Research
Research is vital for any HE institution and SES is no exception. Research is conducted by everyone –staff and students, ranging from mini-projects associated with assessments to full blown articles published in peer-reviewed journals.
Read on if you want to find out more about:
SES Staff Research
All staff within SES are research active and engage in continuous scholarly activity. This means that all our modules on the degrees will be underpinned by current practice. This makes for both interesting teaching and learning. Whenever possible we incorporate leading-edge research into our assessments as well.
Our research interest is diverse:
Colin Hill is an applied researcher who is looking at the differences in training behaviours in professional and amateur rugby union players. He is trying to discover which constructs, if any, are important in training for professional players in rugby union. Based around seven constructs, Colin is collecting data from coaches and players about their training behaviours. Once this study has been completed Colin will use an intervention strategy to try and improve the training behaviours of professional rugby union players.
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Karen Rhys Jones is interested in all age phases of physical education in schools. Currently her main focus is on the Foundation Phase and how it will impact on childrens' physical development and subsequently their physical education.
Dr Duncan Mascarenhas is an applied sport psychology researcher interested in training interventions to improve team decision-making. With specific expertise in the performance and training of elite sports officials, Duncan is currently researching elite football referees with colleagues in New Zealand and Germany.
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Tim Donovan is an applied physiologist specialising in ergogenic aids and pacing strategies in aerobic sports, predominantly rowing but the principles have been applied to athletics and cycling. In addition Tim is a qualified strength and conditioning coach which has opened up additional opportunities to investigate the use of ergogenic aids in the development of strength and power during training and competition.
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Sue Taylor’s principal area of research is now obesity and the fitness of school-aged children but she still has a keen interest in the applied physiology of elite athletes. Sue's current study is investigating the health and fitness of Wrexham school children.
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Our top snippets of staff research news
1. Dr Duncan Mascarenhas and a colleague from Manchester Metropolitan University (his former volleyball coach Dr Nick Smith) recently submitted their final proofs of a book chapter due to go to press later this year.
The book, entitled Performance Psychology for Physical Challenge and edited by researchers from the University of Edinburgh, includes contributions from collaborators from across the globe. Duncan commented: “It’s great to present your ideas alongside some of the world’s experts in sport psychology, and for me personally a great chance to catch up with my former coach and mentor, and to be able to share my ideas with a highly respected academic”.
The book chapter, entitled Developing the Performance Brain: Decision Making Under Pressure, provides an overview of contemporary theories into the effects of stress upon decision making, and highlights a range of activities for training decision makers to perform under pressure.
2. Dr Sue Taylor, along with Jonathan Miller from Wrexham County Borough Council, recently provided a fascinating talk as part of the Wrexham Science Festival. The lecture, The impact of inactivity on the future health of our children: the appliance of science, included Sue and Jonathan outlining an exciting research project planned for the coming months. This project will assess the fitness levels of selected primary school children within the Wrexham area.
This will be a major piece of research, with staff and students from Sport and Exercise Sciences, assisted by representatives from Wrexham County Borough Council, aiming to get some 400 local primary school children to complete a questionnaire and undertake basic fitness tests. The questionnaire will record the pupils’ attitude to healthy eating and physical activity.
Sue will use the findings to explain how we can work collaboratively to improve the health and well-being of our children within the Wrexham area. More details to follow shortly.
It's not just staff that research. Students, at all levels, also do so. Final year students complete a 10,000 word dissertation - a major piece of independent research when you will investigate something of interest to you that obviously falls within the remit of your programme.
- Does exercise adherence change female participants' self-efficacy over the first weeks of an exercise programme?
- Use of imagery techniques to reduce anxiety during novice skill acquisition of the kayak 'wet exit'.
- The revised NCPE 2008: meeting the needs of the Governments Physical Activity Recommendations?
- The impact of a 5x60 officer on the development of participation in extra curricular activities in secondary school children and how?
- Test-retest reliability of Eurofit-test for year 3 and year 5 primary school children.
- The 5 hour offer – what are the challenges of ensuring schools can meet this policy directive: a case study approach.
- ‘Community Sport Development’ – a contested concept.
- Representation of women in the media – the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
- Competitive state anxiety in soccer: fluctuations throughout competition.
- Migration of elite basketball players: constraints and issues.
- National and local identity of a North Wales Football Club.
- Notational analysis - does it work?
- The effects of carbonated drinks as an ergogenic aid in hill walking performance.
Our top snippet of student research news
It has now become a tradition in SES that we send some of our best students to the annual BASES research conference. In 2007, our students impressed ‘the crowd’ with their forward-thinking ideas and efficient presentation style. This was very much the same at the 2008 Annual BASES Student Conference that took place in Bedford, where hundreds of sport scientists from across the UK were present. The conference was aimed at anyone with an interest in sport and exercise sciences to present their research, find out about other areas of research, learn about current issues, take part in interactive workshops and become part of the largest sport and exercise sciences network in the UK.
Our students gave impressive and intriguing presentations that were appreciated both by their peers and academics from other HEIs. In fact, the presentations delivered by our students were so well received that they were offered MSc opportunities by a number of universities. This is an achievement that we can definitely be proud of.
Presenters included:
Tim Ballam – The effect of passive and two types of active recovery on boxing-simulated exercise in amateur boxers.
Jason Edwards – The effect of dynamic and static stretching on speed and power in adolescent footballers.
Simon Perry- A naturalistic assessment of cricket umpires' leg before wicket (LBW) decisions.
