

• The economics of elite sports

Professor Nielsen has coordinated several research projects focusing on:

• Danish elite sports

• Sports participation

• Broader economic aspects of sport

His notable scholarly contributions include co-authoring influential works such as When Sport Meets Business: Capabilities, Challenges, Critiques (2017) and Professional Team Sports and the Soft Budget Constraint (2022). Additionally, he played an instrumental role in establishing the Danish elite sport organization, Team Danmark, and his expertise has been sought for external evaluations of elite sport by the Finnish and Swedish governments in 2022 and 2024, respectively.