Dr Heather Dichter is associate professor of sport management and sport history in the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Montfort University (DMU) in Leicester. She is the programme leader for DMU’s Sport Management MSc and also teaches on the Sports History and Culture MA.

Heather’s research focuses on sport and diplomacy, with a particular focus on the occupation of Germany and the Cold War. Her books include Bidding for the 1968 Olympic Games: NATO's Cold War Battle with International Sport (Massachusetts, 2021), Soccer Diplomacy: International Relations and Football since 1914 (Kentucky, 2020), and, with Andrew Johns, Diplomacy Games: Sport, Statecraft, and International Relations since 1945 (Kentucky, 2014).

Heather studied history at the University of Michigan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the University of Toronto, where she earned her PhD in 2008. She has previously taught at Ithaca College and Western Michigan University before moving to England in 2017. She grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the heartland of field hockey in the United States and home of Spooky Nook, where the US Women’s National Team was based for several years.

Heather brings her academic and research experience to support The Hockey Museum’s activities.