Less than a year before the London 2012 Olympic Games, British athletes are preparing hard in pursuit of a record haul of medals. National ambitions aside, we all want to see exceptional performances from the world's best athletes, yet sometimes we are uneasy when athletes shatter old records, fearing it is artificial aids, and not the athlete's individual effort, that accounts for the achievement.

So where should we draw the line between the artificial and the natural in sport, between effective sports equipment and 'technological doping', between legitimate medical therapies and illegitimate performance enhancement treatments, between the struggle to excel and the need to have fair and balanced competition, between the urge to go beyond the boundaries of human nature and the fear of losing our humanity?

Dr David James has spent the past three years researching these issues and delivering large scale public engagement projects to better understand people's hopes and fears about our increasingly scientific sporting arena. This research seminar will navigate the moral maze of performance enhancement and ask if governing bodies should consider a more 'progressive' approach to regulation?

Garry is a research fellow in the Centre for Sport and Exercise Science. He has completed research studies examining the physiological effects of exercise training in each of these conditions. In this presentation, Garry will describe some of his current work in this area.

Talk outline
Peripheral vascular disease comprises a range of disorders affecting the peripheral blood vessels (i.e. those not supplying the heart or brain). This includes peripheral artery disease, aneurysm disease, and chronic venous disease.

Endurance exercise training in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm disease
Potential benefits of regular exercise in this patient group include: (1) reduced aneurysm enlargement; (2) reduced cardiovascular disease risk, and; (3) increased fitness for surgery. However, some people believe that these patients should not undertake exercise through risk of exercise-induced aneurysm enlargement/rupture. This study aims to dispel this myth and provide preliminary data on the effects of exercise on important health outcomes.

Evaluating walking capacity in patients with peripheral artery disease
The assessment of walking limitation is important in determining the management of patients with peripheral artery disease. We are investigating the validity and reproducibility of two walking impairment questionnaires in this patient group, the utility of GPS technology for measuring community-based walking capacity, and the ability of an ear-worn activity recognition device for identifying gait abnormalities.

Pierre Abraham is professor of physiology and a cardiologist and vascular medicine physician. He is qualified in sports medicine and responsible for the department of sports medicine and exercise investigations in the University Hospital in Angers in France. He was a member of the research team INSERM771/CNRS6214 since its creation in the 1990's and is currently employed half-time as a researcher in the INSERM through an Interface grant. His research has developed into vascular physiology and physiopathology in health and disease and specifically into the investigation of the micro- and macro- vascular responses to various simulations, among which exercise plays a key role. He has currently participated in over a hundred international publications in this area of interest.

Talk outline
The presentation aims at reviewing a 10 year history of experiments dealing with the measurement of ABI during heavy load exercise. In brief, first experiments that showed 'absurd' results in patients with suspected coronary heart disease in the late 90th and the observations of highly trained cyclist suffering limb pain at maximal exercise, led us to study the physiological response of ABI in exercise in normal subjects. The presentation will review and summarize the results of these experiments in healthy volunteers. These experiments in the healthy population not only provide information on the normal limits to be used when searching for diseased states in athletes but also open new perspective to detect early atherosclerosis in the elderly population. Illustration of these perspectives is the 'VICTOR' study proposed in the 'Hopitaux Universitaires du Grand Ouest' area.

This presentation is concerned with forecasting the medal winning performance of the United Kingdom in the London 2012 Olympic Games. Making forecasts of how nations will perform in the Olympic Games is an established and growing area of interest for both academics and media content providers. In partnership with UK Sport, Sport Industry Research Centre (SIRC) staff have devised a model to forecast the performance of host nations in the Olympic Games. This model received global media coverage in 2008 when it forecast that China would win 46 gold medals and top the Beijing medals' table. In practice China won 51 gold medals, but of all the forecasting methods used, the SIRC / UK Sport method proved to be the most accurate. In this presentation the model's forecasts for 2012 will be revealed along with some new insights into host nation performance.

Professor Keith Davids is currently at the School of Human Movement Studies at Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia. Prior to that he was based at the University of Otago in the School of Physical Education between 2002-2006. Between 1993 and 1999, he led the motor control group at the Department of Exercise and Sport Science at Manchester Metropolitan University. In his work he has supervised doctoral students from Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Portugal, England, Germany, Wales, Singapore, New Zealand and Australia. He is currently co-editor of the International Journal of Sport Psychology and holds editorial board positions with the Journal of Sports Sciences, Infant Behavior and Development and the International Review of Sport and Exercise Psychology. He is an associate editor for the Behavioral and Brain Sciences.

Research interests
Keith Davids is interested in the coordination and control of human movement, and their acquisition, within a constraints-based framework. His research fundamentally considers human movement systems as belonging to a class of nonlinear dynamical systems. The broad area of sport performance and exercise provides the context for his research on dynamic interceptive actions such as running towards targets in space, catching, kicking and hitting. Additionally, he adopts an applied perspective to examine how theoretical ideas from ecological psychology and nonlinear dynamics can be integrated into a 'nonlinear pedagogy' for organizing and structuring practice and training in physical education and sport. In recent years, Keith Davids' research and doctoral students have been funded by scholarships and grants from the Governments of Saudi Arabia, China, Malaysia and Singapore, the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, the Universities of Otago in New Zealand and QUT in Australia, the Queensland Academy of Sport, Cricket Australia and the Australian Institute of Sport.

Talk outline
This presentation will draw on recent research on ecological dynamics to provide insights on processes of skill acquisition which underpin a constraints-led approach to sport practice. A brief introduction to key concepts and ideas in ecological cynamics will be provided, focusing on: human movement systems as complex systems; emergent behaviours in self-organising movement systems; functional variability in movement systems; harnessing emergent self-organising processes during learning; the fallacy of an 'ideal movement template' in motor learning; the role of informational constraints on movement coordination; Egon Brunswik's 'representative task design'; James Gibson's 'information-movement coupling' and 'affordances for action'.

The second part of the presentation will examine some implications of a constraints-led approach for undertaking research in sport science and performance analysis, considering: (i) the variability-stability balance in motor performance; (ii) how to manipulate ecological constraints on individual learners; (iii) strategies for learning design in practice.

Martin Wildman is a consultant chest physician who specialises in cystic fibrosis (CF). He has training in health aervices research having spent four years in the Health Services Research Unit at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He is currently working to develop multifaceted interventions to support behaviour change to enable adherence in CF.

Talk outline
CF is an inherited disorder that causes lung disease and weight loss. 50 years ago most infants would die within the first few years of life but children born nowadays have a predicted median survival of 38 years. The increased survival is the result of advances in treatment and nutrition but at the expense of a heavy treatment burden and patients carry out a median of 108 minutes of treatment every day. Adherence to the treatment is a constant battle and many patients take less than 50 per cent of their prescribed treatment. This talk will explore models of behaviour change that can be used to explore adherence in CF and outline a program of adherence research that is underway in the Sheffield Adult CF unit.

There is an increasing number of 'talking therapies', such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Motivational Interviewing, being employed across a range of sport, exercise and health settings with varied degrees of success. This talk will focus on of the most commonly used approaches and critically examine the role of treatment fidelity and implementation science as potential reasons for the equivocal success of such approaches either as separate, or adjunct interventions.

Biography
Jeff Breckon is a BPS chartered sport and exercise psychologist and chief assessor for the Qualification in Sport and Exercise Psychology (QSEP). He has over 17 years of clinical experience in physical activity referral schemes and lifestyle behaviour change. His PhD examined the efficacy of physical activity counselling (using motivational interviewing) in GP referral schemes and was examined by Professors Stuart Biddle and Steve Rollnick. He is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) and the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science (BASES). Jeff delivered the international Training New Trainers programme for MINT in Barcelona (2009).

Talk Outline
The flying sports disc or Frisbee is a very successful throw and catch sports implement yet aerodynamically is inherently unstable. So why does it fly so well? The answer lies in the spin imparted to the disc on release and of course the geometrical shape as for any aerodynamic design. Therefore basic sports disc aerodynamics and dynamics will be outlined with a view to explaining why the Frisbee is so successful for play and catch. One disc sport where the object is not to catch the implement is Disc Golf. Disc Golf is based on its much older and wiser cousin 'ball' golf, the object is to throw the disc from a Tee into a target in the least number of throws. Key disc design features that influence the aerodynamics will be outlined paying particular attention to longer range driver discs. Basic differences between shorter and longer range disc flight trajectories will be discussed including the effect of key release condition parameters on landing position and range. Finally, as a case study in redesigning the driver disc for maximum range, the Quarter K golf disc design will be compared to prior art driver discs, as a means of illustrating one attempt at achieving improved aerodynamic performance

Biography
Jonny Potts previously worked as a Research Associate at the School of Engineering in The University of Manchester, more specifically his expertise is experimental aero and fluid mechanics. His most recent work includes a number of varied projects including transonic environment derisking of micro fabricated sensor and actuator technologies, flight testing of fluidic thrust vectoring technologies on unmanned air vehicle programmes and commissioning of industrial experimental facilities for testing technologies in the nuclear industry in high pressure, high temperature environmental conditions. His research is in the area of applied experimental fluids, initially centred on developing wind tunnel capabilities in order to support his work going forward. He will also be working in the area of novel UAV platforms and technologies focussing on design and build multi-rotor platforms initially. He also has interest in sports engineering, his PhD was in flying sports disc aerodynamics and since then developed injection moulding products for the sport of disc golf.

Talk Outline
This work focuses on the development process for a new type of large wheeled folding bicycle and ‘sustainability in design’ research associated with it. The presentation will discuss and highlight some of the various and often conflicting demands placed upon industrial design activity when introducing sustainable design thinking. The work aims to show how by imbedding more holistic considerations as part of product development process we can yield new insights that lead to new solutions. The resulting concept bicycle design received the Excellence Award in the 15th International Bicycle Design Competition (2011).

Biography
Heath Reed is Principal Industrial Designer based at Design Futures Product and a Design Researcher for the ADRC and Lab4living initiative. He has been working in industrial design consultancy since 1999 and since 2007 been sharing this role with his research interest focused on how design can both contribute and facilitate new directions in the areas of health and sustainability.

Talk Outline
We are all exposed, on a daily basis, to electromagnetic fields from a variety of sources. Some of these exposures are intentional; others are an indirect consequence of a range of technologies. One intentional exposure uses large pulses of magnetic field to stimulate nerves and the human brain, by inducing currents in the body. In the twenty-five years since its first practical demonstration transcranial magnetic nerve stimulation (TMS) has become widely used in neurophysiology, psychology and psychiatry as well as other disciplines. This talk gives a brief introduction to the principles, early development and state-of-the-art of this readily demonstrable effect of an electromagnetic field. More controversial is our inadvertent exposure to fields from sources such as mobile phones and overhead power cables. There is much public concern, and scientific debate, over possible health risks from such fields. As an introduction to this controversial area the sources and magnitudes of these fields will be discussed, along with some of the key findings from the literature and their implications for human health.

Biography
Tony Barker is a Consultant Clinical Scientist in the Department of Medical Physics and Clinical Engineering at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital in Sheffield. Research interests include electrophysiology, clinical instrumentation and the biological effects of electromagnetic fields. He led the group which developed the technique of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, now widely used throughout the world for diagnosis, therapy and basic research. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine, and of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, who's Policy Advisory Group on the Biological Effects of Electromagnetic Fields he has chaired since its inception.

Talk Outline
A career as a professional footballer has long been regarded as a highly sought after occupation for many young males within the UK and, against this backdrop, since the 1970s increasing attention has come to be placed on the way young players are identified and developed within professional clubs. There, have, however, been very few studies that have analyzed the education and welfare provisions that are offered within professional football Academies and Centres of Excellence, which, in the context of supposed high attrition rates, may be considered something of a surprise. Indeed, according to the Premier League and Football League, 'between 60% and 65% of the 700 or so scholars taken on each year are rejected at 18. Even half of those who do win a full-time contract [at 18] will not be playing at a professional level by 21' (James, 2010). The objective of this presentation, therefore, is to examine the realities of young players’ day-to-day working-lives and to understand the experiences they have of the educational programmes they follow in order to make greater sense of how useful those provisions are for young players who fail to gain a professional contract.

Biography
Dr Platts completed a Sports Science undergraduate degree before undertaking a Sociology of Sport Masters and PhD at the University of Chester. His research interests include the sociology of sport, policy, talent identification and football.