Biography

My background is as an applied physiology practitioner. I have previously worked with the Canadian Institute of Sport across a diverse range of summer and winter Olympic sports. I supported the delivery of a physiological support, education and testing programmes to both national and development athletes and coaches. Following a move to the UK, I worked with the Performance Pathways Team and the Intensive Rehabilitation Unit at the English Institute of Sport.  Within my Performance Pathways role I focussed on supporting and researching the developmental trajectories of rowers.

Subsequently, I moved into academia, completing my PhD on Athlete Monitoring in Elite Sport. I am still researching in this area and I enjoy identifying and solving monitoring issues in sport with the aim of providing practical and feasible solutions for practitioners working at the coal-face.  I now work at the University of Portsmouth as a Senior Lecturer in Physiology (Sport and Performance) and I am their course leader for the MSc Sports Performance programme.

Research interests

Following my career in industry as a physiologist, I am interested in research that makes a positive difference on the ground to both the performance and experiences of practitioners, coaches and athletes. My research to date has focussed primarily on athlete and training load monitoring. Specifically:

  • Athlete monitoring in elite sport.
  • Fatigue and fitness testing/measurement.
  • Validity and reliability of subjective and objective markers of training response and load.
  • Multi-disciplinary team perceptions of the barriers to the effectiveness of monitoring.
  • Talent identification and development.

Teaching responsibilities

I am currently module leader for the third year module "Applications of Exercise Physiology" and the MSc module "Applied Sports Physiology." I am the course leader for MSc Sports Performance.