Sport and Exercise Science BSc (Hons)

Joseph Moore: Sport and exercise science is a combination of biomechanics, physiology and psychology. The course here at the University of Portsmouth is accredited by Bases, which is the British Association of Sport and Exercises and Bases are the governing body for sport and exercise science. 

Here at the University of Portsmouth, we have a number of different laboratory spaces that are used both for teaching but also all of the research that goes on within the university. We also have lots of equipment that can analyse how much we are breathing. We have motion capture systems, force plates and also sensors that allow us to measure the amount of muscle activity that's going on. 

One of our areas within the university is what's called our Extreme Environments Laboratory to allow us to simulate a variety of different temperatures and different environments to see how the body adapts. 

The key thing for us is the employable skills that you gain throughout your degree. Yes, set yourself up for a sport and exercise science career, but it also gives you a really good base of transferable skills that allow you to be successful in any workplace. 

In terms of the placements we have two opportunities through placements and that can be that done between your second and third years or actually by postponing your graduation and doing after your third year. 

Careers after sport and exercise science are really, really broad, such strength and conditioning coaches, personal trainers, clinical physiology roles, physiotherapy. But we also have a number of students who go to work within football clubs, within rugby clubs as sports scientists. So one thing I say to any student considering coming to the University of Portsmouth is we can really promise you that you are going to be taught by enthusiastic experts in sport and exercise science. Yes, your degree might be three or four years depending if you do a placement, but that's not where the journey ends. And we're going to be really focussed on ensuring that your time at university is going to set yourself up to get that dream job and be a success in your future career. 

Dr Joe Costello:

Our research spans the broader area of sport, health and exercise. We have three research themes. The first is Extreme Environments focuses on the selection, preparation and protection of those who enter extreme environments. The second is physical activity, health and rehabilitation. So we focus on clinical and also non-clinical conditions and also how physical activity can help improve the lives of people. Our third and final theme, Individual, occupational and organisational performance looks to see how we can improve the performance of individuals, organisations and teams. 

The facilities that I use at the university is our biomechanics lab. The types of equipment that we use is a 3D-camera system. Which allows us to put markers on an individual and track their movement in 3D so we can really look at their movement in detail. We also use force platforms to have a look at the ground reaction forces and also EMG as well, which is Electromyography, which allows us to look at muscle activity and we can track that through different rehabilitation processes.

So the outcomes that I've seen from my research has been improvements in walking speed, for example, which we know is one of the high outcomes of quality of life for individuals who live with stroke. In sort of the preliminary research that we've had a look at, it's looking positive in terms of using different robotic rehabilitations to improve functional outcomes of individuals with stroke.

I'm based with the Extreme Environments Group and they've built a reputation over many years of looking at the physiological responses to all of our different extreme environments. So our heat, our cold and our hypoxia, we can effectively recreate any environment that you would come across on Earth. So we've got a heat chamber that can go up to around about 50 degrees. We've got a cold chamber that can go down to about -20. And then we also have another environmental chamber that contains a flume. And then, all three of those chambers can create a hypoxic environment or simulate altitude so we can go anywhere from sea level to around about 8000 metres. So, we could effectively put someone in a rainforest, in a desert, up the top of Mount Everest.

The facilities and expertise that we have in Portsmouth are among the best in the world. With the heating, we can increase the temperature in the flume and use the mechanism to move people into the flume and control how hot they get by adjusting their position. We have a plunge pool as well in one of the other environmental chambers, and then also we can simply just use normal hot tubs.

In terms of career opportunities, the great thing about the extreme environments work in particular is that often exposure to these extreme environments often mimics clinical conditions. So as well as continuing to be able to offer guidance and work in the areas specific to extreme environments, it also opens up a really nice avenue for you to then go in to work in hospitals, in more clinical populations.

I'm really proud of the research that I do. There's been some particular individuals who wouldn't leave their house at all, even if a member of their family went with them. And now, at the end of their intervention, are happy to walk to the corner shop, even on their own and that has a massive impact on their quality of life, and that's really amazing.

Some of the research that's come out of this school has heavily informed the 'RNLI: Respect the Water Campaign' over the last couple of years, and that's something that makes me passionate to continue working at the University of Portsmouth.

 Sport and Exercise Science is a combination of biomechanics, physiology and psychology.
The course here at the University of Portsmouth is accredited by BASES, which is the British Association of Sport and Exercises Sciences and BASES are the governing body for Sport and Exercise Science.
Here at the University of Portsmouth we have a number of different laboratory spaces that are used both for teaching but also a lot of the research that goes on within the university.
We also have lots of equipment that can analyse how much we are breathing.
We have motion capture systems, force plates and also sensors that allow us to measure the amount of muscle activity that's going on.
One of our areas within the university is what's called our Extreme Environments Laboratory that allows us to simulate a variety of different temperatures and different environments to see how the body adapts.
The key thing for us is the employable skills that you gain throughout your degree.
Yes, set yourself up for a sport and exercise science career, but also give you a really good base of transferable skills which will allow you to be successful in any workplace.
In terms of the placements, we have two opportunities to do placements and that can be either done between your second and third years or actually by postponing your graduation and doing after your third year.
Careers after Sport and Exercise Science are really, really broad such as strength and conditioning coaches, personal trainers, clinical physiology roles, physiotherapy, but we also have a number of students who go to work within football clubs, within rugby clubs, as a sport scientists.
So one thing I say to any student who’s considering coming to the University of Portsmouth is, we can really promise you that you are going to be taught by enthusiastic experts in sport and exercise science.
Yes, your degree might be three or four years depending if you do a placement, but that's not where the journey ends and we're going to be really focused on ensuring that your time at university is going to set yourself up to get that dream job and be a success in your future career.

Jamie Todd: Since I started university, I knew this is what I wanted to do.

Richard Hughes: The students that we're lucky enough to have here provide a real big element of the work we do. They're gaining a great experience from their personal perspective as well, but also they provide an invaluable service to us in functioning the football club on a day to day basis and getting an understanding of what an elite football club looks like and what that environment is, is really important.

Jamie Todd: I currently studying Sport and Exercise Science at the University of Portsmouth and I've come on placement here with the football club to work with the sports science department to basically help them out in terms of the GPS analysis, recovery and injury prevention. We give the players, the GPS vests, which allow us to look at total distance, accelerations and decelerations, high sprint distance and maximum velocity. So I already had in my mind I wanted to go into a football club and do a placement. Looking for that link between the university and football club was massive for me to be able to get the opportunity to come on placement and gain valuable experience that I needed.

Richard Hughes:  With my background, I came through an internship program at Stoke City and I was lucky enough to be part of the analysis support. And I always like to try and give people opportunities and getting people that are really hungry to be successful.

Jamie Todd: The advice I'd give someone who's looking to do a placement for Portsmouth Football Club would be just go and do it. To be one of the students who got offered it, I feel very proud and I have got to keep going now.

Kirsty: I chose the University of Portsmouth because when I came on the Open Days and you get out the car, you just think 'wow!'

When you get to come see all of the equipment that there is, and the different lecturers and what they do, I just thought 'yeah, I really wanna come here'.

I love Portsmouth because you get the best of both worlds, you get the city side, cos I'm from London so it's a bit similar, but then also, if you want the quietness of a seaside town, you get to go down to the beach.

I really like studying Sports Science because you get to specialise your knowledge, so I'm looking into cystic fibrosis at the moment for my dissertation, and it just allows you to hammer down really what you want to do in the future.