Research degrees
Scholarships for postgraduate research students
Funding opportunities offered by York St John University.
Applying for a scholarship
As part of your application we will ask you to write a research proposal. This should include the following:
- What are the main research questions you would address?
- What would be your methodological approach to the research?
- What makes you the right person to carry out this research?
Please note that CVs are not accepted in place of the application form.
You can see examples of research proposals on our dedicated page: Research proposal examples.
MSc by Research Fee Scholarship: Doncaster Rovers FC
Competitive locomotive demands of League 2 football: the worst-case scenario.
Application deadline: Tuesday 30 July 2024 (midnight)
Interviews: Week commencing 5 August 2024
Doncaster Rovers FC and York St John University are delighted to offer a fee scholarship for a student to undertake an MSc by Research. The scholarship is offered as part of a new collaborative partnership and provides an exciting opportunity for a proactive student to continue their research career and gain a postgraduate research qualification. While studying for an MSc by Research, you will also benefit from gaining valuable experience by working with staff at Doncaster Rovers FC, in the role of a Sports Science Assistant.
The recipient of the scholarship will support DRFC by assisting the Physical Performance department, for approximately 8-10 hours per week. It is expected that you will be a Graduate with a relevant undergraduate degree (e.g., Strength and Conditioning, Sports & Exercise Therapy, Sport Science, Data Science or similar) and may have affiliate and/or accredited membership with a relevant professional body (e.g., BASES, UKSCA). The post will require regular attendance at DRFC training venues, and you will be required to obtain a DBS on a successful appointment. You will be under the supervision of the Head of Performance and Medicine as well as liaising with other support and technical staff as necessary.
Alongside the DRFC support role, you will also complete research at York St John University that aims to profile the competitive, locomotive demands of League 2 football, under the supervision of Dr Jamie Salter and Dr Dale Forsdyke. The primary aim of this project is to identify what ‘the worst-case scenario’ for match intensity looks like in league 2, to inform training interventions for both a performance and injury reduction impact. Please contact Dr Jamie Salter for more information (j.salter@yorksj.ac.uk). It should be noted that this research project is not fixed, and students can co-design the specific project to suit their specific interests and are therefore encouraged to propose this idea if they wish.
The scholarships are offered on a full-time basis for one year and cover UK course fees (£4,786) for the academic year 2024-25 (October 1st start).
For informal general enquiries, please contact Dr Andrew Hill, Head of Postgraduate Research on 01904 876 365 or a.hill@yorksj.ac.uk.
MSc by Research Fee Scholarship: ai.io
Advancing and applying maturity correction equations for physical performance tests in male adolescent football.
Application deadline: Tuesday 30 July 2024 (midnight)
Interviews: Week commencing 5 August 2024
Start date: Tuesday 1 October 2024
ai.io and York St John University are delighted to offer a fee-funded scholarship for a proactive student to undertake an MSc by Research. The scholarship is offered as part of our collaborative partnership and provides an exciting opportunity for an individual to continue their research career and gain a postgraduate qualification. While studying for an MSc by Research, you will also benefit from gaining valuable experience by working with ai.io as a Sports and Exercise Scientist/Data Analyst.
The recipient of the scholarship will support ai.io on the periodic testing of partnership clubs involving football players aged 8-21. It is expected that you will be a Graduate with a relevant undergraduate degree (e.g., Sport & Exercise Therapy, Sport & Exercise Science, PE & Sports Coaching or similar), have associate membership with a relevant professional body (e.g., Society of Sports Therapists, BASES or UKSCA) and be able to obtain a DBS on commencement of the studentship. The post will require periodic travel to partnership club training venues for data collection, for which your own transport may be required. You will be under the supervision of the Lead Sports Scientist and Research & Lab Manager at ai.io. You do not need to be based in the York area to complete this MSc, and remote working across the UK is supported.
Alongside the ai.io support role, you will also complete research at York St John University under the supervision of academic staff within the InSPIRe Research group. There are two projects available entitled 1) Advancing and applying maturity correction equations for physical performance tests in male Adolescent football, and 2) Stakeholder perceptions of a novel maturity corrected reporting system for performance data in Academy football. Full details and rationale for both projects can be found below.
For informal general enquiries, please contact Dr Andrew Hill, Head of Postgraduate Research on 01904 876365 or a.hill@yorksj.ac.uk or please contact the InSPIRe group lead, Dr Jamie Salter for more information (j.salter@yorksj.ac.uk).
Studentship details
For the application, you are required to provide the following:
- Research proposal (~1500 words) of your proposed approach to the project using the headings below:
o Background context
o Rationale
o Methodological approach
o Ethical considerations
- CV
- Evidence of prior qualifications (e.g., CPD, DBS, other relevant qualifications)
Interviews will require candidates to deliver a short presentation to outline their approach to the proposed research.
Rationale: Identifying, selecting and retaining talent is a primary objective of any youth development pathway. Biological maturation complicates the talent identification and selection process through the non-linear transient changes that occur as a result of natural physical development. As a result, in several sports, most notably football, there is a bias towards identifying, selecting and subsequently developing early maturing individuals (Sweeney et al, 2024). This bias not only disadvantages later-maturing individuals but also means that ultimately talent development pathways may be flawed as they may fail to successfully recruit and develop players that have greater potential in the long run. Therefore, talent identification and selection procedures must offer best-practice methods to robustly appraise players that reflect biological development at a given time (Ruf et al, 2024). This project with ai.io builds on the initial pilot work to integrate maturity-specific corrective procedures to sprint testing and better facilitate informed decision-making within a football academy setting.
Aim: This project aims to validate a maturity correction process across a range of performance tests for talent identification purposes
Useful References
Abbott, S., Hogan, C. Castiglioni, M., Yamauchi, G., Mitchell, L., Salter, J., Romann, M. and Cobley, S. (2021). Maturity-related developmental inequalities in age-group swimming: The testing of Mat-CAPs for their removal. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 24(4), 397-404. Available online.
Ruf, L., Altmann, S., Kloss, C. and Hartel, S. (2024). Normative reference centiles for Sprint performance in High-Level Youth Soccer Players: The need to consider biological maturity. Pediatric Exercise Science, published ahead of print. Available online.
Sweeney, L. and Lundberg, T. (2024). Relative age and biological maturity-related selection biases in male youth soccer across different competitive levels within a national association. Science and Medicine in Football, published ahead of print. Available online.
The scholarships are offered on a full-time basis for one year and cover UK course fees (£4,786) for the academic year 2024-25 (October 1 start).
MSc by Research Fee Scholarships
Training Prescription Recommendations & Stakeholder Perceptions of a Novel Maturity-Corrected Reporting System for Performance Data in Multi-Sport Academies
Application deadline: Tuesday 30 July 2024 (midnight)
Interviews: Week commencing 5 August 2024
Start date: Tuesday 1 October 2024
ai.io and York St John University are delighted to offer a fee-funded scholarship for a proactive student to undertake an MSc by Research. The scholarship is offered as part of our collaborative partnership and provides an exciting opportunity for an individual to continue their research career and gain a postgraduate qualification. While studying for an MSc by Research, you will also benefit from gaining valuable experience by working with ai.io as a Sports and Exercise Scientist/Data Analyst.
The recipient of the scholarship will support ai.io on the periodic testing of partnership clubs involving football players aged 8-21. It is expected that you will be a Graduate with a relevant undergraduate degree (e.g., Sport & Exercise Therapy, Sport & Exercise Science, PE & Sports Coaching or similar), have associate membership with a relevant professional body (e.g., Society of Sports Therapists, BASES or UKSCA) and be able to obtain a DBS on commencement of the studentship. The post will require periodic travel to partnership club training venues for data collection, for which your own transport may be required. You will be under the supervision of the Lead Sports Scientist and Research & Lab Manager at ai.io. You do not need to be based in the York area to complete this MSc, and remote working across the UK is supported.
Alongside the ai.io support role, you will also complete research at York St John University under the supervision of academic staff within the InSPIRe Research group. There are two projects available entitled 1) Advancing and applying maturity correction equations for physical performance tests in male Adolescent football, and 2) Stakeholder perceptions of a novel maturity corrected reporting system for performance data in Academy football. Full details and rationale for both projects can be found below.
For informal general enquiries, please contact Dr Andrew Hill, Head of Postgraduate Research on 01904 876365 or a.hill@yorksj.ac.uk or contact the InSPIRe group lead, Dr Jamie Salter for more information (j.salter@yorksj.ac.uk).
Studentship details
For the application, you are required to provide the following:
- Research proposal (~1500 words) of your proposed approach to the project using the headings below:
- Background context
- Rationale
- Methodological approach
- Ethical considerations
- CV
- Evidence of prior qualifications (e.g., CPD, DBS, other relevant qualifications)
Interviews will require candidates to deliver a short presentation to outline their approach to the proposed research.
Rationale: Maturity-selection biases are prevalent in several sports and are often acknowledged by various stakeholders in the talent development process. Despite the best practice of using biological estimation equations to inform recruitment and (de)selection decisions, this approach is not yet widely adopted. Multiple methods for correcting for maturity exist and are communicated to stakeholders, but their engagement, application and subsequent recommendations are limited outside of the most successful talent development environments. This project with ai.io aims to simplify the interpretation of biological maturity to enhance application among all stakeholders, enabling better decisions and development outcomes for young athletes. Building on previous collaborative work between ai.io and YSJU, this project seeks to integrate a maturity-specific reporting system and gather stakeholder feedback on its utility in multi-sport talent development environments.
Aim: This project aims to provide training-based prescriptive recommendations and practices for implementing and utilising a maturity-specific physical performance reporting system within multi-sport academies. Additionally, we will look to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the system to enhance its wider application to ensure it meets the needs of various stakeholders and supports the development of young athletes across different sports.
Useful references
Kite, R., Ashford, M., Noon, M., Morris, R. and Clarke, N. (2024). Talking a good game: Identifying the discrepancies in football coaches’ beliefs and actions in players selection. Journal of Expertise, 6(4), 352-368. Available online (PDF).
Hill, M., Scott, S., McGee, D. and Cumming, S. (2020). Coaches evaluations of match performance in Academy soccer players in relation to the adolescent growth spurt. Journal of Science in Sport and Exercise, 2, 359-366. Available online.
Hill, M., John, T., McGee, D. and Cumming, S. (2023). Beyond the coaches eye: Understanding the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of maturity selection biases in male academy football. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching, 18(6), 1913-1928. Available online.
The scholarships are offered on a full-time basis for one year and cover UK course fees (£4,786) for the academic year 2024-25 (October 1 start).
