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Australian Catholic University (ACU) is offering a full-time PhD scholarship embedded within Collingwood Football Club to investigate how player readiness can be monitored more effectively.
Embedded within the football department of Collingwood Football Club, this PhD project will investigate how wearable technologies, including global positioning system (GPS) tracking, inertial measurement units (IMUs), heart rate monitoring, and wellness metrics, can be used to evaluate athletes' readiness to train and compete across an AFL season. By integrating objective external load measures (e.g., total distance, high-speed running, accelerations, impacts) with internal load and recovery indicators (e.g., heart rate responses, variability, fatigue scores, sleep quality), the project will provide a multidimensional picture of player readiness. The anticipated outcomes of this PhD will support evidence-based decision-making around training prescription and recovery strategies to enhance player welfare and team performance.
| Study mode | Full-time for up to 3.5 years |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Places available | One |
| Commencing | 2025/Early 2026 |
| Principal Supervisor | |
| Research group/s |
School of Behavioural and Health Sciences The School of Behavioural and Health Sciences at ACU offers a range of courses designed to improve health outcomes and enhance the performance of elite athletes. The School of Behavioural and Health Sciences conducts researching focusing on sport science, injury prevention, psychology, elite athlete preparation, and clinical applications of exercise in health, chronic disease, and rehabilitation. Our staff are involved in various, cross-disciplinary research projects that utilise our first-class facilities and extensive industry partner network. SPRINT Research Centre The Sports Performance, Recovery, Injury and New Technologies (SPRINT) Research Centre is dedicated to advancing the fields of sports performance, recovery, and injury prevention through innovative research and collaboration. Our mission is to optimise human performance by translating our findings into practical applications that benefit athletes, sports organisations, and the wider community. |
| Industry partner/s |
Collingwood Football Club Collingwood Football Club is one of Australia's most iconic and successful sporting organisations, competing in the AFL with a rich history dating back to 1892. Based at the state-of-the-art AIA Centre in Melbourne, Collingwood is renowned for its passionate fan base, high-performance culture, and commitment to innovation both on and off the field. The club fields elite teams in AFL, AFLW, VFL, and VFLW, and prides itself on fostering excellence, inclusivity, and community impact. Collingwood is deeply committed to pioneering high performance through cutting-edge research, data-driven decision making, and collaboration with leading sports science institutions. The club continually invests in advanced technology, athlete monitoring systems, and evidence-based methodologies to optimise player development, recovery, and performance outcomes. |
| Scholarship package |
The successful applicant will be awarded a scholarship package consisting of:
The scholarship package is subject to satisfactory progress and full-time study mode. The scholarship conditions align with the ACU Research Training Program Scholarship Policy. |
Applications close: Friday 14 November 2025, 11:59 pm AEDT
In addition to the eligibility criteria, the successful applicant should have:
To be considered for this scholarship, applicants must submit all documentation required for an application to the PhD program at ACU, as detailed in the How to Apply instructions, plus:
When completing the PhD application form, please indicate that you are also applying for a stipend scholarship and include the name of this project "Monitoring readiness using wearable technology in professional Australian football players".
Interested candidates should contact Dr Rich Johnston before applying for the PhD program and scholarship.
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