I am currently Associate Pro Vice Chancellor for Research at York St John University. In this role, I lead two institutional priorities: the university’s submission to the Research Excellence Framework (REF2029) and our new Postgraduate Research School.
Since joining York St John University, I have held a number of senior academic and leadership positions, including Head of the School of Sport and Head of Postgraduate Research. Prior to this, I held academic posts at the University of Bedfordshire and the University of Leeds.
I am an Honorary Professor at the University of Toronto and supervise doctoral students there and at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
I am a Fellow of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (FBASES), a Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol), a recognised postgraduate research supervisor by the UK Council of Graduate Education (UKCGE), and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA).
My teaching experience is primarily in the areas of research methods and sport and exercise psychology. I now primarily deliver training sessions to staff and postgraduate students as part of our continual professional development programmes. I have been an external examiner on undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the UK and regularly examine PhD students in the UK and abroad.
My research focuses on the consequences of perfectionism – a common personality trait - for athletes, dancers and exercisers, as well as other achievement contexts (e.g., education and the workplace).
It has been funded by a number of organisations, including the Wellcome Trust, The Society for Education, Music and Psychology Research, National Association of Able Children in Education, The Higher Education Academy, National Health Service, and The Harold Hyam Wingate Foundation, and involves a network of collaborators from across the world.
I direct a Motivation, Performance, and Wellbeing (MPaW) research group that includes fellow academic staff and postgraduate research students.
Recent publications
I am currently an associate editor of the APA journal Sport, Exercise, and Performance Psychology, and an editorial board member of the Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology and Canadian Psychology.
I was previously the associate editor of International Journal of Sport Psychology and senior section editor of the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sport, and have served on the Research Board of the British Psychological Society.
I regularly review grants applications, journal articles, and conference abstracts for a range of international organisations.
