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PhD year by year

After receiving your application, we try to establish if we have the necessary expertise to supervise your project and we begin to form a supervisory team for you. This will normally consist of a Director of Studies (DoS), who will be your lead supervisor, and at least one other supervisor, who will offer you additional support and guidance throughout your studies. If, following a successful interview, you are offered a place as a full-time student, your programme of study will look something like this:

Part time students follow the same structure as full-time students but normally complete the PhD over a period of five to six years. Part-time students take two modules in each of their first two years, and will normally Transfer to PhD in their fourth year.

Benefit from a professional and challenging relationship with your supervisory team, drawn from experienced academics working at the forefront of their disciplines.

Supervisors

Please click on the name of the supervisor to follow a link to their webpage and find out more about their research interests and potential areas of PhD supervision. We recommend contacting a potential supervisor with your research outline before submitting a formal application, please read our first.  Please only contact one supervisor. If another supervisor is better suited to your project, we will redirect your query.

Some supervisors have put forward ideas for potential PhD projects that they would be interested to supervise. These are listed below the name of the relevant supervisor. We also welcome original research proposals.

Dr Paul Blakey 
Expertise: The Business of Sport: sport marketing, sport sponsorship, branding in sport, sports entrepreneurship, digital applications in sport, and sports event leverage and impact analysis.

Dr Andy Cale 
Expertise: Sports coaching, sports pedagogy, coach education and applied sports psychology. Research in Applied settings across a variety of team sports.

Dr Matthew Cook 
Expertise: Effects of functional foods on exercise performance and physiological responses.

Dr Darren Cooper
Expertise: Sports Therapy; Anatomy and Biomechanics, Soft-tissue techniques, Manual Therapy Mobilisations, Performance and Recovery strategies. Learning and Teaching; Instructional Videos and Cognitive, Affective and Psychomotor Skill Acquisition.

Dr Mark Corbett 
Expertise: Cycling biomechanics and bike fitting; repeatability and variability of motion capture and gait analysis; electromyography and interdisciplinary elements of pacing.

Dr Dan Eastough 
Expertise: Perception and action; motor control; effect of observation on action; movement volition; minimalist footwear.

Dr Christian Edwards 
Expertise: Muscularity-oriented body image (drive for muscularity, Muscle Dysmorphia, and associated behaviours); psychology of strength exercise; qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method approaches to research.

Self-funded project: Men’s lives: the consequences of living with high levels of drive for muscularity

Dr Louise Martin 
Expertise: Variability of athletic performance; regulation of pacing.

Self-funded project: Investigation into the impact of running in costume
Self-funded project: Enhancing understanding of pacing behaviour during endurance competitions

Dr Jennifer Joyce
Expertise: Dr Joyce's research focus is on healthy ageing in relation to cognitive function. In particular, Dr Joyce is interested in looking at the impact of perimenopause and menopause on wellbeing and health with a specific interest in the relationship between Oestrogen decline and cognitive function and brain health.

Dr Jessica Mee
Expertise: optimising athlete and occupational workers (including military personnel) for competing and working in hot climates using novel, accessible and effective strategies; understanding the additional challenges female endurance athletes may face associated with hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle.

Professor GyÅ‘zÅ‘ Molnár
Expertise: Globalisation; labour migration; the Olympic movement; post-colonial socio-cultural issues; sociology of the body; ethnography and social theories.

Self-funded project: Men’s lives: the consequences of living with high levels of drive for muscularity

Dr Andrew Renfree 
Expertise: regulation of pacing.

Self-funded project: Enhancing understanding of pacing behaviour during endurance competitions

Dr Clare Rhoden 
Expertise: Psychological factors associated with exercise, ageing and physical activity; age stereotypes and physical activity; emotions and affect in sports performance; psychological factors associated with sports performance.

Dr Don Vinson
Expertise: Sports coaching; sports pedagogy; Game Sense; coach education; servant leadership. Experience in supervising quantitative, qualitative and multiple methods approaches.

Dr Christopher Holland

Expertise: Sports Therapy; Manual Therapy, Joint Mobilisations, Injury Evaluation and Assessment, Musculoskeletal Anatomy and Biomechanics, Sport and Exercise Rehabilitation, Knowledge Dissemination and Practitioner Development, Health Promotion.

Supervisors outside of the School of Sport and Exercise Science

Several supervisors located outside of the School of Sport and Exercise are able to supervise projects with a sports focus:

Dr Paul Golz       
Expertise: arts enhanced learning: dance as an education tool; dance and digital: how digital technologies can enhance and change the performance paradigm, especially augmented reality and wearable technology; strength and conditioning in dance: creating s&c sessions that can be delivered within a dance context; deaf dancing: using technology to improve inclusion within dance in the deaf and hard of hearing community.

Professor Derek Peters
Expertise: Physical activity & sedentary behaviour assessment, intervention & relationships to health & wellbeing in all populations; childhood overweight & obesity; Exercise for health & wellbeing; sport performance analysis; interdisciplinary sport & exercise science. Research methodologies: Quantitative & qualitative.

Self-funded project: Physical Activity, Sedentary Behaviour, Health & Wellbeing PhD Studentship Opportunities

Dr David Storey
Expertise: rural change and development; territory and national identity; sport, place and identity.

All students engage with our Researcher Development Programme (RDP). The RDP aims to develop and enhance the skills, both generic and specific, that you will need to complete your research degree but also to become an effective researcher. The RDP is organised around thematic clusters, consisting of modules, and workshops, delivered face-to-face by subject specialists from across the University and the dedicated Researcher Development Team, or online through our virtual learning environment.

As part of the RDP, you will complete a Postgraduate Certificate in Research Methods (PG Cert). All students must complete the PG Cert in order to progress on their MPhil/PhD Programme. The PG Cert is strongly focused on developing your programme of research, starting from establishing your development needs, and preparing you for the planning and subsequent delivery of your programme of research.

Full-time students will complete the PG Cert in 12 months and part-time students in 24 months.