News archive
2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003
2008
November 2008 - Launch of new MSc Sports Engineering
CSES is pleased to announce the launch of the new MSc Sports Engineering.
The unique qualification, the first of its kind in the UK, has been developed by researchers from CSES in consultation with leading industry contacts such as Puma, Adidas, Prince and the International Tennis Federation.
The course will equip engineers with the skills and knowledge to apply their expertise to the sporting world.
Modules will cover applied sports engineering, biomechanics, physiology, research methods, and a major industry-linked research project, offering students the potential to work with leading sports companies on live research questions.
Course leader Dr David James said, 'This course will stand out globally as well as nationally, delivering highly adapted and capable engineers directly to the sports industry.'
> Read the full news release
> Read the online prospectus entry
October 2008 - First class facilities attract international visitors
Foreign office minister and Sheffield MP Meg Munn visited the Robert Winston Building in July, alongside a delegation of South East Asian ambassadors, high commissioners and other diplomats based in London.
Visitors from embassies including Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines, were greeted by representatives of the faculty, including Acting Executive Dean, Professor Rhiannon Billingsley; Dr Barry Davies (Head of International Development), Professor Chris Gratton (Assistant Dean Research and Business Development); Professor Edward Winter from the Centre for Sport and Exercise Science; and Janine Timms, technical team leader for health.
The group toured the diagnostic radiography, ward and theatre areas, before viewing an exhibition highlighting the faculty's sports and exercise science expertise. They then moved on to Forgers for lunch with representatives of the University and a presentation by Professor Philip Garrahan, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Academic Development.
The visit came as part of a tour of Sheffield hosted by Meg Munn and follows a recent ministerial visit by the MP to Malaysia, where she met the Principal of Tunku Abdul Rahman College. The college has a long relationship with Sheffield Hallam and each summer hundreds of students come to the city to complete their degrees.
Rhiannon said, 'The visit is a real coup for the University and the faculty. The fact that we were asked to host this event reflects our growing international reputation for sports and health expertise.'
SportsPulse - gone but not forgotten
A unique public-private partnership hosted by CSES has come to an end after making a lasting impression on the world of sports engineering and excellence.
SportsPulse was pioneered four years ago by the Sports Engineering Research Group (SERG) within CSES. Part-financed by the European Union, the partnership was tasked with helping local businesses recognise and exploit the opportunities available through sport.
Under the leadership of HWB's Professor Steve Haake, the 17-strong SportsPulse team has helped strengthen the support for British sport and its expertise has been used to boost athletes in a variety of ways, from sports fitness and body movement mechanics through to developing new products or analysing and improving existing ones.
Highlights from the last four years include
- working with British squads in cycling, waterskiing, diving, canoeing and bob skeleton
- sitting on the South Yorkshire 2012 steering group and the London Higher Podium Action Group for non-London business and enterprise
- four national sports governing bodies relocating to Sheffield - the Amateur Boxing Association of England, British Volleyball Federation, British Handball Federation and the English Table Tennis Association
- eight new sporting partnerships formed from businesses in Hong Kong to venue management consultancy services in China
- two new groups set up to drive forward sports strategy and international training camp management
- developing nine new products for South Yorkshire sports businesses, including a hi-tech golf putter and a new handle bar design and frame for racing bikes, and seven improved sports products, including ice skate blades and a climbing wall
- launching a research and design programme for disability sports equipment with the Sheffield-based Inclusive Fitness Initiative
- showcasing new sports events in Sheffield, including the Brazilian favourite Futsal, which now holds its British national championships in Sheffield, Cliffhanger, an outdoor climbing championship; and proam golf for schools
SportsPulse has helped to attract almost £7 million worth of investment to the city, been the lynchpin in pioneering 28 technical research and development projects, got eight new businesses off the ground and attracted two sports companies to relocate to the city - all of which has in turn created more than 80 new jobs.
David Curtis, SportsPulse's director, says, 'In a nutshell, SportsPulse has advanced the next generation of sports equipment, helped to develop winners in a range of sports and trailblazed for ideas and innovations in sport in the UK.'
Research innovation scoops national prize
Congratulations to CSES researcher Jose Gomez who scooped a top prize in this year's Sport Ideas4Innovation competition, run by UK Sport.
Jose was rewarded for his work on the use of wireless smart sensors, which can be adapted for a variety of uses in health and sport. He investigated the use of wireless accelerometers to monitor the timing of springboard divers' approach and take-off, allowing them to calculate the optimal point at which to produce the greatest height jump.
Although Jose was pipped to first prize in the competition, judges were so impressed with his research and its potential to help future Olympic athletes that they decided to award an additional prize of £500 for himself and £12,500 to be spent by the University on furthering Jose's research.
The money awarded will be used to fund the first year of a PhD for Jose, looking into the technical issues of setting up a 'field lab' in the diving pool at Ponds Forge. The lab would allow athletes to collect feedback at the poolside, investigate the effects of technique and training, and develop models which will help to improve every aspect of a dive from run-up to the speed of rotations. This work will be developed in collaboration with Great Britain's Olympic divers on their return from Beijing.
Professor Steve Haake, head of CSES, said, 'Our congratulations go to Jose on his success, and to his supervisor, Ben Heller, who guided him through his research. We must also thank our colleagues at the University's Enterprise Centre who provided initial funding for this project.'
To find out more about Ideas4Innovation visit www.uksport.gov.uk/ideas4innovation.
August 2008 - Marketing agency on board with Olympic message
CSES are showing a leading Sheffield-based marketing agency how it's possible to transfer techniques used to train medal-winning athletes into the business arena.
The Rare Creative Group is working with colleagues from CSES, as well as Olympic silver medallist Leon Taylor, to try and realise their ambitions of becoming one of the best performing agencies in their specialist sector.
Leon, who won silver in the men's synchronized diving at the Athens 2004 Games, is helping to motivate them by explaining how he overcame injury to realise his Olympic dream.
Steve Beaumont, founding director of Rare Creative, said, 'We have been truly inspired by Leon's journey to Olympic success. The training has already helped us identify steps to further improve our business, in order to achieve our collective goals over the next four years.'
He added, 'We have pledged to mark our success by taking our team to the 2012 Olympics in London, to watch athletes win gold through hard work and world class performance which would be a fitting reward for everyone at Rare.'
Leon Taylor said, 'The business world can certainly benefit from adopting some of the techniques used to train elite athletes. It was great to see the Rare team benefiting from the team development and motivational exercises I successfully adopted in preparation for major competitions.'
Dr Rob Copeland, course leader for the programme with Rare, said, 'I'm confident that Rare Creative Group will enjoy great success, as they continue on their own journey towards 2012, and I'm delighted to have helped the team on their way to fulfilling their own standards in business performance.'
Goodison set for Gold in 2012?
Olympic Laser Sailor Paul Goodison's sport psychologist believes the gold medallist will repeat, or even improve on, his success in Beijing at the London 2012 Games.
Professor Ian Maynard, Director of CSES and Consultant Sport Psychologist to the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), worked with the master helmsman on mental preparation and helped him develop the winning attitude he needed to win a gold medal in China.
He said, 'Paul has developed great mental toughness and resilience over the course of this Olympic cycle. Working closely with Paul's coach, Chris Gowers, we have focussed very intensely on the skills, techniques and mental qualities that were specifically required for the tricky conditions in Qingdao.'
Following his success in Beijing, Paul is seriously considering competing again in 2012, as Professor Maynard explains.
'Looking ahead to the London Olympics, I think it's very likely that Paul will be looking to win another medal. Home water is a great advantage in sailing and the likelihood of winning gold again in your own backyard will be a great motivation.'
Paul, 30, started sailing aged four with his father in a National 12. Since turning professional in 1996 he has achieved one of the best Laser sailing records in the world, having finished in the top ten in 84 per cent of all the Olympic Classes events he has entered over the past decade.
July 2008 - New research award
A team led by Dr John Saxton from CSES has been awarded approximately £200,000 from the MS Society for a project entitled 'The effects of a pragmatic exercise therapy intervention on physical activity and important health outcomes influencing maintenance in people with multiple sclerosis'.
This project will last three years and will expand the programme of research within CSES which is investigating the effects of physical activity and other lifestyle interventions on wide-ranging health outcomes in clinical populations. It is a collaboration between researchers at CSES, the University's Biomedical Research Centre (BMRC), the Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and the University of Birmingham.
July 2008 - CSES staff member awarded 'Coach of the Year'
Our Performance Development Coach Keith Trenam has been presented with the England Volleyball Association's 'Coach of the Year' Award.
Keith not only coached Sheffield Hallam Men's team to the BUSA Championship and the Volleyball England Student Cup, but he also took the Sheffield Team (with a good few Hallam students) to win the National Cup and finish runners-up in the National Volleyball League.
February 2008 - Dame Kelly Holmes tours the Centre
The Centre was proud to host double-Olympic gold-medal winner Dame Kelly Holmes on a recent visit to the University and during her address later that evening, she paid tribute to what she had seen.'The sport science and engineering laboratories are excellent' she said.
Dame Kelly was accompanied by the Centre's Director, Professor Ian Maynard, and Professors Chris Gratton and Edward Winter. Professor Maynard started proceedings by showing Dame Kelly the Centre's montage that illustrates our guiding principle: From public health to national pride. This illustrates the breadth of work we do with National Health Service patients through to Olympic gold-medal winning athletes.
She then began her tour of our facilities by viewing biomechanics research led by Dr Jon Wheat with PhD students Emily Warren and John Kelley who are investigating characteristics of reach in the elderly.
From here, Dame Kelly moved on to see computational fluid dynamics scanning equipment with sports engineer Nick Hamilton and the work that is taking place in sports engineering to enhance British teams' prospects in international competition.
Sport science officer Tim Vernon outlined how the Centre contributes to strength and conditioning of athletes. Dame Kelly saw the dedicated room that is well equipped with resistance-training equipment to teach athletes both the principles and practices of strength training.
Dame Kelly then viewed one of the physiology of exercise laboratories where technical support office Alan Ruddock was working with athlete Jonathan Wainwright. 'This brings back painful memories' winced Dame Kelly, 'All those VO2 max tests I have done'.
Finally, Dame Kelly viewed the Centre's environmental chamber that is used with athletes as they prepare for competition in hostile conditions of temperature and humidity.
Professor Maynard expressed his pleasure at Dame Kelly's visit, 'We were delighted to show an Olympic champion round our world-class facilities.'
2007
Beijing sports science and engineering exhibition a great success
Working on behalf of the British Council in China, the Sports Engineering team delivered a major sports science and engineering exhibition in Beijing in the lead up to the 2008 Olympics. The team developed a large, highly interactive and informative exhibition to showcase the best of British sports science and engineering. Dr David James managed the project and also delivered a high profile lecture tour in Beijing to support the exhibition.
The exhibition attracted more than 70,000 visitors in a six week period and an estimated 10 million people saw the exhibition in television footage. An online version of the exhibition was developed and this received more than three million visitors in the six week period.
Some of the interactive exhibits included
- penalty shoot-out with goal line technology and speed measurement
- sprint track with timing gates
- 'Bend it like Beckham' free-kick simulator
- Batak reaction time game
- skeleton bobsled simulator
- virtual bike race from Beijing to London
- tennis sweet-spot finder
The team delivered this ambitious project within an incredibly tight timescale and the British Council considered the project to be a huge success.
The exhibition is now back in the UK and is available for hire. If you wish to know more about the exhibition or services offered in this field, please contact Dr David James.
2006
World Class Bob Skeleton team join Sheffield Hallam
October 2006
An Olympic silver medallist, a British World Champion and an internationally recognised sports coach have joined the Centre for Sports and Exercise Science at Sheffield Hallam University.
Kristan Bromley, the UK's number one in the bob skeleton and Shelley Rudman, Olympic silver medallist in the women's skeleton in 2006, are joining Sheffield Hallam as Honorary Professor and Honorary Teaching Fellow respectively. Richard Bromley, Kristan's coach and brother, will be joining the Centre as Honorary Research Fellow.
The appointments come six months after a team of ten sports engineers, led by Professor Steve Haake, joined the University. Kristan and Richard Bromley have worked closely with Professor Haake's team for several years, modelling the aerodynamics of both Kristan and his equipment, to help shave crucial hundredths of a second off his times.
Sheffield Hallam University has a strong record working with elite athletes. In the 2004 summer Olympic Games, 18 of Great Britain's medals involved the University in some way.
Kristan Bromley is Managing Director of Bromley Ice and Snow Sport Technologies Limited and has a PhD in sports engineering. His company works on the research, design and manufacture of winter sport related technologies and the company's products were involved in over 40 medals at the Olympic, World and European Championships. He has been Great Britain's men's number one in the bob skeleton since 1996 and has six British titles. He was World Cup Champion in 2003-2004 and was the first British male to win a winter sports title on ice or snow. The company is now based at the Advanced Manufacturing Park in Sheffield.
Shelley Rudman went on a bob skeleton for the first time in 2002. Just four years later in 2006 she won her first Olympic medal, clinching silver in the women's bob skeleton event; the only woman in the British team.
Richard Bromley is a structural dynamics, systems and projects engineer for Bromley Ice and Snow Sport Technologies Limited and is currently studying for a PhD at Leeds University in Structural Dynamics and Systems. As part of his role at Bromley Ice and Snow Sport Technologies, Richard provides technical support to the British Bob Skeleton Association. He is also Kristan Bromley's coach.
Professor Steve Haake from the Centre for Sport and Exercise Science says, 'These new appointments are a great endorsement for the unique team of sports specialists that we have here at Sheffield Hallam.
'Their appointments will allow them to use the expertise here at Sheffield Hallam and to work with the team on research projects for winter sport technologies, which forms part of the wider SportsPulse initiative to develop a winter sports business cluster in the region. They will also benefit from having world class training facilities at the English Institute for Sport and we are hopeful that both Kristan and Shelley will be bringing many more medals back to the UK in the future.
'We will also be working with local schools, to teach them more about science and engineering and to help them to develop a passion for the subjects.'
Kristan Bromley said: 'Sports engineering at Sheffield Hallam is a UK leader in the new discipline of sports engineering.
'Joining this group is an exciting step for me. Their expertise and applied focus will provide a firm foundation for us to push the boundaries of performance for the Bromley Pro Ice Team athletes - an innovative F1 style technology initiative directly supporting Britain's leading winter sport athletes. Elite athletes need elite engineers and the partnership between sports engineering and the Bromley Pro Ice Team engineers creates this mix!'
Award winning welcome to new Hallam sports team
March 2006
A team of 12 leading sports engineers had an award-winning start to work at Sheffield Hallam this month, scooping a prestigious prize on its very first day.
The new team, led by Professor Steve Haake, joined the University on 1 March. Senior research fellow Ben Heller discovered that evening he had won second prize in the NHS innovation awards, for a pioneering 'digital diary' to help monitor people with urological problems. The work was completed while Ben was working for Sheffield Teaching Hospitals. First prize in the awards went to Professor Andrew Beavis, a Sheffield Hallam visiting professor who has pioneered a way to help combat patients' mystery surrounding radiotherapy.
The sports engineering experts have been busy settling in after helping Great Britain's bob skeleton star Kristan Bromley in the Winter Olympics. Steve's team modelled the aerodynamics of both 'Dr Ice' and his equipment to shave crucial hundredths of a second off his times. Bromley came in fifth place, with girlfriend Shelley Rudman earning silver, taking Britain's only medal of the games.
The 5-star research team joined Sheffield Hallam from the University of Sheffield.
Steve said, 'I am thrilled to be joining Sheffield Hallam. I've worked closely with colleagues here over the past 15 years and look forward to bringing the two teams together.'
2005
Golf Science and Performance Academy
June 2005
Integrates key sport science support areas to provide golf specific development plans tailored to meet the needs of each individual golfer.
New short courses for 2005
June-Sept 2005
Places available on short courses in Motivational Interviewing and Qualitative Data Analysis . Book now to reserve your place.
2004
MBTs reduce stress on joints, says new study
November 2004
Trainers hailed by its makers as the answer to back complaints, joint problems and better posture, do help reduce stress on joints, according to experts at Sheffield Hallam University.
University sports experts back Paralympic success bid
September 2004
Sports experts at Sheffield Hallam University will be rooting for Paralympic success this weekend, after helping a pair of top athletes - one from Sheffield - prepare for the competition.
Volunteers wantred for breast cancer research
August 2004
Women recovering from breast cancer are being asked to volunteer for a Sheffield Hallam University study that aims to find out if exercise therapy can boost their recovery.
GB Gold medallists coached to win by Sheffield Hallam expert
August 2004
Britain's long awaited first Olympic gold has come from a trio of women sailors. Shirley Robertson and team mates Sarah Webb and Sarah Ayton put in a spectacular effort for Team GB - and a sports psychologist from Sheffield Hallam University has had a hand in their success.
Personal bests for GB divers heal dashed medal hopes
August 2004
Despite just missing out on a medal Brit divers Tony Ally and Mark Shipman continued a run of success for GB Diving in the Olympics last night - achieving a personal best in the synchronised 3m springboard event.
Heads up for revolutionary device set to change the face of football
August 2004
Top footballers missing crucial headers could be a thing of the past - if experts at Sheffield Hallam University prove that a new invention boosts players' chances of goal glory.
CSES in Athens
July 2004
The Centre for Sport and Exercise Science (CSES) based at Sheffield Hallam University is currently working with elite athletes from Sailing (RYA) and Windsurfing, Diving (ASA), Boxing (ABE) and Cycling (BC) in the build up to the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
2003
Help at hand for obese youngsters in Sheffield
September 2003
The worried parents of obese adolescents (11 to 16 yr olds) have now got the chance to take positive action by enrolling them for The Sheffield Children's Exercise and Wellbeing Project, a Sheffield Hallam University research initiative that aims to find out how regular exercise affects their quality of life.
University attracts major sports conference to Sheffield
July 2003
Sports Minister Richard Caborn and Sir Roger Bannister, the first man to run a mile in under four minutes, are to visit the University in September to open The Cutting Edge, an international conference for specialists in the fields of exercise and health, sports performance and sports injury treatment.
University to help discover new sporting talent
March 2003
Sheffield Hallam University recently hosted one of the regional trials for Born to Win, the BBC's biggest ever search for new sporting talent. A group of young people from the region will compete in a series of tough physical tests to find the most naturally gifted athlete
Sporting chance for students
March 2003
Sheffield Hallam University's Centre for Sport and Exercise Science (CSES) is opening its doors to local colleges and schools in a bid to allow students access to state-of-the-art equipment and expertise.
Top tips for a healthy New Year
January 2003
Over the festive period, many people will consume a staggering 24,000 extra calories - but now two of Sheffield's top nutritional and exercise experts share their advice on how to get back into shape and battle the Christmas bulge.
