Master of Research (MRes Science) projects in the Department of Sport and Exercise Science (September 2018 & January 2019)

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Neal Weaver
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1 Master of Research (MRes Science) projects in the Department of Sport and Exercise Science (September 2018 & January 2019) The Master of Research (MRes) Science course is a postgraduate course that will provide applicants with an opportunity to focus their research interests on one or two areas of science whilst also giving them the opportunity to work towards being able to translate their learning into research related outputs (e.g. submission for a peerreviewed publication, peer reviewed research / knowledge transfer grant application, presentations). The MRes Science can be studied either full time (one year) or part time (two years) and will enable students to develop a wide variety of skills, experience, and competence throughout their studies. The MRes will provide a thorough grounding should students consider moving towards Doctoral (PhD) studies, or pursue research related activities as a career. Further information can be obtained at The course is taught within the Faculty of Science and within the Department of Sport and Exercise Science. The projects for the September 2017 or January 2018 intake are shown below: Project Title: An analysis of market segmentation and product specificity in the sport of road cycling Supervisor: Dr Kieren McEwan Project Brief: Recent anecdotal evidence within the cycling industry has indicated the potential for a downturn in sales in the near future. At the same time the industry appears to be becoming increasingly specialised and new niche markets (e.g. gravel racing) have begun to emerge. Understanding the way that the cycling market is diversifying and pluralising is therefore key to understanding the potential consumers which make up the road cycling market. This project seeks to explore and chart the various market segments to assist those providing products and services to consumers within the cycling industry. Project Title: Exploring the potential health and social benefits of participation in walking football Supervisor: Dr Kieren McEwan Project Brief: Walking football is a recently devised variation of the sport and offers individuals the chance to continue to participate, regardless of their health status. Staying active into old age is well established as providing a positive health and social benefit to individuals. This project seeks to establish what health (both

2 physical and mental) and social benefits participants gain from being involved in walking football. The ultimate outcome of this investigation will be to provide further information for organisations with an interest in delivering exercise services related to health, wellbeing and ageing. Project Title: Exploring the association of task and ego orientation to competitiveness traits among cycle sports participants Supervisor: Dr Kieren McEwan Project Brief: Recent research on the sport of mountain biking has identified competitiveness as a defining trait characteristic. This has been established as a factor which defines difference between participants taking part in various formats of the sport. It has also been hypothesised that a link may exist between the task and ego orientation of participants and that this may also be related to competitiveness as a trait characteristics. This project aims to explore this hypothesis and establish whether these concepts can be linked through an observation of participants across a wide range of cycle sports. Project Title: The role of exercise testing in elective and non-elective surgical screening and the effect of exercise prescription in managing surgical risk. Supervisor: Dr Andrew Scott Project Brief: Pre-surgical exercise testing is increasingly commonplace in UK hospitals to enhance post-surgical management, however there is sparse evidence of exercise interventions to enhance post-surgical prognosis. This project aims to investigate the optimisation of exercise to enhance post-operative outcomes. Such projects may involve patient groups or apparently healthy participants for pilot study purposes. Project Title: Evaluating exercise referral services. Supervisor: Dr Andrew Scott Project Brief: Structured and supervised exercise has been demonstrated to improve numerous health outcomes.this project aims to investigate models of best practice and identify areas requiring optimisation in community exercise referral services, possibly with an emphasis on a specific referred medical condition.

3 Project Title: The use of exercise training for patients with long term conditions. Supervisor: Dr Andrew Scott Project Brief: This project aims to investigate the efficacy of exercise provision for patients with cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, cancer, stroke, long term neurological conditions or at risk of falls, such as increasing PA in patients with chronic heart failure, increasing PA in DESMOND attendees, enhancing exercise maintenance in COPD and facilitating graduation from phase III to phase IV in patients with cardiovascular disease. This project could also investigate the feasibility of using established clinical exercise services for other non-commissioned clinical disorders/services. Project Title: Multi segment neuromuscular changes during impact in response to anticipated and unanticipated post landing movement direction Supervisor: Dr Chris Mills Project Brief: In order to control landings the central nervous system must provide effective strategies involving the adaption of both the neuromuscular and kinematic parameters to adequately attenuate impact forces and to control joint loading.the task specific requirements of a landing that requires an immediate re-direction of the body s centre of mass may require different pre landing and landing mechanics. The current project will seek to analyse and understand how neuromuscular control of movement patterns during flight and landing are modulated depending upon anticipated and unanticipated post landing movement direction. Project Title: The development of a non-invasive method of assessing muscle temperature in humans Supervisors: Dr Joe Costello and Dr Heather Massey Project Brief: At present, measurement of muscle temperature is a time consuming, invasive, and expensive technique that requires trained staff and represents a risk for contamination. Therefore, a method for tracking muscle temperature noninvasively would be useful, especially during exposure to environmental extremes and during exercise. This project seeks to develop a non-invasive, practical, and inexpensive method of assessing intramuscular temperature when human are exposed to extremes of temperature. Project Title: The optimisation of training methods for improving perceptual skill Supervisor: Dr Matt Dicks

4 Project Brief: Current perceptual skill training approaches are based on the assumption that replication of one expert s gaze pattern will lead to improvements in performance for all individuals. However, research has indicated variation in the gaze patterns of experts, leading to questions over the suitability of typical training approaches. This project will therefore seek to examine how the scheduling of different training interventions, based on the variation of different expert examples, impact upon on skill learning. Research in this area spans across a range of different domains including sport performance and health care settings. Project Title: Examining the working practices and operational environments of referees from a transnational comparative perspective Supervisor: Dr Tom Webb Project Brief: Projects would examine the current environments that match officials operate within, this could be domestically in a chosen sport or across sports, or in a number of European countries through comparative analysis. The research will aim to develop a depth of information around this subject area and to provide guidelines, policy recommendations and interventions to inform governing bodies in order to improve operational environments. Research will be explorative, given the lack of current research in this subject area. The research will be interdisciplinary in nature, predominantly focusing on management and social science approaches. Project Title: The Impact of Professionalisation on Women s Football Supervisor: Dr Mike Rayner Project Brief: With an estimated 26 million female players globally, of which 6 million are based in Europe, the evolution of football as a sport and as an industry over the last sixty years has been dramatic. When we look at elites able to earn a living from the game, a gender disparity is amplified: if there are 60,000 professional players registered in Europe, for example, very few are women. This is striking because the idea of amateurism has, to a large degree, defined what it is to be a professional. Even under FIFA rules, if a player earns more for their football-playing activity than the expenses that are incurred in performing those duties, they must have a written contract and are thereby considered a professional. While those who do not meet these criteria are considered amateurs, the word professional encompasses a considerable range of activity, from the essentially casual participant supplementing their main income through football, to the multi-millionaire players of Europe's big five leagues in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. This research project is to examine the direct impact that the Professionalisation has had on Women s football? The project will involve both qualitative and quantitative methodological approaches in order to fully examine the phenomena of Professionalism within Women s football and will be interdisciplinary in nature.

5 Project Title: The History of Women s Rugby Union in England Supervisor: Dr Mike Rayner Project Brief: The game of rugby has changed significantly in the course of its history. In the early part of the 19 th century it evolved from a folk game played by ruffians to a recreational activity of custom and ritual for public schoolboys (Collin, 2009, Harris, 2010, Smart, 2009). From the 1820s rugby represented an opportunity for gentlemen to demonstrate physical prowess and masculinity and in more recent times it has developed into an activity that reflects the changing attitudes towards professional sport. For the most part of the last one hundred years, rugby union has been arguably the dominant winter sport of the British upper and middle classes, predominantly the male members of the emergent entrepreneurial class. However in recent times, contact sports such as rugby union has seen a challenge to this central male hegemony through the evolution of the nexus between the issues of embodiment, professionalism and sexuality. This research proposes to explore the historical evolution of women s rugby union and contextualize its development in the modern sporting landscape. Project Title: Biomechanical asymmetry related to recovery following anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction Supervisor : Dr Tim Exell Project Brief: Incident rates of ACL rupture are greatest in year olds at almost 1-in-1,000. Injuries to the ACL can severely impact on mobility, physical activity and quality of life. Furthermore, ACL injuries account for some of the largest amounts of time lost to injury in elite sports people, at a substantial cost to players and their clubs. The aim of this project is to use biomechanical indicators of asymmetry to inform recovery from ACL reconstruction. The research will involve collection of biomechanical data from a control group and participants that have previously undergone ACL reconstruction to assess how well people recover from the injury in comparison to a non-injured control group. Project Title: Within-Game Thriving in Sport Performers Supervisor: Dr Daniel J Brown Project Brief: Sport performers can respond to the demands they experience in competition in a number of ways. For example, they may succumb to the pressures, they may manage them adequately, or they may thrive on them; that is, they may experience both development and success. Recent literature has suggested that a

6 possible explanation for thriving may be the ability of performers to separate their matches into to positive and negative phases (e.g., poor first half, excellent second half). This project seeks to examine whether performers do evaluate match phases differently and how this affects their experience of thriving. Project Title: An Exploration of Thriving in Sports Coaches Supervisors: Dr Daniel J. Brown and Dr Richard Thelwell Project Brief: The ability of sports coaches to cope with the demands they experience has important implications on their own performances and those displayed by their athletes. A growing body of literature has examined how coaches respond to these demands and the strategies they employ; however, no knowledge exists on the most adaptive of these responses (thriving). To provide insight in this area, this project will explore coaches experiences of thriving, the impact that it has, and the factors that may facilitate it. Project Title: The Lasting Effects of Being a Student-Athlete Supervisor: Dr Daniel J. Brown Project Brief: During their time at university, student-athletes experience simultaneous transitions in athletic, academic/vocational, psychosocial, and psychological areas of their lives. These transitions are often challenging and require personal adaptation for them to be made successfully. An increasing number of studies have provided insight into these alterations during a student-athletes time at university, but little is known about whether the transitions have any lasting effects on his or her post-university career. The purpose of this qualitative project is to explore this question and to develop an understanding of how any changes experienced as a student-athlete influence future live experiences. Project Title: Biomechanical asymmetry of step characteristics during running Supervisor : Dr Tim Exell Project Brief: Biomechanical asymmetry of step characteristics (step velocity, length and frequency) has been shown to be present in many athletes. Asymmetry of these variables may predispose athletes to injury due to increased loading of one limb and may impact running performance. Causes of asymmetry may include strength imbalances between limbs, differences in limb length or range of motion of one limb. The aim of this project is to investigate the relationship between step characteristic asymmetry and asymmetry of limb strength, length and range of motion to determine

7 whether a cause of asymmetry can be determined. The project will involve collection of kinematic data during running to calculate step characteristics and both kinematic and kinetic data during screening tests to assess for asymmetry of other variables. Key research paper / chapter to read to understand the area further: Exell, T.A., Irwin. G., Gittoes, M.J.R. & Kerwin, D.G. (2016). Strength and performance asymmetry during maximal velocity sprint running. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sport. Published On-line (DOI: /sms.12759). Project Title: Running biomechanics and treadmill incline Supervisors: Dr Chris Mills and Dr Tim Exell Project Brief: A 1% treadmill incline has been shown to replicate the energy demands of running overground. Although this incline may match the physiological energy demands, it may alter the running kinematics of the athlete from their preferred gait. Therefore, this project will aim to investigate running kinematics overground and during varying degrees of treadmill incline to find what treadmill incline best matches the kinematics of running overground. This project area will involve the collection of kinematic data using either optoelectronic or marker-less tracking. Key research paper / chapter to read to understand the area further: Swanson, S. & Caldwell, G. (2000). An integrated biomechanical analysis of high speed incline and level treadmill running. Medicine and Science in Sport and Exercise, 32, Schache et al. (2001). A comparison of overground and treadmill running for measuring the three dimensional kinematics of the lumbo-pelvic-hip complex. Clinical Biomechanics, 16, Project Title: Talent Identification and development in sports officials Supervisor: Dr Tom Webb Project brief: The identification and development of match officials in sport has never been more important. The retention of match officials is a significant consideration for governing bodies as the issues regarding the factors which cause drop out become more clear, such as abuse, lack of accessible support networks and time constraints, all impacting on the decisions of match officials on whether to continue in their chosen sport. Projects would examine the training of match officials

8 in order to prepare them for the different aspects and levels of performance (grassroots, children, adults and performance environments for example), the potential benefits of a wider development pathway and the importance of sampling or non specification of sports until the later teenage years. This would involve officiating across different sports in order to accelerate development skills in areas such as nonverbal behaviour and interpersonal skills in different environmental settings. Project Title: Exercise testing and training in individuals with chronic disease Supervisor: Dr Zoe Saynor & Dr Anthony Shepherd Project Brief: We would be happy for individuals to join the Clinical Health and Rehabilitation Team (CHaRT). Research will focus on exercise testing and training in individuals with chronic health conditions. We have current programmes of research running in the following groups which span both paediatric and adult care: cystic fibrosis (CF), non-cf bronchiectasis, asthma, diabetes, Raynaud s, joint hypermobility, arthritis, chronic kidney disease. There are also opportunities for those who may be interesting in physical activity and exercise interventions to improve the health of children and adolescents. END

Department of Sport and Exercise Science - MRes Science Projects 2016/17

Department of Sport and Exercise Science - MRes Science Projects 2016/17 The Master of Research (MRes) Science course is a postgraduate course that will provide applicants with an opportunity to focus