Our studentships

Supervisors: Dr Aimee Mears and Dr Matt Maley with Sports Technology input from Dr Lulu Xu (Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering)
Advisor for first chapter: Dr Andrea Bundon (University of British Columbia)
Para sport partners: UK Sports Institute

Sports apparel and equipment are critical determinants of an athlete’s performance and overall experience. Despite this, research focused on female Para athletes, particularly regarding apparel and equipment design, remains limited.

This project will allow you to investigate the specific sports apparel and equipment requirements of female Para athletes. You will provide the biomechanical and mechanical underpinning to inform the design of functional and comfortable sports apparel and equipment addressing their unique needs.

Supervisors: Professor Tom Slatter and Dr Tom Paulson with input from Dr Anna Fitzpatrick and Dr Thomas Rietveld, if wheelchair tennis features (Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences)
Para sport partners: UK Sports Institute

Sports equipment, apparel and clothing are critical to an athlete’s performance. Despite this, research focused on equipment used by Para athletes remains limited. What's more, equipment is often only slightly modified from conventional designs, rather than taking into account the needs of Para athletes from the outset of the design process.

During this project, you will investigate the specific sports equipment requirements of Para athletes and provide underpinning mechanical engineering science to inform the design of equipment that addresses their unique needs.

Supervisors: Professor Vicky Tolfrey and Dr Stuart McErlain-Naylor (Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences)
Advisors: Dr Alex Gonzalez (Stanford University) and Dr Thomas Rietveld (Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences)
Para sport partners: UK Sports Institute

You will explore how - with innovative applications - existing wearable technologies can effectively support Para athletes, and assess their transferability for training prescription and performance monitoring.

By collecting detailed biomechanical and physiological data during daily mobility, training and competition environments, your findings will enhance understanding around training intensity, performance optimisation and injury prevention.

Supervisors: Professor Vicky Tolfrey and Dr Tom Paulson 

You will develop a robust understanding of injury incidence and risk factors in Para athletes, across impairments and classifications. Using your findings, you will design interventions to enhance health and performance, with a particular focus on female-specific issues.

Further information to follow.

Supervisors: Dr Iuliana Hartescu and Professor Vicky Tolfrey with input from Dr Nicola Paine for stressors (Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences) 
Para sport partners: ParalympicsGB

With the next Paralympic Games taking place in Los Angeles, followed by Brisbane in 2032, long-haul trans-Pacific and trans-continental travel is inevitable for participating athletes.

Travel fatigue and jet lag often follow long-haul flights across multiple time zones and can have profound impacts on physical and mental performance. In comparison to non-disabled athletes, Para athletes are likely to experience greater logistical and physiological challenges when travelling.

You will investigate the travel strategies and associated stressors for high-performance Para athletes.

Supervisors: Dr Matt Maley, Dr Thomas O’Brien, Professor Vicky Tolfrey and Dr Simon Hodder (Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences and Design and Creative Arts)

You will investigate thermal responses in Para athletes with different impairments / classifications, focusing on sweat and thermal sensitivity mapping.

To inform future clothing design for improved thermoregulation, you will examine how individuals regulate temperature in different sports environments, assessing variations in sweat distribution across impairment groups.

In addition, you will explore cooling interventions, using computational modelling to tailor recommendations based on impairment, classification, environmental temperature and humidity - contributing to inclusive sports policies and improving athlete safety and competitiveness.

Supervisors: Dr Anna Fitzpatrick, Dr Thomas O’Brien and Professor Vicky Tolfrey

Wheelchair tennis research has focused on male players and hard courts, with little research examining females, juniors or court surface differences. With the French Open and Wimbledon Grand Slams only four weeks apart, this surface transition is particularly crucial.

This PhD compares the physical and tactical demands of wheelchair tennis on different court surfaces - hard, clay and grass. British wheelchair tennis players will be tracked longitudinally, for two years. Physical and tactical match analysis and physiological testing will be conducted in a combined lab- and field-based approach.

The research also supports players’ health and recovery, allowing us to identify periods of increased injury risk. The analysis of match data alongside health and recovery data will facilitate players’ physical preparation and recovery, as well as supporting the development of the next generation of players, guiding their progression towards the LA 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Paralympics.

Supervisors: Dr Thomas O’Brien, Dr Richard Blagrove and Professor Vicky Tolfrey

Wheelchair rugby is a mixed gender, mixed impairment Paralympic sport, characterised by intermittent sprint activity and a large aerobic contribution.

During international competitions - such as the World and Paralympic Games - players face back-to-back games over five days. As a result, coaches and performance staff seek training methods to best prepare their athletes for the physiological demands.

This PhD is quantifying the physiological demands of wheelchair rugby performance to optimise training and recovery strategies for Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby as they prepare for LA 2028 - and beyond.

It is investigating internal and external load responses to training and competition, whilst extracting associations between training load and injury and illness risk, with particular focus on periods of intensified training and competition.