Sport and Health

Research in the Department of Sport and Health embraces a diverse range of established specialisms in areas including Sports Injury and Prevention, Optimisation of Sporting Performance, Refinement and Evaluation of Physical Activity Guidelines and Research, Exercise Rehabilitation in Clinical Populations, Engagement in Physical Activity and Sport across different populations and communities. Our research academics have published, presented, and exhibited world-leading and internationally significant research and have established robust networks with key stakeholders and beneficiaries, including the Saints Foundation and Football Club, Southampton NHS Foundation Trust, Southampton City Council, Energise Me, Sport England, and the local Sport and Physical Activity Alliance.

Applied research is at the core of our activities, driving and establishing meaningful research that has an impact on lived experience. The Department of Sport and Health research activities contribute to the advancement of our understanding of what it is to be human, from a physiological, biomechanical and psychological perspective. It is about, how we view what we see in behaviour and how we can improve and optimise our ability to engage in every day activities. This also includes increasing our understanding of what drives this visible behaviour, such as muscle and cardiovascular function, and the role of brain. We are proactive in our drive in exploring evidence-based and meaningful research that addresses and optimises health, wellbeing and social inclusion. An example of a key project that enables further growth in these areas is the Health Determinates Research Collaboration UKRI grant of £5 million over 5 years. The goal of this funding to identify and address health inequalities within Southampton, awarded to Southampton City Council, Solent University and Southampton University at the beginning of 2024.

We have two established Research Groups in the Department that foster and support both academic colleagues and our UG and PGR students’ developing research interests.

Solent Identities and Inequalities Research Group, is a community of research-active scholars situated across a range of disciplines in the Department of Sport and Health and Department of Social Sciences and Nursing. This is a multidisciplinary research group with interest in a range of disciplines. Our members’ research expertise includes, but is not limited to: gender, sexuality, disability, Global South studies, poverty and social exclusion, social and economic justice, youth cultures, sport and physical activity, and health inequalities.

Our research areas include:

• Equality, diversity and inclusion
• ‘Lived’ identities
• Empowerment, activism and social change
• Cultural representation
• Power, policy and social justice

Football Science and Performance Research Group which emerged out of the BSc (Hons) Football Studies and MSc Football Science courses. This group is an inclusive and interdisciplinary research group focused on examining, identify and developing real-world research that is relevant within the dynamic football industry domain. Our members’ research expertise includes, but is not limited to: Ecological dynamics to the coaching process, relative age effects in bio banding, player performance profiling, women in coaching, equality, diversity and inclusion, employability, simulated environments, emotional regulation strategies, race and racism in football, physiological profiling and social identity in football.

Our research areas include:

• Constraints manipulation in the training environment
• Relative age effect on football performance
• Bio-banding and skill-banding
• Football periodisation
• Long-term player development
• Coaching and players perceptions on training environment
• Key performance indicators for performance analysis
• Female coaching pathway – barriers and challenges to development
• Female participation in football
• Futsal development in England
• The impact of the post-16 football development programs to education and work progression

The culture of research underpins everything that we do, informing our undergraduate and postgraduate provision, and strengthening our reputation through positively impacting on our publics, and communities locally and internationally. We aim to foster a supportive, friendly, enterprising and stimulating research environment for our undergraduate and postgraduate research student community and academic colleagues alike. We seek and provide opportunities for our key Stakeholders to engage and to ensure the research we undertake has key pathways linked to application and impact. An example of one of these pathways is our Health and Wellbeing Hub (hyper link to our new landing page to be launched in September) which provides information on how the broader public can access our key facilities, resources, and expertise. Services include:

• Public Gym
• Sports Therapy
• Sports Massage
• Clinical Rehabilitation
• Exercise Physiology Testing, such as VO²max testing and analysis of body composition in the Bod Pod
• Sports hall facilities