Dr Furlong received her BSc and PhD from the University of Limerick, Ireland prior to completing post-doctoral research in soft tissue mechanics at Loughborough University, UK in collaboration with Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. She was appointed as faculty in the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences at Loughborough University in 2015, based in the National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine. In 2019 she was the first female recipient of the Hans Gros Emerging Researcher Award from the International Society of Biomechanics in Sports for excellence in early career research that bridges the gap between research and applied practice, and was appointed a Fellow of the Society in the same year. She returned to Ireland in August 2021 as a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Biomechanics at the University of Limerick.
Research Interests
Dr Furlong's research focuses on investigating neuromusculoskeletal mechanics during high impact sports movements such as running. To do this, she combines non-invasive in vivo measures of muscle and tendon structure and function with biomechanical analyses of movement, force and coordination. The ultimate goal of this research is to inform applied coaching and clinical practice in sports performance and sports medicine. This work has been funded by research councils (Irish Research Council; Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, UK), charities, and industry.
