partnerships

We began working with Huddersfield Town Football Club in June 2020, helping to fund research, work experience and student placements.

Our partnership with the club enables undergraduate and postgraduate students at the Carnegie School of Sport to gain valuable work experience in a professional sporting environment, developing both their applied practice and research skills. 

The Leeds Talent Hub was formally established in November 2019, forged out of a long-standing partnership between the Carnegie School of Sport and British Athletics.

The Talent Hub was created for promising athletes between the ages of 16 and 21, with the objective of providing a pathway from junior talent to world-class performers. It is a partnership that sees the British Athletics Talent Hub programme delivered by England Athletics at Leeds Beckett University with stakeholder support from London Marathon and the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS).

Last year saw our Masters students supporting Castleford’s Scholarship players around nutrition and mental skills development. Now, as the project enters its second year, junior players at the Super League rugby club will be provided with expert psychology and nutrition support in a bid to develop their professional skills. 

The expanded partnership will include diet and nutrition provision for the club’s part-time Under-18s and Reserves players for 2020. The partnerships provides a great opportunity for our Masters students to gain experience of working in an applied environment. Students are mentored through our psychology practicum module and sport and exercise nutrition applied practice programme to develop their professional skills. As a result, players receive education workshops and one to one support where appropriate, informed by the cutting-edge research undertaken at Leeds Beckett University, enhancing their development on their journey to play at a senior level.

Staff in our School are supporting the actions of the World Anti-Doping Agency by providing their expertise on the Social Science Research Expert group and through the delivery of an empirical evidence-base to underpin their global education programmes.

The England Performance Unit (EPU) is led by the Rugby Football League. The EPU was launched with the aim of developing more world-class England rugby players for all senior squads by 2021. Leeds Beckett University have several staff and PhD students embedded within the EPU to support the Men, Women, Wheelchair, Knights, Academy and Youth programmes. Staff include Professor Ben Jones (EPU - Head of Performance) and Sean Scantlebury (Sports Scientist). PhD students Neil Collins, Tom Sawczuk and Victor Adeyemo are also undertaking research, applying computer science techniques to performance and injury data.

Working in partnership with the national anti-doping organisations of Germany, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Ireland and the UK, and alongside academics from Kingston University and the University of Birmingham, staff in the School have established the Clean Sport Alliance. The Clean Spot Alliance aims to empower the anti-doping community through cooperative actions that bridge the gap between research, policy and practice.

Active Schools supports education providers to develop a sustainable system for PE, sport and physical activity to enrich the lives of children and young people. The Creating Active Schools research group at Leeds Beckett University work closely with a range of Active Schools providers within the Yorkshire and Humber area, including private organisations such as Tagtiv8 and Yorkshire Sport. Strong relationships with these organisations, and the schools that they serve, ensure that our students can access high-quality placements. From working in school Physical Education departments to deliver PE, embedding physical activity and sport across the school day, to supporting external organisations with the delivery of their specific products and sessions.

The Creating Active Schools research team have an international reputation for school-based research. Recently, they have led the development of the first whole-school physical activity framework in partnership with teachers, headteachers, active school coordinators, public health specialists, national organisations, national and international researchers and members of the Sport England Local Delivery Pilots.