Join Vice-President Research & Innovation Robert �Ჹ����é for an open forum to launch the consultation process for the University’s Strategic Research Plan 2013 – 2018.

“The open forum will provide an opportunity for members of the 91��ɫ community to participate in the conversation as we work towards becoming a more recognized research-intensive university through the development of this new plan,” said �Ჹ����é.

Robert �Ჹ����é

“91��ɫ has a strong history of showcasing research excellence through the integration of collaborative and interdisciplinary models of research," he said. "We have built a solid basis for future growth and development and we look forward to hearing from all members of the 91��ɫ community, as we fully articulate our  collective ambitions for 91��ɫ research over the next five years.”

The open forum will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 11, from 1 to 3 pm in the Senate Chamber, N940, Ross Building.  The purpose of the open forum is to discuss the goals, values and objectives that will help shape the continued development of research at 91��ɫ over the next five years and learn more about the rollout of the consultation process and upcoming workshops.  In addition, the audience will have an opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback on the scope of research at 91��ɫ.  All students, faculty, and staff are welcome.  To RSVP for this event, click .

�Ჹ����é will be joined by 91��ɫ’s President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri, members of the Strategic Research Plan Advisory Committee and the Strategic Research Plan facilitators: Gary Miller, instructor in the MBA Program at the Schulich School of Business, as well as at the Schulich Executive Education Centre and Celia Haig-Brown, professor in the Faculty of Education.

The mandate of the Strategic Research Plan Advisory Committee is to advise the vice-president research & innovation on all aspects of the consultation with the 91��ɫ Community and in the development of the plan, which will articulate a vision and aspiration for 91��ɫ research over the next five years. The goal is to provide regular updates to the community on the progress of the consultation and development of the plan working towards a completed plan in the spring of 2013.

The open forum will also be available via webcast on the website, or questions can be sent in advance by clicking and via Twitter using the hashtag #yuresearchplan.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Vice-president research & innovation to host open forum appeared first on Research & Innovation.

91��ɫ psychology Professor Debra Pepler, together with Shelley Cardinal of the Canadian Red Cross, has received over $2.4 million in funding over five years from SSHRC to lead a major national project: "Walking the Prevention Circle: Researching Community Capacity Building for Violence Prevention".  They are joined by Susan Dion, a 91��ɫ education professor, and other researchers and partners. The project will examine how communities mobilize and build capacity through the Canadian and Australian Red Cross Societies' Walking the Prevention Circle (WTPC) – a model for violence prevention in Aboriginal communities. The project will receive more than $1.2 million in matching funding from partnering organizations.

Debra Pepler

Pepler, a Distinguished Research Professor in the Faculty of Psychology and core member in 91��ɫ’s LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research, will lead a 10-member research team as they study the process of community capacity building.

“This grant provides an extraordinary opportunity to collaborate with communities in learning how they engage with the Red Cross community capacity-building process to share knowledge, promote stronger relationships, and move from the cycle of violence resulting from colonization to the circle of healing based in Aboriginal traditions,” said Pepler.

Project partners include the Canadian Red Cross, Australian Red Cross, CAMH Centre for Prevention Science, Chiefs of Ontario, Prince Albert Grand Council, Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network (PREVNet), Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Victoria Native Friendship Centre.

Susan Dion

Six 91��ɫ researchers were also awarded more than $1.1 million in SSHRC funding through the Partnership Development Grants program, with more than an additional $1 million in total funding from matching partner contributions. The Partnership Development Program encourages applicants to work collaboratively with partners to develop research in the social sciences and humanities. This funding will support partnerships between 91��ɫ researchers and Canadian and international universities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government departments, domestic and international associations, among others.

“The results of these recent SSHRC competitions are a testament to the exceptional track record 91��ɫ has in leading interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects,” said Robert �Ჹ����é, 91��ɫ’s vice-president research and innovation. “The project led by 91��ɫ Professor Debra Pepler and Shelley Cardinal of the Canadian Red Cross, in collaboration with local and global partners, is designed to address and prevent the cycle of violence and improve the quality of people’s lives.”

Robert �Ჹ����é

The announcement was made on Friday, May 25 by Gary Goodyear, federal minister of state for science and technology, while speaking at the launch of the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.  In total, more than $70 million is being awarded over a period of seven years to support 92 research teams across the country through SSHRC’s Partnership Grants and Partnership Development Grants.

“Our government’s top priority is jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. To remain at the forefront of the global economy, our government is investing in the people and ideas that will produce tomorrow’s breakthroughs,” said Goodyear. “Through these investments, we are creating the best educated and most skilled workforce in the world and strengthening Canada’s research advantage.”

“These multi-sectoral research partnerships are key to innovation and to building knowledge for Canada’s future,” said Chad Gaffield, SSHRC president. “With this funding support, we are gaining insight about, and developing innovative solutions to today’s social, economic and cultural issues, while training the next generation of researchers and leaders.”

For a complete list of Partnership Grant and Partnership Development Grant awards, visit the ���ɱ�������ٱ�.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post SSHRC awards over $3 million to 91��ɫ-led projects appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Environmental studies PhD candidate Andrew Mark knows what’s it’s like to have a long commute to campus, but he tries to use this time productively by thinking about and listening to podcasts.

In fact, he likes podcasts so much, he and a fellow student have created a podcast series he hopes other 91��ɫ commuters will find intriguing and thought-provoking.

This week, Mark and Amanda Di Battista, also an environmental studies PhD candidate at 91��ɫ, will launch CoHearence, a new podcast series exploring the connections between the environment and history and culture.

The first episode will explore mourning, loss and the environment 

On Thursday, Feb. 9, 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES) will host a screening and discussion based on the first episode of CoHearence as part of the FES Lecture Series at 12:45pm at 141 Health, Nursing & Environmental Studies building. Mark and Di Battista, along with other participants from the episode, will be on hand for a Q&A period.

Funded by (Network in Canadian History & Environment) and the Faculty of Environmental Studies (FES), CoHearence is a six-part, monthly audio program free to the general public. Part one of the pilot podcast is “Melancholy, Mourning and Environmental Thought: Making Loss the Centre” and it looks at the loss involved in today’s changing environment.

Cohearance will also look at protests and the environment

For anyone not familiar with podcasts, they are similar to radio broadcasts with a difference in the delivery system. Instead of tuning in via radio, listeners download episodes digitally and listen to them through a computer or personal media device, such as an iPod or cellphone. “We think [podcasting] is ideally suited to talking about complex environmental issues,” says Di Battista. Mark agrees, saying “We hope this medium can create a new venue for information dissemination, beyond the written word, the lecture, the conference or an advising session.”

Di Battista says her goal in creating CoHearence is to “facilitate interesting discussion about the relationship between culture and environment. We work really hard to make each episode interesting both to those within the academy and the general public.”

Mark hopes the project will also reach an audience outside of the University. “Our primary objective is to improve the interdisciplinary discussion happening within our Faculty. We can [also] create narratives that are engaging to people outside of our community. For example, not only does our Faculty have theoretical ideas about the G20 protests, but we also have lived knowledge of those events.”

Each podcast episode will highlight current FES research. Di Battista says the reason for choosing melancholy and mourning as the topic for the first podcast is that “in the wake of the huge amount of environmental loss we talk, teach and learn about each day here in [FES], thinking about the ways that we might deal with the grief and anger that come out of those experiences seemed like a great place to start.”

Subsequent episodes will address a range of topics, including food justice, protest and resistance, and even highlights from the held last October at the Gladstone Hotel.

Di Battista and Mark hope that series will endure on the airwaves for a long time. To help ensure this, they are offering workshops on podcasting through the (CAP) program so future generations of FES students may continue to produce CoHearence. “People will discover and rediscover the series as a document of our times,” says Mark. “They might listen to our shows to hear about the topics or merely to come to know the people we interview better.”

CoHearence is available now on as a part of Sean Kheraj’s established podcast called Nature’s Past. It is also available on the website, which currently features a short preview video.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Two PhD students create podcast series on environment appeared first on Research & Innovation.

“Excellence in research is central to 91��ɫ’s mission,” says Robert �Ჹ����é, 91��ɫ's vice-president research & innovation. “These results recognize the dedication of 91��ɫ’s exceptional researchers and reflect the University’s leadership in interdisciplinary and collaborative research.”

Right: Robert �Ჹ����é

Publication intensity refers to the average number of publications produced by full-time faculty and is used as a measure to compare the publishing performance at different institutions. Scholarly publications represent a key benefit of the research conducted in the university environment. The comprehensive category rankings compare 91��ɫ with other Canadian universities with a similar range of undergraduate and graduate degree programs that have made Canada’s Top 50 Research Universities list.

91��ɫ also placed second in the publication impact category in the comprehensive category, which measures an institution's likelihood of being cited in the peer-reviewed academic literature.

For more information and to view the list of Canada’s Top 50 research universities, visit the ���ɱ�������ٱ�.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post 91��ɫ ranks No. 1 in research publication growth appeared first on Research & Innovation.

“I am delighted that Lisa and Walter have accepted the positions,” said �Ჹ����é. “91��ɫ is home to exceptional students, staff and faculty in every discipline. Recognizing our strengths in interdisciplinary and collaborative research, we are developing partnerships and initiatives that will continue to enhance our international research reputation and exploring new ways to showcase the innovative and important work of 91��ɫ’s researchers,” said �Ჹ����é. “Our new leadership team is ready to move forward on a new and exciting strategic path to build on our research successes.”

In their new roles, Philipps and Tholen will provide leadership in promoting strategic research development at 91��ɫ and lead the development of research policy that bridges the needs of researchers and the institution. They will work with �Ჹ����é to intensify the services available for all researchers, track 91��ɫ's research performance more effectively and enlarge the University's collaborative role with external stakeholders and communities.

Right: Lisa Philipps

Philipps (LLM '92), served as associate dean research, graduate studies & institutional relations, at 91��ɫ's Osgoode Hall Law School from 2009 to 2011, and has been on faculty at 91��ɫ since 1996. Prior to that, she held appointments in the faculties of law at the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia, and has held visiting professorships at Melbourne Law School, University College London and the University of Toronto, among other institutions. Her research focuses on tax law, budgets, and feminist legal studies.

Philipps has participated in several projects funded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada and has published extensively on topics such as fiscal transparency, tax expenditures, income splitting, gender budgeting, the distributional impact of tax cuts and the tax treatment of unpaid work. She has provided tax policy expertise to parliamentary committees, women’s groups, public agencies and the media. She has been active in 91��ɫ's senate and its committees and was a member of the White Paper Implementation Committee on Research Intensification at 91��ɫ.

“91��ɫ has earned international recognition for excellence in research,” said Philipps. “I am looking forward to working with our exceptional researchers, students and staff, as we continue to promote the vast range of cutting-edge and interdisciplinary research projects at the University.”

Tholen, who received his PhD from the University of Münster and his Habilitation four years later from Fernuniversität Hagen, Germany, has held a number of appointments at 91��ɫ. He has served as associate dean of research and faculty affairs and interim dean in the Faculty of Science & Engineering. Tholen was also chair of the Department of Mathematics & Statistics. He has been on faculty since 1983.

Tholen has also been a visiting professor at numerous institutions, including Max Planck Institute in Bonn, ETH Zürich, University of British Columbia, McGill University, University of Sydney, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Georgian Academy of Sciences, University of Coimbra, University of L'Aquila and University of Trieste. His general research interests are in category theory and its applications to algebra, topology and computer science. His research examines the establishment of algebraic and topological facts in arbitrary categories, without recourse to sets. His work is published in some 120 research articles and is supported by the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Right: Walter Tholen

“As the University expands its academic endeavours, this is an exciting time to take on this leadership position at 91��ɫ,” said Tholen. “I am looking forward to working with my colleagues and the 91��ɫ community to broaden and strengthen the research enterprise at the University.”

�Ჹ����é added, “Lisa and Walter’s leadership contribution will be essential as we work towards intensifying research at the University, attracting and retaining the world’s best researchers, and building and strengthening new and existing partnerships with industry, government and community organizations to support new collaborative research projects. I look forward to working with them to advance strategic research initiatives at the University.”

The post 91��ɫ appoints two new associate vice-presidents of research appeared first on Research & Innovation.

An award is given to two faculty members, one in the early career category and another in the established career category, in the areas of research, service and teaching. The awards, which took place Sept. 14, are conferred annually by the Faculty of Health Research & Awards Committee.

“This year’s winners are joining a very illustrious group. Every year the committee is faced with a very difficult task because everyone nominated is quite deserving,” said Gordon Flett, who chaired the adjudication process. “The award itself is a great way of recognizing the outstanding accomplishments, as well as the exceptional commitments that our faculty members have made both within the Faculty of Health and in the broader community.”

Above: Back row, from left, William Gage, associate dean of research & innovation in 91��ɫ's Faculty of Health, Christine Jonas-Simpson, Dianne McCauley and Peter Tsasis. Front row, from left, Mary Wiktorowicz, Marcia Rioux, Mary Fox and Harvey Skinner, dean of the Faculty of Health

Excellence in Research Award (Early Career) – Professor Mary Fox (Nursing)

Fox was honoured for her research in the prevention of bed rest dependency in older adults with complex chronic disease. Fox has been recognized as having made significant contributions to her field. Her work has been critiqued by Canadian Institutions of Health Research (CIHR) peer reviewers as “very innovative”, “highly significant”, and “to be of interest nationally”. A recently funded grant by the CIHR ranked Fox’s application first out of 47, and place it in the outstanding category – the highest attainable category. In addition to serving as a professor in 91��ɫ’s School of Nursing, Fox is an Adjunct scientist at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute.

Fox said having her work recognized and knowing that her colleagues and students have taken the time to nominate her “means a lot.”

Excellence in Research Award (Established Career) – Professor Marcia Rioux (Health Policy & Management)

Rioux, a distinguished and internationally recognized scholar, has published 10 books and monographs, over 50 articles and book chapters, and as principle investigator has held nearly $18 million in research grants over the past 30 years. Her nominator describes her as a visionary leader who is changing the way disability is studied and responded to in the context of human rights and social empowerment.

Rioux said the award reflects a significant honour for her as does the support she has received from her colleagues throughout the University. “My work benefits from 91��ɫ’s rich intellectual environment and an international, interdisciplinary research agenda related to social justice and human rights.”

The award came just as her latest book, Critical Perspectives on Human Rights and Disability Law, an edited collection that recapitulates many of the themes of Rioux’s research, was published.

Excellence in Service Award (Early Career) – Professor Dianne McCauley (Nursing)

McCauley is described by her nominator as “an excellent student advocate, not only with individual students, but also, of the student body at large; the kind of solid citizen who makes the School of Nursing successful.”

“It is an honour to be recognized by my colleagues … my colleagues, staff and students have enabled me to be successful in my role and receive this award,” said McCauley.

Well known to faculty and students for her availability and supportiveness to students, McCauley has actively participated in a number of key nursing committees, including the Student Affairs Committee and the Practicum Committee. Since 2007, she has served as undergraduate program director of the Collaborative BScN Program in the School of Nursing.

Excellence in Service Award (Established Career) – Professor Mary Wiktorowicz (Health Policy & Management)

Wiktorowicz began her tenure as the chair of 91��ɫ’s School of Health Policy & Management in 2006, the inaugural year of the Faculty of Health. Her colleagues assert that under her leadership, enrolment to the school has almost quadrupled and applicant quality has significantly increased. Additionally, Wiktorowicz has led the development of several new undergraduate programs, and has guided the final stage of development and the launch of the new Graduate Health Program, which includes a pan-University MA and a direct-entry PhD in health.

In addition to her many outstanding accomplishments at the School of Health Policy & Management, Wiktorowicz has actively participated in many committees over the years, spanning across all levels of the University. She has been an integral part of the 91��ɫ Senate and likewise as the 91��ɫ representative for the Ontario Training Centre Diploma in Health Services & Policy Research. Wiktorowicz has also made a sustained contribution to service at the national and provincial levels. Her recent work on the governance of mental health networks has recently been adopted by the Ontario Local Health Integration Networks Collaborative.

When asked what service means to her, Wiktorowicz said, “Service is like planting a seed, and it takes more than a single individual’s contribution to create a beautiful garden. There are amazing people in the school who each day sow the seeds of success. Good things happen when we all contribute. Being recognized among such an exceptional group of colleagues makes this a particular honour.”

Excellence in Teaching Award (Early Career) – Professor Christine Jonas-Simpson (Nursing)

Jonas-Simpson, who says she “loves to teach,” describes her pedagogy as “reflective of an arts-based narrative interpretive human science approach.” Instructor evaluation scores in nursing typically average 3.8 out of 5. Jonas-Simpson’s instructor evaluation scores are consistently 4.88 or 4.99 out of 5. Her students write, “Christine is by far the most caring, understanding, adaptable teacher I’ve ever had. She let us shape our class to suit our learning,” and “Christine epitomizes the human science philosophy that the program subscribes to by valuing her students’ experiences and being truly present with them.”

Jonas-Simpson has created engaging teaching tools through research-documentary films in collaboration with her colleagues from 91��ɫ and the community at large. She and her research colleagues have recently received Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada funding to begin filming the fourth research documentary in a series of inter-professional educational pieces focusing on children’s experiences of the loss of a baby sibling.

Excellence in Teaching Award (Established Career) – Professor Peter Tsasis (Health Policy & Management and Administrative Studies)

Tsasis, who is appointed jointly to the School of Health Policy & Management and the School of Administrative Studies, teaches various disciplines. A nominator remarked, “It is rare to find an individual that can span his teaching across the spectrum of disciplines and deliver exceptional teaching performance.” Tsasis stretches his teaching beyond the lecture hall, mentoring many students in the Research at 91��ɫ program. In 91��ɫ’s Alumni Matters newsletter, one student remarked, “working with Professor Tsasis was one of the best experiences I will ever have in my life.” In one of four letters of support, a student said, “Dr. Tsasis has unequivocally been the best professor I have had.”

Most recently, Tsasis has undertaken an initiative to negotiate with community health service organizations internship placements for students registered in a fourth-year Health Studies Project Management course, giving students the opportunity for enriching field experience. He has also helped to create a new certificate program in Health Service Finance offered jointly by the School of Health Policy & Management and the School of Administrative Studies. This program is designed to provide students with the opportunity for fast-track entry into the certified management accountant designation, while providing a skill set much in need in the health-care industry.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Six Faculty of Health professors honoured for excellence appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The 91��ɫ fine arts professors co-founded to present drama, dance and opera in novel, multidisciplinary projects performed in one-of-a-kind venues, such as nightclubs and other ‘found’ spaces. This more intimate experience, that Mackwood and Dobie refer to as “lounge opera”, encourages audiences to sit on carpets, pillows, chairs, or couches. Their productions use music and movement to provide an emotional and spiritual experience expressive of the human condition. Their unique aesthetics attract new and diverse audiences. 

Although Out of The Box Productions is always interdisciplinary, the freedom of performance fusion can be problematic. Mackwood, a professor of production and design in 91��ɫ's Dance Department,  admits that funding is a constant issue. Multidisciplinary work often does not fit into any one category of performing art.

“Committees have a hard time classifying us, hence our name,” quips Mackwood. “But having said that, both the Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council have granted much appreciated development funding for Bugzzz.”

On the other hand, artistic tension is the kind of conflict Mackwood welcomes. He explains how everyday artistic visions vary to create a healthy tension in which everyone has a voice – evidence of a creative team hard at work. 

aims to challenge the notion of progress, particularly our uncritical obsession with technology. The project proceeds as if human civilization has self-destructed because of our over consumption of resources. Only insects remain and it is they who take an archeological look at the value of civilization through art, specifically through Giacomo Puccini’s opera, Tosca.����

Mackwood enthusiastically admits: “I’ve always wanted to do a play inhabited by insects.”  

Bugzzz will be an exciting musical, movement, and design challenge. 

As co-creator, Dobie, a movement professor in 91��ɫ's Theatre Department, will be the dramaturge and co-produce, direct and choreograph the production. She will interpret how different insects move, implementing core proprioceptive training (CPT). CPT develops one’s awareness of direction, orientation in space, and the extent and rate of limb movement based on information relayed from sensory receptors in the joints, tendons and muscles.

The staging for Bugzzz is also contemporary in its rejection of Brecht’s principle of defamiliarization (or verfremdungseffekt) in favour of recent mirror neuron theories that emphasize the human capacity for emotionally empathetic response. 

Thomas Sandberg is on board to work as Bugzzz’s composer. One of his creative challenges is to imagine an insect interpretation of the original Tosca score. He must compose the piece using found objects, imagining what bugs might use for musical instruments. 

Mackwood will write, co-produce and create the lighting design. By working with the approach of sustainable “design on demand”, which involves all members of the production for the creative process, Mackwood is able to explore choices in colour, texture and imagery instantly, on the spot. This approach to lighting design allows for more flexibility and efficient collaboration between directors, choreographers and designers, while also being ecologically friendly. 

Mackwood’s interest in “green” or sustainable theatre practice was sparked by James McKernan, with whom he worked on Sound in Silence (2008). Noting the lack of money allocated to sets in dance, Mackwood recognized a desire in the industry for materials that could be recycled such as lights, projections and soft goods. Green initiatives, however, need to produce superior quality results if they are to offer an alternative to current production practices.

Mackwood experimented with LED lights with great success during the remounting of Opera Erotique (2010). LEDs use one third the power and produce less heat than conventional lights, providing savings on electricity and air conditioning, while making it more comfortable for the performers. The LED lights are also almost always built with red, green and blue optics for full colour mixing. 

Professor Don Sinclair joins the Bugzzz team as the sound and interactive projections designer. Sinclair will map performers’ bodies on stage using 3-D motion capture technology to create a mesh outline. From the 3-D model, Sinclair can manipulate exact projections of colour, image and light onto performers’ bodies, permitting them to be illuminated without background spill.����

The software developed by Sinclair will advance the field of interactive technology in theatre performance. Undergraduate and graduate students in 91��ɫ’s dance and theatre programs will have access to the technology in a new course, The Interactive Stage: Developing Digital Design Tools for Live Performances. 

A.C. Lighting Inc. and managing director J.F. Canuel are uniting once again with Mackwood as industry partners for Bugzzz. A.C. Lighting previously worked on the LED remounting of Opera Erotique, providing outstanding support with equipment, technicians and Canuel’s participation in the round table discussion on opening night. The partnership with A.C. Lighting will provide Mackwood with a team of engineers and researchers to assist in the development of LED costumes and sets. In turn, by observing first hand artists’ design needs, A.C. Lighting gains useful information for the continued evolution of LED technology.

Knowing the value of a good story, Mackwood will soon shift his attention away from the design components and towards script development. 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Fine Arts has offered the use of studio space and a multimedia lab for rehearsals and creative development, for which Mackwood expresses his gratitude: “I have not had any issues – the staff and facilities are all world class."

Bugzzz will premiere June 2012 in Toronto, with the possibility of another performance in Vancouver and an international production in Copenhagen the following year. 

Written by Crystal Basaez, Faculty of Fine Arts research assistant, and reprinted from the summer issue of the Faculty of Fine Arts Research Newsletter

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post 91��ɫ dance and theatre professors begin work on 'Bugzzz' appeared first on Research & Innovation.

The book, Talent Identification and Development in Sport, (Routledge, 2011) offers an overview of current scientific research along with practical information for parents and coaches looking to spot talent and nurture it.

“We’re hoping this book helps inform a better system for spotting talent early on and making the most of it,” says Joseph Baker (left), professor in 91��ɫ’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science, Faculty of Health. “We’ve tried to answer questions that have thus far been elusive, such as, ‘how do elite athletes develop, and when is the most appropriate time for talent identification and development interventions?’,” he says.

The book features an interdisciplinary group of contributors from sport psychology, motor learning and skill acquisition, exercise physiology and coaching. Leading researchers from the field of athlete development explain their research and how it informs our understanding of the process of sport skill acquisition. Topics include genetics and secondary factors such as birth date, cultural context and population size, perceptual motor skill acquisition and sports development policy.

Baker, who contributed a chapter on genetics, explains that performance-related genes are by no means a magic bullet for identifying natural ability.

“There are now companies that scan for performance-related genes in newborn babies. Theoretically such criteria should be able to predict an individual’s potential to become an elite athlete – or anything for that matter. The problem is that scientists aren’t sure exactly what criteria they’re looking for quite yet,” he says.

“Alongside biological realities, we must look at factors like where and when an individual grew up, cultural norms, and the sport programs and polices in place at that time. These variables can all have an enormous impact,” says Baker.

The volume’s latter half offers case studies examining international success stories from the “trenches” of talent identification and development, from individual sports like track & field and gymnastics, to team sports including soccer and rugby.

“Athletic prowess is commonly thought of as a combination of nurture and nature, but the interplay of these factors is quite complex,” says Baker. “Our aim was to give a state-of-the-science overview that would be accessible for parents, coaches, athletes and anyone interested in talent development.”

The book is co-edited by Steve Cobley, senior lecturer in skill acquisition and sport psychology within the Carnegie Faculty at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, and Jörg Schorer, research associate at the Institute of Sport Science at the Westfälische Wilhelms-University Münster, Germany. Baker is part of 91��ɫ’s Lifespan Health & Performance Laboratory and is a visiting research fellow at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK.

Republished courtesy of YFile – 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post Professor Joseph Baker edits new book delving into science of sports stardom appeared first on Research & Innovation.