Dr Andrew Townshend
Head of Discipline (Exercise Science)
School of Behavioural and Health Sciences
Areas of expertise: "pacing"; "interval training"; "running"; "endurance sports"; "exercise physiology"
Phone: 3623 7693
Email: Andrew.townshend@acu.edu.au
Location: ACU Brisbane Campus
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6714-8304
Dr Andrew Townshend completed a Bachelor of Applied Science (Human Movement) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in 2006. Dr Townshend completed his doctoral thesis (PhD) at QUT in 2010, which examined how runners self-select speed when running over hills. In 2012 he joined ACU as a lecturer in the discipline of Exercise Science in the School of Behavioural and Health Sciences. Currently, he is the Head of Discipline (Exercise Science).
Dr Townshend's research is focussed on issues of sports performance with a particular focus on distance running. While his early research investigated the way in which runners regulate their running speed outdoors, recently he has looked at the effect of gait retraining on energy cost in distance runners, individual variability in responses to interval training and changes in physiological characteristics in elite adolescent athletes across a season. He has supervised three honours' students and four PhD students to completion who all investigated contemporary issues in high performance sport.
Download curriculum vitae
Select publications
- Townshend AD, Worringham CJ, Stewart IB. Spontaneous pacing during overground hill running. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2010; 42, 160-9. DOI: 1249/mss.0b013e3181af21e2
- Murray NB, Gabbett TJ, Townshend AD, Blanch P. Calculating acute: chronic workload ratios using exponentially weighted moving averages provides a more sensitive indicator of injury likelihood than rolling averages. British Journal of Sports Medicine. 2017; 51 (9), 749-754. DOI:1136/bjsports-2016-097152
- Townshend AD, Franettovich Smith MM, Creaby MW. The energetic cost of gait retraining: A pilot study of the acute effect. Physical Therapy in Sport. 2017; 23, 113-117. DOI: 1016/j.ptsp.2016.08.010
- Murray NB, Gabbett TJ, Townshend AD. The use of relative speed zones in Australian Football: Are we really measuring what we think we are? International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. 2018;13 (4), 442-451. DOI: 1123/ijspp.2017-0148
- Townshend AD, Worringham CJ & Stewart IB. Assessment of speed and position during human locomotion using non-differential GPS. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. 2008; 40, 124-32. DOI: 1016/s0162-0908(08)79337-1 .
Projects
- Increasing retention in the Bachelor of Exercise & Sports Science $18,631 (HEPP internal grant, 2017)
- Exercise Science Student Attrition and Retention. $20,000 (TSAR internal grant, 2016)
Accolades and Awards
- Australian Postgraduate Industry Award (2006)
- Australian Postgraduate Award (2008)
- Vice-Chancellor's Performance Award QUT (2011)
- ACU Faculty of Health Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning (2022)
Appointments and Affiliations
- Head of Discipline (Exercise Science), Australian Catholic University, 2020-ongoing
- Senior Lecturer (School of Behavioural and Health Sciences), Australian Catholic University, 2018-ongoing
- Lecturer (School of Exercise Science), Australian Catholic University, 2012-2017
- Lecturer (School of Nutrition and Exercise Science), QUT, 2010-2011
