Research

Evelyn's PhD focused on the usefulness of video based demonstrations in skill acquisition, particularly examining the impact of these demonstrations in conveying much of the richness required by the observer to accurately replicate the viewed action. Her research experience in this area has led to her belief that educators continue to ignore much of the evidence base when using this particular method of instruction.

Building upon this interest in skill acquisition she has a keen interest in the development of visual search strategies to aid sports performance and has most recently become part of the supervisory team for a postgraduate student who is working in this area. Outside of her subject specialist area, Evelyn is currently engaged in collaborative research with Edge Hill colleagues linked to emotional intelligence and its implications for transition, retention and achievement which is in keeping with her ethos of a learner centred approach.

• Football related topics (wide range of interests from role of agents to occupational culture in professional football clubs and coaching)
• Migration of football coaching and playing talent
• Social, Political and Cultural influences on PE/Education policy
• Inclusion, behaviour management and healthy schools
• PE/ Sport education Pedagogy
• Learning through Physical Education

Tony's main research interest is in the field of community sports development, particularly enabling local residents to take control of the provision and management of physical activities in their locality. Associated with this theme is the examination of how sport and physical activity is delivered at community level to enhance people's ability to engage in activity. To this end he has been engaged in providing consultancy advice to various village and parish councils to assist them in producing a sports strategy to benefit their communities.

Craig's research interests include:

• The physiology of intermittent exercise
• Exercise recovery
• Martial arts
• Ergogenic aids
• Performance enhancement in elite sport

Craig's doctoral research has focused on examining the physiological demands of competitive Taekwondo. To date the majority of this research has been undertaken in collaboration with the Great Britain national team and the findings have directly influenced the structure of conditioning sessions in preparation for international competition. Results from these studies have also been published as conference proceedings and in peer-reviewed journals.

Emma is currently involved in a research project lead by Professor Helen Whiteley (Edge Hill University) which aims to explore the relationships between emotional intelligence, transition, retention and achievement in undergraduate students. In 2008, she also worked as a Research Assistant on the York Assessment of Reading for Comprehension (YARC) project headed by the University of York (Dr Sue Stothard) which in 2009 has resulted in the development of a new suite of reading assessments for school children aged four to sixteen years (see publication references).

Emma’s own research interests include emotional intelligence in sport and exercise settings, and the training and development of sport psychologists. A combination of these topics is the proposed research area of her PhD.

Visual Perception and Action in Sport examines the information which is perceived by the human visual system and the way it is utilised to support actions in sport.The following projects are currently being undertaken in several areas related to the broad themes of expert performance and visual perception:

• Reliability of relevant measures of visual performance in a sporting context including eye muscle, visual acuity and visual field test (perimetry).
• Establish whether visual performance remains consistent, or fluctuates, and to examine the influence of fatigue on visual performance in a sport setting.
• The Implementation of a visual training intervention to improve sport performance.

Athlete preparation and conditioning, impact of LTAD

• Sports injury, and rehabilitation
• Manual therapy
• Electrotherapy

• Accommodating learning styles and motivational climates to educate and enhance successful performance in football.
• The role of reflective practice within coaching.

Matt’s primary interest follows the completion of his PhD, entitled 'The influence of fatigue on the mechanisms of soccer injury'.  This work has been published in a range of international peer-reviewed journals, and at a number of international conferences. Matt has a strong interest in sports biomechanics, and particularly in performance enhancement and/or injury prevention. The development of a protocol to simulate the demands of professional football has created opportunity for collaboration with physiologists, nutritionists and psychologists.

Matt’s current work involves the investigation of football tournaments as opposed to a single game, based on his experiences with the England football teams, and on the biomechanics of sprinting in football.  Matt also collaborated with Dr David Marchant in the department to provide the biomechanics strand to investigating the influence of attentional focus on the developments in strength training and injury rehabilitation.

• technique development in football, female and young performers. Any areas of support for Ladies/girls football.
• Analysis of the Long jump Technique in Novice young females current research (Ph.D) in 3D kinematics and kinetics of Long Jump Technique with particular reference to novices
• E-learning and ICT specialisms
• Safeguarding in Sport
• Inclusive and creative development of teaching Biomechanics to GCSE and A level using ICT
• Reflective practice in prospective teachers

• Personal and professional Development at HE Level
• PDP champion at Edge Hill to represent the faculty, and at institutional level around the country
• Actively involved in the development of PDP in other Higher Educational Establishments
• Employability Skills
• Blended Learning and E-Learning
• E-Portfolios
• Complementary Therapies

Previous degree-based research looked at the psychosocial effects of illness and injury in elite performers, and mental excellence in elite performers. I am in the early stages of PhD research into best practice in the supervision of trainee sport psychologists.

Sport politics, policy and practice at the level of local authorities.

This can include previous, current and future research interests.  Include details of any research groups you are a member of either internally or externally. Marks main interests at Masters level lay In proprioception of the ankle joint in young professional footballers and he is still involved in this area.

• Human Performance: The effects of attentional focus on movement execution and learning in sport, exercise and rehabilitative settings.
• Exercise psychology: exercise behavior uptake and maintenance, acute bouts of and long-term participation in exercise and mental and cognitive health, exercise dependence, exertion tolerance.

Pascual’s current research focuses on the mathematical modelling of aerodynamics and physics in sport. Research projects are assisted by avant-garde technology including computer aided design (CAD) for engineering, using a multi-disciplinary approach. The most recent projects encompass wing design for Formula 1 racing, optimization of aerodynamic stability in ski jumping, and the simulation of atmosphere physical properties and their influence on cycling performance.

Kelly is currently undertaking a PhD investigating Pineal Function and Exercise with specific reference to thermoregulation; she is a member of the LJMU chronobiology research group. The PhD reflects her main research interests of thermoregulation, circadian rhythms and sports performance.

In addition to this Kelly has conducted a number of projects relating to anthropometric and physiological characteristics of elite water polo players, based on a successful institutional research development funding bid. This reflects her keen interest in applied sports performance with further research relating to the physiological profiling of various athletes, reliability and validity of tests, and the monitoring of sports performers.

• Sport Policy Analysis
• The Policy Context of Sport Coaching
• Sport Development including the development of young people in sport
• Football Development
• The application of sociological and political science theories to grassroots sport

• As a department we are developing the 'Edge Hill PE in Sport Forum' to develop extra curriculum links with neighboring schools
• Ongoing research towards producing a GCSE resource pack for teachers
• Personal tutoring in Higher Education

Andy's current research projects include work on nutritional interventions, multi-sport events, cycling, running, football, anthropometry, energy expenditure and substrate oxidation. He has general interests in nutrition, substrate metabolism, environmental exercise physiology, acute responses to endurance exercise and measurement error.

Alan has recently completed work dealing with the alignment of teaching philosophy and teacher actions. This has been expanded to look at how constructivist teaching impacts upon the philosophies of prospective physical education teachers and whether this is an influence upon their own teaching actions.

The areas of teaching and learning interest Alan, and he has spent time examining the notion of schools only teaching pupils knowledge required to pass examinations, rather than teaching pupils a thorough understanding of the syllabus content. This research looked into the transition from school to Higher Education, and sought to identify similarities and differences between the learning and the teaching.

He is keen to examine whether students in Higher Education are being equipped by schools to adequately prepare them for academic study.

Dean’s research for his Master’s in Learning and Teaching dissertation looked at the role of personal development planning in developing vocationality of undergraduate physical education students. He has an interest in the pedagogy of physical education and the teaching of athletics within the school context, particularly in relation to both pupil experiences and students and teachers teaching strategies in the activities. He also has a keen interest in health and safety issues within physical education. He is working on a joint project looking at Leadership in Physical Education and also teacher’s perceptions of health and safety within physical education.

In other areas, Dean undertook research in the USA comparing the training and assessment of track and field officials with that in the UK.

• Social, Political, Economic and Cultural influences on PE
• History of PE
• Gifted and Talented
• The teaching of Games in schools