Social, Education and Healthcare

I commenced my PhD studies in October 2009, immediately after completion of my undergraduate degree. This research is supervised by Dr. Drew Harrison in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences and was supported by funding from the Irish Research Council. When this funding finished in 2012, I received further support from Plassey Campus Centre to continue my studies. Biomechanics and research modules were always my favourite part of my undergraduate degree, during which I had spent 8 months working with the Sports Biomechanics research group at Cardiff Metropolitan University. This experience on a number of different sports and engineering-related research projects confirmed to me that research postgraduate study in this area was something I was definitely interested in pursuing.

I work as part of the Biomechanics Research Unit on a method of assessing plantarflexor (calf muscle) function in a test condition which simulates hopping. My first year was primarily focused on review of the literature to identify suitable research questions, running pilot studies to determine the feasibility of the proposed methods and completion of ethics applications. I also spent a period of time at the University of Bath and Manchester Metropolitan University in the UK to acquire training in measurement methods not used in Ireland. That initial year laid the foundations for subsequent data collection and analysis.

Throughout my PhD, I have also been involved in teaching on a number of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, which has greatly enhanced my CV and puts me in good stead for future employability. Since 2010 I have travelled to and presented my findings at conferences in the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Hong Kong and Taiwan, each of them invaluable experiences in terms of networking and dissemination of my research. Without a doubt, however, one of the highlights of my PhD to date was the publication of the first journal article from the thesis in early 2013.