Dr Mick Wilkinson has been lecturing in Sport and Exercise Science at institutions across the UK since 1999 including Staffordshire University, York St John University and the University of Hull. He joined the department at Northumbria in 2005. Teaching responsibilities are predominantly in the area of research methods and statistics since becoming a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society in 2011. Dr Wilkinson has designed and delivered research methods modules at level 4, 5 and Masters level. His administration role is Programme Lead for MSc Strength and Conditioning, MSc Sport and Exercise Nutrition and MSc Sport Performance and Analysis in the Department of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation.  

Dr Wilkinson’s research area is the biology of human health and performance. This interest encompasses biomechanics, biochemistry, physiology and nutrition. His work has included applied sport science with world-class squash players, determinants of performance and training for distance running, biomechanical aspects of running, clinical populations and more recently, nutritional aspects of metabolic health. Funded work includes links between plantar sensation and regulation of bipedal gait, the influence of foot structure and footwear on foot function and joint loading in running, and exercise and nutritional impacts on thyroid-hormone status, inflammation and markers of metabolic health.

In addition, Dr Wilkinson has an ongoing interests in the application of statistical techniques and different approaches to statistical inference in the sport and exercise sciences and has published reviews and opinion pieces on related topics.