SHPRC Lecture Series

UPCOMING SHPRC SEMINARS

RECENT SHPRC SEMINARS

• Presenter: Dr Barney Wainwright, (Leeds Beckett, U.K.). Title: ‘Aero 101'.  January 18th 2024.  View Seminar here.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJJtfLs0Zh8
  
  Barney is an applied sports scientist who specialises in the integration of cycling biomechanics and aerodynamics to enhance cycling performance. Barney combines a role as a Senior Research Fellow at Leeds Beckett University, where he carries out research projects and supervises PhD candidates, with consultancy across the cycling industry to athletes, professional teams and equipment and clothing manufacturers. Barney is familiar with the high performance environment having provided direct support to Olympic athletes over 4 Olympic cycles and having been a member of Team GB support staff at the Athens and Beijing Olympic Games, as well as for Team Canada at the Vancouver winter Olympics.

• Presenter: Alex Wolf (Strength and Conditioning Academy, U.K.). Title: ‘Adaptation Led: More than just effective programming’.  November 8th, 13h00. View Seminar here at: https://youtu.be/KX6uSsZiOsI
   

  Alex is the founder of Strength and Conditioning Academy which provides education and consultancy support around the technical and non-technical practitioner and leadership skills to governing bodies, sports teams, and direct to individuals. Alex is also the lead author and content creator for Science of Rowing, a monthly publication and resource translating science into practical application.  Alex has spent over 20 years working in elite and high-performance sport having spent 15 years working at the UK Sports Institute. Alex spent five years as the UKSI Head of Strength and Conditioning overseeing 65+ coaches across 35+ sports. Alex spent a further two years as Head of Learning and Development, leading on the organisation learning and personal development of the entire organisation.  Alex continues to consult widely to National Olympic Committees, Premier League football clubs, national coaching federations and to world-class athletes. Alex currently sits on the Coaching Commission for World Skate and on the Technical Panel for British Rowing Beach Sprints Programme. Alex has authored two books around rowing strength and conditioning and has strong interests in problem-solving and aligning training to performance outcomes which he has several peer-reviewed articles published.

• Presenter: Dr Cormac Powell, Sport Ireland High Performance Unit.  Title: "Practical Applications of Athlete Monitoring" - March 23rd, 2023.  View Seminar here: https://youtu.be/CZ0tCiPAC_c
  
  Dr. Cormac Powell is part of the Sport Ireland High Performance Unit, which aims to support the achievement of a number of objectives, primarily the delivery of systemic and sustained success at European, World, Olympic and Paralympic level. As the High Performance System Evaluation Manager, Dr. Powell manages the systematic approach to researching, monitoring and evaluating high performance sport. Cormac has a PhD in Physical Activity and Cardiometabolic Health from the University of Limerick, and held a post-doctoral position in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences also at UL, where he was the project manager for a large all-Ireland physical activity surveillance study. Dr. Powell has a strong publication profile in topics ranging from physical activity and cardiometabolic health, to performance trends/predictions and the physiology of high performance athletes. Cormac was previously Associate Head of Performance Services (Applied) with Swim Ireland, where he oversaw for national swimmers the sports science and sports medicine (SSSM) interventions and projects, in the disciplines of physiology, performance analysis, biomechanics, lifestyle and psychology.  Dr. Powell discussed his current role with Sport Ireland as well as athlete monitoring processes within Swim Ireland.

• Presenter: Dr Tom Allen, Senior Lecturer in Sports Engineering, Department of Engineering at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK.   Title: The Tennis Racket - Thursday 16th March, 2023.

  Dr Thomas Allen is a Senior Lecturer in Sports Engineering, based in the Department of Engineering at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He is a chartered engineer, Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (IMechE), and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA) UK. Thomas' work focuses on the effect of engineering and technology on sport, in terms of performance, participation and injury risk. Thomas is the editor-in-chief of the journal Sports Engineering, associated with the International Association of Sports Engineering (ISEA). A regular part of his work is as a science communicator and he has delivered invited talks at the Royal Institution’s Faraday Lecture Theatre and the Danish Design Centre, and for a number of organisations, including the Institution of Engineering and Technology, the British Institute of Non-destructive Testing and ANSYS. Dr Allen’s talk focused on the engineering and technology of the tennis racket, development of materials, and design changes over the years. 
   

• Presenter: Dr John Mulvihill (Lecturer, Biomedical Engineering, Bernal Institute, UL).  Title: Concussion Biomechanics.  February 9th 2023. 

  Dr John Mulvihill is a Marie-Curie Fellow and has spent time in Trinity College Dublin, Georgia Tech as well as collaborating with MedTech companies nationally (Class Medical, Serosep, Atlantic Therapeutics) and internationally (Boston Scientific, Beckman Coulter, Neuravi). His current scientific activities are based on two strands; biomechanics and cellular mechanobiology. In the context of the brain they are interlinked as mechanical stimulation causes alterations to how cells behave in the brain. With this in mind, Dr Mulvihill’s research aims are to study cell behaviour under various loading conditions that mimic concussion. Further, Dr Mulvihill wants to identify and measure the brain derived proteins that enter the bloodstream which can be used as biomarkers for disease. This work will be a crucial step in understanding how and why certain proteins enter the blood and the significant step in developing a device for real-time concussion diagnosis. Dr. Mulvihill leads the concussion research strand within UL IRIS' research collaboration with the Irish Rugby Football Union.

• Presenter: Ruth Wood-Martin (Registered Dietician, ).  Title: Lessons Learned from a Career in Sport. January 9th 2023. View Seminar here: https://youtu.be/GV6mUV2Snps
  
  Ruth Wood-Martin is a Dietitian (RD) registered with the Health and Care Professionals Council (HCPC).  After 16 years of service as the Head of Nutrition with the IRFU, working primarily with the Senior Men’s squad, Ruth has recently retired (2022) from this position, having developed a nutrition team of 11 Performance Nutritionists across Elite Player Pathways and professional rugby programmes on the island of Ireland.  Throughout her career, Ruth has promoted the value of research to develop both performance nutrition practice and practitioners.  She has been directly involved in research on gut health in professional rugby players as well as examining the dietary behaviours and attitudes of young players to nutrition.  
  
   
• Presenter: Dr Amy Whitehead (Liverpool John Moores, U.K.)  Title: The Multiple Uses of Think Aloud across diverse domains. December 6th 2022.  View Seminar here: https://youtu.be/o7SdEO-0h6c 

  Dr Amy Whitehead is a Reader in Sport Psychology and Coaching, and Lead of the Coaching and Pedagogy Research Group. Amy is currently research active in the areas of decision making, using Think Aloud protocol analysis and coach education. Within the Think Aloud protocol, participants (e.g., coaches, athletes, analysts, referees) verbalise their thoughts while they are performing some task; for example, a coach deciding what feedback to provide or a golfer evaluating what shot to play. Dr Amy Whitehead, has successfully applied the Think Aloud protocol when working with high performance golfers and Australian Rules footballers on their performance routines, to understand the stressors and coping responses of cricketers, to aid coaches develop their reflective practice, to explore decision making processes amongst gymnastics judges, and many more domains.  In this talk, Amy provides an overview of her experiences using the protocol to achieve a range of outcomes as a researcher, coach developer and sport psychology consultant.
   

• Presenter: Dr John Kiely (University of Limerick).  Title: The science underpinning the Art of Coaching:  How to optimise the non-physical drivers of performance, injury and rehabilitation.  November 22nd, 2022.
  
  John Kiely's prior professional experiences include working as a coaching practitioner at the 2018 FIFA soccer World cup, the 2015 Rugby World cup, the 2008 Olympics and the 2004 Paralympics as well as both junior and senior IAAF World Athletics championships. During this time he has worked with a number of Olympic and World championship medalists in a variety of sports including, for example, Phillips Idowu, Triple-jump, World Silver (2011), European Gold (2010), World Gold (2009), Olympic Silver (2008); Germaine Mason, High Jump, Olympic Silver (2008) and Laura Massaro, squash World Champion (2013).  In his current role at the University of Limerick, John supervises Professional Doctorate candidates pursuing practice-based doctoral level qualifications while working in professional multi-disciplinary performance environments. 

• Presenter: James Goodwin (Swiss Rowing Team). Title: Application of the Critical Power Model in Rowing.  September 9th 2022.  View Seminar here: https://youtu.be/YDILuBfPx6U
  
  James Goodwin has worked as the physical performance and sport science lead for the Swiss Rowing team for the past 5 years and previously worked as strength and conditioning coach for the British Rowing team. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Sport and Exercise Science and is currently studying for a Master’s degree in physiotherapy.  James has also worked within a multisport background including hockey, football, rugby and boxing.