As part of the October monthly update, we introduce to you two new PhD students working within the School of Sport Exercise and Health Sciences here at º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ.
“My name is Anna Martin and I am really excited to be joining the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport to commence my PhD study. Originally from Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, I have been involved with sports from a young age, am a keen flautist and love travelling with my family. Alongside my own sports participation, I also really enjoy coaching and regularly volunteer with Special Olympics GB through involvement with DOSportUK’s multisport disability sessions and Lancashire Cricket Foundation’s Super 1s Programme.
I completed my BSc in Psychology at the University of Buckingham and my MSc in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University, where I found my main research interests surrounded vision, gaze-behaviour and neuroscience within the sports sector.
My interest in vision science, combined with work within the disability sector, led to the proposition of a MSc dissertation aiming to assess gaze behaviour in lower-limb amputees. Due to COVID-19, this project (like many things!) was unable to go ahead, and I am therefore extremely excited to become part of the PHC and involved with research in this area. Instead I investigated the impact of COVID-19 on recreational athletes, where over 2000 responses highlighted the impact of pandemic restrictions on participation, engagement with alternative exercise methods and feelings about returning to sport.
The research that I will be undertaking sits within the sports performance research strand of the PHC and contributes to the IPC’s requirement of all sports to develop evidence-based classification systems. The project (supervised by Dr Donghyun Ryu, Dr Robin Jackson and Dr David Mann) aims to address classification in sports without an able-bodied equivalent by developing an evidence-based classification system for visually impaired athletes in the sport of goalball. The outcome of this project expects to form the basis of a new classification system to be adopted in goalball for the 2028 Paralympic games and beyond.
The project combines my academic interest in research with the development of a new, robust, evidence-based classification system for goalball; a fantastic opportunity to be involved in a project with significant, real-world impact. I am really looking forward to undertaking this research and becoming a part of the º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ community.”