Mental Fatigue in Australian Rules Football Players

Established Supervisor: Paul Tofari <Paul.Tofari@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Alyse Wilcox
Third Supervisor: Suzy Russell

Project Description

Mental fatigue is a change in psychobiological state that occurs during and following periods of prolonged and demanding cognitive activity. Mental fatigue is rapidly gaining scientific attention in the sports and exercise domain. Recent work has demonstrated that athletic populations report fluctuations in mental fatigue and it can impair decision making, physical performance and amplifies feelings of tiredness and malaise. In Australian Football, amateur players demonstrate reduced goal-kicking proficiency following 30-min of mentally fatiguing activity. However, investigations assessing the impact of mental fatigue experienced by professional AF players during a competitive season on playing performance have not yet been completed.

Description of the research internship opportunity

The Honours student will be embedded in the SPRINT Research Centre in Melbourne. Additionally, there is potential that the student would spend considerable time at an Australian Rules Football club to complete their data collection. They will gain experience using various technologies (e.g., force plates, accelerometers) and will begin to develop data analytic skills (e.g., R coding).

The within and post-match changes in accelerometer-derived gait variables from a team-sport match simulation protocol

Established Supervisor: Stuart Cormack <Stuart.Cormack@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Mark Moresis
Third Supervisor: Grant Duthie

Project Description

Recent work from the SPRINT Research Centre has demonstrated that valid gait metrics can be obtained using Inertial Measurement Units (IMU’s) contained within Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) units worn on the upper back as they are in sport. This work has also confirmed that changes in gait due to fatigue induced by repeated sprints can be detected with these units. This provides the opportunity for practitioners to gain data in the field that was previously thought to require the use of additional sensors. The aim of the current project is to assess changes in gait metrics during and following a 90 minute team sport match simulation protocol using accelerometers housed within GNSS units worn on the upper back. This work will help to understand fatigue related changes in gait that occur during and following team sport. Data collection will occur on an artificial grass playing surface and be based at ACU’s Melbourne Campus.

Description of the research internship opportunity

A student undertaking this research would have the opportunity to assist/be exposed to other projects in the SPRINT Research Centre. This would include research involving a range of technologies used in High Performance Sport (e.g. force plates, accelerometers etc.) in addition to the potential for development of skills for data analysis such as coding in R.

Understanding Cognitive Fatigue in People with Cerebral Palsy (CP)

Established Supervisor: Dr Jemima Spathis <Jemima.Spathis@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Dr Iain Dutia
Third Supervisor: Dr Suzanna Russell 

Project Description

Fatigue significantly affects adults with CP, with 40% reporting higher levels than the general population. While physical fatigue is well-documented, cognitive fatigue remains understudied. Unlike tiredness, cognitive fatigue involves disproportionate recovery from demanding tasks and is inadequately explored in CP. The modified Mental Fatigue Scale (MFS) shows promise but lacks usage beyond evaluation. This project aims to quantify prevalence of cognitive fatigue in people with CP who do not have intellectual disability, utilising the MFS. Additionally, it seeks to explore its correlation with functioning level, neurological subtype, pain, and depressive symptoms, addressing a gap in understanding this aspect of CP fatigue.

Description of the research internship opportunity

The ParaSTART Program is a sports training program for people eligible to participate in the Paralympic Games hosted at the University of Queensland. ParaSTART provides one-on-one and group-based training to anyone with a disability (including CP) for the sports of swimming, track and field. Our qualified staff can work safely and effectively with anyone with a disability, regardless of diagnosis or impairment severity, including those with high support needs. We can offer students an internship to be involved in the program delivery, and to assist with data collection in an ongoing longitudinal study. This would be a unique opportunity to work in a research team with aspiring athletes with severe disabilities. Students will learn about adaptive training techniques, person-centred evidence-based land and pool-based exercise interventions, and conducting longitudinal research methods.

Using wearable technology to quantify training load in the gym

Established Supervisor: Dr Jonathon Weakley <Jonathon.Weakley@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Dr Vaughan Nicholson  
Third Supervisor: Dr Mark Creaby

Project Description

Accurately tracking athlete training loads is a prerequisite for effective performance management. Technological advances have facilitated substantial improvements in the tracking of on-field training load, however recording of training loads in the gym are typically limited to manual reporting by the athlete. This Honours project will investigate the use of wearable technology and machine learning to predict and quantify performance metrics of a range of strength and conditioning exercises in the gym environment.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Dr. Weakley and the SPRINT research group are conducting a number of ongoing biomechanical and training studies in the strength and conditioning space. The successful student would have the opportunity to contribute towards the analysis of biomechanical data collected during a range of weightlifting exercises from these studies, specifically to receive training in and to mathematically model muscle and joint forces during these exercises. This work has important implications for exercise selection in the applied field and would provide the student with the opportunity to interact with established industry partners in the high-performance sport world.

The use of Autoregulation during Resistance Training to Improve Strength and Power

Established Supervisor: Jonathon Weakley <Jonathon.Weakley@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Vaughan Nicholson  

Project Description

Resistance training can make athletes stronger and more powerful. Furthermore, implementing autoregulatory training methods (e.g., repetitions in reserve) has been shown to induce greater strength, power, and muscle hypertrophy responses when compared to traditional prescriptive methods (e.g., percentage-based training). This Honours project will provide a candidate the opportunity to investigate the effects of these autoregulatory training methods on physical adaptation and would be ideal for a student who enjoys resistance training and strength and conditioning.

Description of the research internship opportunity

This Honours position will be provided the opportunity to work alongside the strength and conditioning high performance staff at the National Rugby Training Centre, which accommodates the Queensland Reds, Wallabies, and Wallaroos.

Accuracy of a two-dimensional markerless motion capture system in quantifying single leg function in team sport athletes.

Established Supervisor: Grant Duthie <Grant.Duthie@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Michael Psarakis
Third Supervisor: Mark Moresi 

Project Description

Anterior Cruciate Ligament rupture is a highly common knee injury occurring in high performance team sport athletes.  The purpose of this research project is to quantify the accuracy of a new triple hop test that assesses the single leg function of athletes using two dimensional markerless motion capture.  Team sport athletes will undertake triple hop test and will be concurrently monitored using two dimensional markerless motion capture and a criterion three dimensional marker based motion capture system (VICON).  Joint kinematics (hip and knee angular velocity) will be assessed for accuracy.

Description of the research internship opportunity

This research internship offers an invaluable chance for students to actively contribute to industry-based research and collaborate with ACU's SPRINT research group. The selected student will be responsible for conducting a comprehensive systematic literature review in markerless motion capture of human movement. This project involves hands-on experience in VICON 3D motion capture, data processing using coding languages like R and Python, and continue to foster partnerships with industry stakeholders (VueMotion). Additionally, the student will develop skills in effectively communicating research findings through written and oral means.

The relationship between balance, gait, and falls in people with Parkinson's disease

Established Supervisor: Michael Cole <Michael.Cole@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Zachary Conway  

Project Description

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative condition often characterised by postural instability and gait difficulties. Such declines expose people with PD to a 9× greater risk of falls, and a 5× greater risk of fall-related injuries compared with age-matched controls. More than 50% of these falls occur during walking or transferring tasks, implicating postural instability and gait difficulties as likely contributors to falls in this population. The proposed Honours project will provide the student with an opportunity to apply principles of biomechanics, motor control and neuroscience to investigate the link between these impairments and falls incidence for people with PD.

Description of the research internship opportunity

This project is supported by Professor Peter Silburn, who is an internationally renowned neurologist and world leading PD researcher (h-index=53). Professor Silburn is principal neurologist at Neurosciences Queensland and is supported by a large multidisciplinary team of movement disorder scientists and clinicians. Given the project’s clinical focus, the student would have the opportunity to collect data in the clinic’s dedicated research space and be trained by experienced specialists on how to administer fundamental clinical examinations (e.g., Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale). This would build their confidence to interact with PD cohorts and foster their future success as a clinical researcher.

Understanding the impact of children’s screen time on their sleep

Established Supervisor: Taren Sanders <Taren.Sanders@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: James Conigrave
Third Supervisor: Shona Halson

Project Description

There is evidence to suggest that screen time, especially just before bed, results in poorer sleep outcomes for youth. However, there have been significant methodological limitations of previous research. In a meta-analysis, 66 of the 67 included studies used self-reported measures for both screen time and sleep. Wearable cameras present and opportunity to gather objective data on children’s screen time behaviours, and accelerometers provide objective estimates of sleep behaviour. With data from 100 children already collected, this project aims to investigate the relationship between screen exposure and subsequent sleep outcomes.

Description of the research internship opportunity

Dr Sanders leads a research program within IPPE. The research program provides opportunities for students to engage in multiple research projects, and develop experience and skills in areas such as data collection and processing, project management, data analysis, and literature reviews. In the past, students who have taken up internships in the program often transition to paid research assistant work.

Concurrent validation of field tests of aerobic capacity

Established Supervisor: Andrew Townshend <Andrew.Townshend@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Patrick Campbell
Third Supervisor: Jonathon Weakley

Project Description

The ‘gold-standard’ assessment of aerobic and thus functional capacity is a treadmill-based incremental test. As this method requires costly equipment, technical expertise and is limited to testing one person at a time, an array of field-based tests have been developed to assess this quality in team sport athletes. As a plethora of tests are currently utilised, this Honours project will aim to assess their concurrent validity to assess aerobic capacity and identify physical factors that predict differences in measured values within an athletic population. This will help optimise team sport testing protocols and subsequent programming design to increase cardiovascular fitness. 

Description of the research internship opportunity

The student undertaking the project detailed above embedded within the SPRINT research centre could alternatively undertake a research internship to develop skills in the testing of lab and field-based tests of physical capacity. This would involve learning to collect and analyse date using an array of physiological markers including heart rate, systemic oxygen consumption, lactate testing and local muscle oxygen saturation. These techniques are fundamental skills for the development of capabilities valued by high performance sport institutes and teams thus will provide the student with the preparation needed to undertake a larger scale project of research.  

Predicting injuries in the Australian Football using publicly available data

Established Supervisor: David Opar <David.Opar@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Haifeng Shen
Third Supervisor: Nirav Maniar

Project Description

The Australian Football League (AFL) is the elite competition for Australian Football. Teams competing the in the AFL strive to maximise the performance of their players while also trying to minimise the risk of injury. Often the success of teams in the AFL to mitigate the risk of injury is determined by comparing the number of injuries a team has sustained compared to the average of the other teams in the same competition. However, the injury risk profile of teams across the AFL varies and as such benchmarking the number of injuries from any one team to the average across the AFL is not an appropriate comparison. Therefore, this project aims to develop injury prediction models for individual teams in the AFL by using publicly-available historical data and then will apply these models across the 2024 AFL season. This project would suit a student with a background in either 1) Exercise and Sports Science who is interested in developing injury prediction and computer programming skills or 2) IT with an interest in applying their skills in the sporting domain.

Description of the research internship opportunity

The proposed Honours project is embedded within the Sports Performance, Recovery, Injury and New Technologies (SPRINT) Research Centre. Currently, SPRINT is conducting a number of research projects involving various techniques across the fields of biomechanics, neurophysiology, medical imaging and injury prediction. The successful Honours scholarship student will gain the opportunity to observe and (where possible) contribute to these various research projects to help develop additional skills beyond their Honours project.  

Improving decision-making in high performance team sport

Established Supervisor: Assoc Professor Gert-Jan Pepping <Gert-Jan.Pepping@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Dr Daniel Chalkley

Project Description

A critical aspect of decision-making in sport is an individual’s ability to ‘know what is going on around them’, also known as situation awareness (SA). Research has shown that SA is linked to decision-making, development, performance, and expertise. This project will investigate the link between SA, decision-making performance, and level of expertise. Specifically, this project will utilise novel technologies, such as eye-tracking, virtual reality, and inertial measurement units, to measure SA in the lab and in-situ to provide valuable insight into development of team sport athletes and officials.
 
Description of the research internship opportunity

The student will be embedded within the Perception-In-Action Research Group in Brisbane which includes academics from the Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centre. The student will be involved in supporting ongoing projects in collaboration with existing industry partners (e.g., Baseball Queensland, Water Polo Australia) and will gain experience in collecting, processing, and analysing movement data using gold-standard technologies that include 3D motion capture (Vicon), inertial measurement units and virtual reality in our purpose-built biomechanics and perception-in-action laboratories.

Automatic detection of ground surface using wearable technology and machine learning approaches

Established Supervisor: Assoc Professor Gert-Jan Pepping <Gert-Jan.Pepping@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Dr Daniel Chalkley
Third Supervisor: Assoc Professor Michael Cole, Dr Mark Creaby, Dr Rich Johnston

Project Description

Gait-related falls are a large public health burden and their incidence and associated societal costs continue to increase. Maintaining healthy mobility requires individual us to adapt our gait to the challenges our environment presents (e.g., properties of the walking surface). Gait is typically examined in laboratory or clinical settings on surfaces that are often not representative of the real world. Advances in technology now allow researchers to capture biomechanical and behavioural measures in the real world-situ. This project aims to investigate, develop, and validate an approach to automatically detect the major properties of the walking surface using wearable sensors.

Description of the research internship opportunity

The student will be embedded within the STOP Falls Research Group in Brisbane which includes academics from both SPRINT and Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centres. The student will be involved in supporting ongoing projects within STOP Falls (i.e., HREC 2018-67H) and within existing local and international (Netherlands) partnerships with technology developers (i.e., Apple Health), community and aged care settings (i.e., HREC 2022-2637H). The candidate will gain experience in collecting, processing, and analysing movement data in real-world settings, and using gold-standard technologies, including 3D motion capture (Vicon), inertial measurement units and virtual reality in our purpose-built biomechanics and perception-in-action laboratories.

STEPPING into the real world: Development of a situational taxonomy for environment person pairing in natural gait

Established Supervisor: Assoc Professor Gert-Jan Pepping <Gert-Jan.Pepping@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Dr Daniel Chalkley
Third Supervisor: Assoc Professor Michael Cole, Dr. Mark Creaby, Dr Rich Johnston

Project Description

About one in three of Australians aged 65+ fall at least once per year and the cost of these incidents is estimated at 41% ($3.7bn) of all injury expenditure. The negative consequences of falls can significantly impact individuals and communities. A large-scale Australian population-based prospective risk factor survey is underway, which uses online falls tracking to investigate the effects of the walking environment on prospective falls in adults over the age of 65. This honours project aims to assist in the creation of a mobility prescription tool for health care practitioners based on the data collected. 

Description of the research internship opportunity

The student will be embedded within the STOP Falls Research Group in Brisbane which includes academics from both SPRINT and Healthy Brain and Mind Research Centres. The student will be involved in supporting ongoing projects occurring within STOP Falls (2020-131H) and within existing local and international (Netherlands) partnerships with community and aged care settings (HREC 2017-26E). The candidate will gain experience in collecting, processing, and analysing movement data in these real-world settings, and using gold-standard technologies that include 3D motion capture (Vicon), inertial measurement units and virtual reality in our purpose-built biomechanics and perception-in-action laboratories.  

Assessing the impact of thirst and hydration status on implicit learning

Established Supervisor: David Opar <David.Opar@acu.edu.au>
Emerging Supervisor: Ryan Tam  
Third Supervisor: Doug Whyte and Helen Aucote

Project Description

Hydration is critical for performance. Dehydration not only reduces physical performance but also performance across a range of cognitive tasks including sensation, perception, motor coordination, executive function, attention, and memory. It also appears to impair learning in school children, but whether dehydration impairs the learning of sport-related motor skills remains unknown. Sport-related motor skills are often developed through implicit learning, capitalising on subconscious processes to automate the skill performance, making it more robust in the face of fatigue or psychological pressure. Therefore, this study will assess the impact of thirst and hydration status on implicit learning in young adults. 

Description of the research internship opportunity

The Honours student will be embedded in the SPRINT Research Centre in Melbourne. In addition to the topic described above, the Honours student will gain experience in data collection, analysis and processing in a range of ongoing projects. The exact internship opportunity will depend on the Honours student’s preferences but will likely include collection and analysis of physiological, psychological and nutritional data using a variety of technologies and techniques. The honours student will also get the opportunity to contribute to an upcoming systematic review and meta-analyses which investigates the role of hydration in neuromuscular performance.