Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
The Football Association Sponsored PhD Studentship in Collaboration with the Carnegie School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University
The Football Association and the Carnegie School of Sport are looking to recruit a highly motivated individual to undertake a PhD studentship with the Football Association and Leeds Beckett University.
- Full-time Sponsored PhD Studentship
- Start date: February 2023
- The Studentship will be primarily based in Leeds
This is a unique opportunity for an enthusiastic and high-achieving individual looking to undertake a PhD in a vibrant research and professional sporting environment, helping innovate and drive current and future practices with a high level of scientific rigour across the Women’s’ domestic game and Academies. The studentship will be based primarily at the Carnegie School of Sport but will also involve time spent at St Georges Park and supporting FA performance staff.
The PhD studentship will have a bursary of £17,668 per annum (pro-rate into 12 monthly payments) plus UK Fees paid initially for a period of three years.
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. The candidates will have access to the world-class facilities at the Carnegie School of Sport, including the £45 million new build.
Funding will consist of UK full tuition fees for three years and the award of a living stipend at UK Research Council rates (£17,668 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.
Leeds Beckett University Research Bursary in collaboration with World Rugby
Rugby union is a contact sport, whereby players are required to engage in repeated physical contacts during training and match play. Within training, players are exposed to technical, tactical and physical collision loading, to safely prepare players for match play and competition demands. The contact load exposure during training and match play requires accurate quantification of both head acceleration events and body impacts, which is possible via the application of instrumented mouthguards and video analysis. Understanding which, and how specific activities contribute to both head acceleration events and body impacts can inform contact load guidance in rugby union.
This project will work collaboratively with World Rugby and practitioners within the Currie Cup (South Africa) teams. Each Currie Cup team will have a dedicated sports scientist, responsible for the instrumented mouthguards, who will be managed by Dr Greg Roe at Leeds Beckett University. The research project will use instrumented mouthguard data, alongside video footage to undertake a comprehensive evaluation of the contact load rugby union players are exposed to, and will look to provide clear guidance on how body impacts and head accelerations (differentiating both magnitude and frequency) accumulate for rugby union players.
The successful candidate should have excellent data management and analysis skills and be competent using programming software (e.g., R, Python) to manage large data sets. This project will use instrumented mouthguard data from all teams to establish the head acceleration exposures. In addition, the successful candidate will be required to undertake video analysis of training and competition footage to quantify the nature and frequency of contacts. A background or experience in data science or computer science, or clear willingness to learn these skills would be advantageous for this project.
The candidates will be expected to be based in Leeds, working both independently and collaboratively as part of a broader research team.
Cross, M. J., Tucker, R., Raftery, M., Hester, B., Williams, S., Stokes, K. A., Ranson, C., Mathema, P., & Kemp, S. (2019). Tackling concussion in professional rugby union: a case-control study of tackle-based risk factors and recommendations for primary prevention. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 53(16), 1021–1025. Article Link
Gardner, A. J., Iverson, G. L., Edwards, S., & Tucker, R. (2021). A Case-Control Study of Tackle-Based Head Injury Assessment (HIA) Risk Factors in the National Rugby League. Sports medicine - Open, 7(1), 84. Article Link
Hendricks, S., Till, K., den Hollander, S., Savage, T. N., Roberts, S. P., Tierney, G., Burger, N., Kerr, H., Kemp, S., Cross, M., Patricios, J., McKune, A. J., Bennet, M., Rock, A., Stokes, K. A., Ross, A., Readhead, C., Quarrie, K. L., Tucker, R., & Jones, B. (2020). Consensus on a video analysis framework of descriptors and definitions by the Rugby Union Video Analysis Consensus group. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 54(10), 566–572. Article Link
Stokes, K. A., Locke, D., Roberts, S., Henderson, L., Tucker, R., Ryan, D., & Kemp, S. (2021). Does reducing the height of the tackle through law change in elite men's rugby union (The Championship, England) reduce the incidence of concussion? A controlled study in 126 games. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 55(4), 220–225.Article Link
Jones, B., Tooby, J., Weaving, D., Till, K., Owen, C., Begonia, M., Stokes, K. A., Rowson, S., Phillips, G., Hendricks, S., Falvey, É. C., Al-Dawoud, M., & Tierney, G. (2022). Ready for impact? A validity and feasibility study of instrumented mouthguards (iMGs). British Journal of Sports Medicine, bjsports-2022-105523. Advance online publication. Article Link
Tooby, J., Weaving, D., Al-Dawoud, M., & Tierney, G. (2022). Quantification of Head Acceleration Events in Rugby League: An Instrumented Mouthguard and Video Analysis Pilot Study. Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), 22(2), 584. Article Link
Tucker, R., Raftery, M., Fuller, G. W., Hester, B., Kemp, S., & Cross, M. J. (2017). A video analysis of head injuries satisfying the criteria for a head injury assessment in professional Rugby Union: a prospective cohort study. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 51(15), 1147–1151. Article Link
Tucker, R., Raftery, M., Kemp, S., Brown, J., Fuller, G., Hester, B., Cross, M., & Quarrie, K. (2017). Risk factors for head injury events in professional rugby union: a video analysis of 464 head injury events to inform proposed injury prevention strategies. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 51(15), 1152–1157. Article Link
World Rugby. 2021. Contact Training Load guidelines [Online]. Article Link
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 WR1)
- 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 27th February 2023
Candidates must be available for interview 20th March 2023
Who to contact
- To discuss the project please contact Professor Ben Jones (b.jones@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.
