Overview
Skill acquisition and transfer are arguably the most important functions of sports practice as collectively they allow athletes to improve their performance during competition. Despite their fundamental importance, skill acquisition and skill transfer have so far received relatively little attention from a sport performance analytical perspective. The large volume of data that is now captured in elite sports allows us to access and measure the relative symmetry between the practice environment and the competition environment in terms that are relevant for skill acquisition and transfer. In the proposed project it is aimed to systematically investigate skill in Australian Rules Football using both technical data and player tracking data.
About Essendon Football Club
The Essendon Football Club (EFC), nicknamed the Bombers, is a professional Australian rules football club. EFC plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition and is one of Australia's best-known and most successful football clubs. The club is committed to the vision of being recognised as the most respected, inclusive and successful sporting club in the country, consistently setting the benchmark both on and off the field. The club’s headquarters - “The Hangar” – features state-of-the-art facilitates, including two training grounds, and will soon be home to an AFLW team (a women’s team in the national league) in addition to the men’s team.
About Australian Catholic University
ACU is a world-leading research university with priority areas of Education, Health, Theology and Philosophy, and other liberal arts. Research excellence at ACU is founded on the principles of social justice and attracts global experts, students and collaborators from across the globe. This PhD scholarship is offered in the field of Human Movement and Sports Science. In the 2018 Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) assessment, Human Movement and Sports Science research at ACU scored a rating of Well Above World Standard, the highest rating available. Furthermore, according to the Academic Ranking of World Universities, ACU is ranked among the world’s top 1% of Sports Science Schools and Departments.
About the PhD Stipend Scholarship
This PhD project will ask an important question that is of the highest importance to sports organisations, such as the teams of the AFL, where financial gains are influenced by on-field performances. Specifically, this research will ask how do you measure symmetry between the competition environment and the practice environment? Addressing this question requires a systematic investigation of skill using both technical data and player tracking data.
The project is jointly funded by ACU and the EFC and will focus on skill transfer within the AFL. AFL teams train two-to-three times per week for approximately 10 months (pre-season and in-season), therein providing a sufficiently large dataset for the project. Indeed, EFC currently collect training data for both technical actions (e.g., the type and outcome of an action, including the constraints impacting the action) and movement behaviour (i.e., GPS tracking). Hence, the student will have access to this data, whilst also having opportunities to influence how data is collected.
The successful scholarship recipient will undertake their PhD program of research through ACU under the proposed supervisory team of Associate Professor Gert-Jan Pepping, Associate Professor Michael Cole, and Dr Adam Hewitt (all three at ACU Brisbane) with external supervision from Dr Tim Buszard (Skill Acquisition Specialist at Essendon Football Club). The successful candidate will be embedded at ACU’s Melbourne St Patricks campus and Essendon Football Club.
As part of the scholarship, the PhD student will be expected to work closely with skill acquisition specialists, coaching, performance analysis, and medical staff.
Given the applied nature of the scholarship, the successful recipient will need to possess well-developed academic, data management, practical and interpersonal skills.
PhD Eligibility criteria
Scholarship Eligibility criteria
In addition to the PhD program eligibility criteria, applicants should:
- Hold a First Class Honours’ degree/Master’s degree by research/coursework or have demonstrated research experience in any of the following fields: exercise/sport science, high performance sport, skill acquisition, motor control/motor learning, sport psychology or physiotherapy.
- Have research experience, preferably with a track record of peer-review publications.
- Have interest in skill acquisition, athletic performance and performance analysis.
- Have advanced excel skills, with experience coding on various platforms such as R, Python or MATLAB being advantageous.
Study mode and location
- Full-time for three (3) years based at the Essendon Football Club, and ACU’s Melbourne Campus, Australia, commencing as soon as possible.
Value and duration
- A stipend of A$29,427* per annum for three (3) years, indexed annually, subject to satisfactory progress and full-time study mode; and
- For domestic candidates, a Research Training Program Fees Offset Scholarship; that is, a tuition fee waiver for three (3) years or;
- For international candidates, an ACU tuition fee waiver for three (3) years plus Overseas Health Care (Single)
* the stipend value is comprised of contributions from Essendon Football Club and Australian Catholic University
Application closes
Application instructions:
Interested candidates should contact Associate Professor Gert-Jan Pepping before submitting an application for the PhD program and this scholarship:
E: gert-jan.pepping@acu.edu.au
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 on the ACU Research Web Page, plus:
- A CV detailing relevant academic and practical experience.
- A brief cover letter detailing their experience and intended programme of research.
For general candidature enquiries, email Candidature Services on res.cand@acu.edu.au, with the subject line ‘ACU and Essendon Football Club Stipend Scholarship’.
