Crystal Palace FC - Fully Funded PhD Studentship

Manage your preferences

The Leeds Beckett website is designed to enable you to manage your own privacy preferences. By clicking on 'Cookies' below you can manage what data the site collects about your browsing. This will only maintain if you are on your own device or using a synched version of your chosen browser. If you are using a shared or public machine without synching your browser then there is no need to change the preferences.

Our site is built with accessibility in mind and we seek to adhere to the WACG AA levels of compliance for digital accessibility. To support that we have provided instructions on managing animations below.

Cookies

Necessary Cookies
Necessary cookies enable you to use all the different parts of leedsbeckett.ac.uk. Without them services that you have asked for cannot be provided. Necessary cookies can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.
Analytical Cookies
Analytical cookies help us understand how people are using our websites, so we can improve them and provide a better user experience. We also sometimes get our approved partner companies to analyse how people are using Leeds Beckett Websites and they may set their own analytical cookies in order to do this.
Marketing Cookies
Marketing cookies allow us to provide you with online adverts that are the most relevant and useful for you.
For more information please view our Privacy Policy

Animations & Interaction

The Leeds Beckett University website occasionally uses animations to page elements and animated gifs to add impact to pages. If you wish to stop them from playing for accessibility purposes or for personal preference then please see the guidance below. Please note that browsers sometimes change how they operate, so please refer to your browser help files to find their latest information.
How do I turn off animations?

Chrome

Chrome users will need to use browser extensions. Animation Policy from Google will help you set your own preferences.

Microsoft Edge

There is currently no way to disable animations within Microsoft Edge. Users of Edge (Chromium) browser can install the Chrome extensions above and use them.

Internet Explorer

To stop animations on a single page you can just press the 'Esc' key. This will stop the animation on that page. If you wish to restart the animations you need to refresh the page. To permanently disable the playing of animated GIF images, open Internet Options > Advanced tab. Under the Multimedia section, uncheck the Play animations in webpage check-box, click Apply and Exit and then restart your computer.

Firefox

Type about:config in Firefox address bar and hit Enter to open Settings. Search for the image.animation_mode flag and change its value from Normal to None. Once you restart Firefox this will disable animations.

Crystal Palace Football Club and the Carnegie School of Sport are looking to recruit a highly motivated individual to undertake a PhD studentship 'Establishing a theoretically informed nutrition program in elite football: from behavioural science to practice'

Full-time
Funded (UK Fees and Stipend)
Start date: July 2023 (at the Football Club) October 2023 (PhD Award Start Date)
The studentship primary research location will be at Crystal Palace Football Club
Funding note: The studentship has an enhanced bursary of £20,609 per annum (pro-rata into 12 monthly payments) plus UK Fees paid initially for a period of three years

The successful student will support the nutritional strategies at the club (first team focus; approx. 2 days per week), while concurrently conducting their research. Therefore, this provides an exciting opportunity for the successful candidate to develop both their applied practice and applied research skills, while working in a English Premier League football club.

The quality of Carnegie School of Sport research is evident in the outstanding results achieved in the 2021 Research Excellence Framework, where we ranked 2nd nationally when accounting for both research quality and the number of contributing staff. Importantly, the successful candidate will have access to the world-class facilities at the Carnegie School of Sport, including the £45 million new build.

The studentship will aim to answer a series of research questions that further understanding in the key performance area listed below.

Crystal Palace player drinking water from a bottle

Funding will consist of UK full tuition fees for three years and the award of an enhanced living stipend at UK Research Council rates (£20,609 per annum pro-rata into 12 monthly payments). Funding will be subject to satisfactory progress.

A laptop will be provided and the opportunity to apply for funding to support the research project.

Establishing a theoretically informed nutrition program in elite football: from behavioural science to practice

Supervisory team: Dr Stacey Emmonds and Dr Nessan Costello

Nutrition plays an integral role in optimising the health and performance of elite football players. However, football remains a challenging and fast paced environment influenced by the perceptions and experiences of many different stakeholders involved in the decision making process. Therefore, despite clear best practice guidelines (Collins et al., 2021), the determinants of a successful nutrition program remain to be determined in the context of elite football. Consequently, further research is required to understand the perceptions of key stakeholders, translate evidence-based science into actionable behaviours for both practitioners and players, while determining mutually agreed key performance indicators.

Therefore, the purpose of this PhD is to undertake a series of high-quality studies, which establish a theoretically informed nutrition program in elite football, identifying areas to optimise nutrition provision for elite football players.

Essential

Hold a degree in sports science, dietetics, or a related field.

Have previous experience of working in a sports nutrition capacity within elite or professional sport.

Excellent communication and interpersonal skills evidenced through positive and productive relationships with all stakeholders.

Well-organised, with the ability to manage own workload and multiple priorities.

DBS Certificate (can be obtained on appointment).

ISAK level 1 qualification is desirable (Able to obtain the qualification within 6 months)

Desirable

A Master’s degree with evidence of undertaking empirical research as part of your studies is desirable.

Experience of conducting qualitative research is desirable.

Sport and Exercise Nutrition register (SENr) graduate or practitioner registration is desirable.

Experience of working within professional football or other elite sports is desirable.

Applicants are encouraged to discuss their proposals with the project leads Dr Nessan Costello (n.costello@leedsbeckett.ac.uk), and Dr Stacey Edmmonds (s.emmonds@leedsbeckett.ac.uk).

The studentship primary research location will be at Crystal Palace Football Club.

The studentship is subject to contract

As part of your application, please provide a CV, cover letter and research proposal. The proposal should align to the above theme and include a brief literature review related to this project, with an outline of the studies that you would propose to the answer the aims of the PhD (maximum 5 pages single spaced).

We can only consider complete applications. The research degree application is complete once you have uploaded all of the following:

Your application form (include the project reference CP)
Your research proposal, statement of purpose and CV on the Research proposal template
Copies of your bachelors and master certificates, including transcripts
Copy of your IELTS (or equivalent) certificate (if applicable) further information can be found on our Graduate School FAQs
Copy of your passport

Email the documentation above) to researchadmissions@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

The deadline for applications is midnight on 18th April 2023

Interviews are likely to take place the week beginning 8th May 2023

If you are applying from outside the UK it is important that you are aware of the entry and additional fee requirements. Before you apply please contact colleagues in our LBU Graduate School researchadmissions@leedsbeckett.ac.uk for further information, to discuss the requirements and your application.

Application form

Who to contact

To discuss the project please contact Dr Nessan Costello (n.costello@leedsbeckett.ac.uk and Dr Stacey Emmonds (s.emmonds@leedsbeckett.ac.uk)
For questions on the application process; researchadmissions@leedsbeckett.ac.uk

If you are applying from outside the UK it is important that you are aware of the entry and additional fee requirements. Before you apply please contact colleagues in our LBU Graduate School researchadmissions@leedsbeckett.ac.uk for further information, to discuss the requirements and your application.