The Department of Sport, Exercise & Rehabilitation adopts an interdisciplinary approach to research.

Our research encompasses three main themes (illustrated in Fig 1.), which are closely aligned with the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences Multidisciplinary Research Theme: Integrated Health and Social Care.

• Optimising Human Performance: this theme aims to improve our understanding of how the human body responds and adapts to the stress of exercise, and how we can manipulate exercise, diet and recovery strategies to optimise the exercise-recovery-adaptation process.
• Promoting and Preserving Health and Wellbeing: this theme serves to improve our understanding of the important role that physical activity and optimal nutrition play in the prevention and treatment of physiological deconditioning and lifestyle-related chronic conditions. 
• Informing Practice and Policy: this theme addresses the challenges and dilemmas associated with professional practice, the formulation and enactment of policy, and the well-being of those working and participating in sport and exercise.

The quality and capacity for research in these areas has been enhanced through investment in high quality, research active academic staff, bespoke research laboratory suites and the construction of a £30 million research, teaching and sports facility. These state-of-the-art facilities include exercise laboratories, fully equipped nutrition kitchens, a clinical assessment and research area, neuroscience laboratory and an environmental chamber. Our spacious and well-equipped laboratories hail amongst the best in the country and support our research and teaching activities in exercise physiology and biochemistry, nutrition, neuroscience, biomechanics, performance analysis and rehabilitation.