Brendan is an early career researcher and lecturer in Health and Physical Education in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences (PESS) at the University of Limerick. Brendan is actively involved in multiple research projects including, Erasmus+ funded Before Project (co principal investigator), Irish Research Council (Youth-Fit Project) and Sport Ireland CSPPA Steering Committee. Brendan has an established international research network, including ongoing collaborations with the Fitback Europe consortium and the RT4Teens intervention in Australia. Brendan has had multiple collaborations with Dept. of Education on health promotion initiatives in schools and the Professional Development Service for Teachers who have used my research to inform practice in schools.  

Brendan is principal investigator on Project REACH (Resistance Exercise for Adolescents in School Settings) and the Youth-Fit Project (pedagogically-sound and scientifically rigorous approach to monitoring key indicators of adolescent health in schools). In October of 2022, Brendan was elected Vice-President of the Physical Education Association of Ireland. Brendan’s current and future research interests very much align with both the lifestyle and health (predominantly) and Health Technologies HRI research themes.  

 

Publications

O’Keeffe B.T., Donnelly A.E. and MacDonncha C. (2020) Test-retest reliability of student administered health-related fitness tests in school settings. Paediatric Exercise Science. https://doi.org/10.1123/pes.2019  

O’Keeffe B.T., MacDonncha C, Ng K and Donnelly A.E. (2020) Health-Related Fitness Monitoring Practices in Secondary School-Based Physical Education Programmes. JTPE: 1-27. 10.1123/jtpe.2018-0336  

O’Keeffe B.T., MacDonncha C., Purtill H., and Donnelly A.E. (2021). Profiling the health-related fitness levels of Irish adolescents: An educational (dis)advantage divide? PLOS one. https://doi.org/10.1371   

Ortega FB, Leskošek B, Blagus R, O’Keeffe B.T., et al (2022) European fitness landscape for children and adolescents: updated reference values, fitness maps and country rankings based on nearly 8 million test results from 34 countries gathered by the FitBack network. BJSM 10.1136/bjsports-2022-106176    

Rocliffe, P., O’Keeffe, B.T., Walsh, L. et al. (2023) The Impact of Typical School Provision of Physical Education, Physical Activity and Sports on Adolescent Physical Activity Behaviours: A Systematic Literature Review. Adolescent Research Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40894-022-00200-w