Research and Scholarly Activity
Physical education has an ethos of conducting highly relevant research that reflects and informs the professional activity of staff. Studies are conducted in a number of academic disciplines and staff are actively involved in the research community, presenting at conference and publishing findings.
Current research is outlined below with more detailed explanations available on the respective staff member’s profile. Projects take place in both the physical and adventurous education environment as well as within sports specific contexts. Research is utilised to inform practice both within the university and with partnership professional organisations.
A number of projects concerning the extent of obesity in West Sussex school children have been carried out by Dr Julia Potter who is exploring the relationship between body composition and aortic diameter. She oversees studies in this field including the diagnosis and measurement of obesity in children and the relationship between muscle mass and strength in normal and overweight children. Her work has led to the introduction of school-based intervention strategies designed to encourage overweight and obese children to become physically active and lead a healthy lifestyle.
Within this area, Dr Maggie Boniface conducts qualitative research to gain an understanding of the experience children have of health intervention projects in school. Dr Boniface specialises in narrative research and her PhD concerned women’s experiences of outdoor adventurous activity in which she utilised life histories to gain an understanding of women’s identity.
Also involved in narrative research, Dr Suzanne Everley researches children’s experiences of physical education and physical activity. Her most recent work concerns children involved in an obesity intervention project (New LEAF) run by the University and St Richard’s hospital where her focus is on the experiences of families.
Physical education specific research is currently being carried out by Melissa Mantle who is conducting interpretive work investigating PGCE student perceptions of inclusion in Physical Education.
Within adventurous education, Chris Hodgson is conducting PhD research evaluating the effects of acute cold exposure on human psychomotor performance. He has also conducted research on mood and hormones in adventurous activity, particularly concerning the impact of rock climbing on anxiety and cortisol.
Dr Pete Bunyan (Course Co-ordinator Adventure Education) has carried out extensive work on self-esteem, anxiety and leadership within the adventure environment and Matt Berry is currently involved in a project considering how facilitators meet the outcomes that they set for children in adventure settings. John Kelly’s research interests include autonomic function in health and disease, and improving performance in adventure sports.
Working collaboratively with Pete Bunyan, Ray Leigh is conducting research assessing the professionalism of practitioners within the adventure industry. With respect to sports specific settings, Ray has also carried out a number of studies in the field of golf from both psychological and physiological perspectives. He has considered the optimisation of golf performance; the efficacy of warm ups in sport and the physiological impact of carrying equipment.
The school of physical education is also offering two PhD studentships; the first to investigate the physiological nature of children’s activity in schools and the second, the efficacy of intervention projects on eating and physical activity habits of children.
MA Ed Modules within Physical Education
The department of physical education has recently introduced two new modules that form part of the university’s MA Ed programme. Read more