Sports communication, professional identity, impression management, relationship management, team culture, media discourse, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, genre and register, qualitative research methods.

Kieran's research explores how professional athletes, coaches and managers use language when engaged in team and media communication. His PhD looked at the language of post-match interviews and identified patterns related to this genre of language use. His current research focus is on how athletes, coaches and managers build team culture through their communication choices. Kieran also applies his research to help professional athletes, coaches and managers with their communication needs. The Academy Project aims to help provide young players with media education earlier in their careers. He also helps players, coaches and managers with public and team-directed communication issues emerging in their specific sporting contexts.