PhD Sport and Exercise Science & Sports Therapy

The School of Sport and Exercise Sciences provides an excellent environment for undertaking your PhD. We have an active group of both full-time and part-time postgraduate research students in the School.

Overview

The breadth of staff research interests enables us to supervise research degrees in a number of areas, in the sport and exercise sciences and in sports therapy. These areas include: exercise physiology, nutrition, biomechanics, injury, rehabilitation, psychology. More specifically, we can offer research in the areas of: mental fatigue; perceived effort and exercise capacity; training and sports performance; cycling efficiency, mega sporting events and their legacy; rehabilitation; physical activity in various populations; threat and challenge in sports psychology; sports nutrition; exercise immunology, pre-habilitation and rehabilitation from injury or surgery; and manual therapy in sport and lower back pain.

As a research student at Kent, you are provided with training in research-specific and broader ‘transferable skills’, including academic writing, career management and presentation skills. Doctoral students also have the opportunity to train for an advanced teaching qualification (ATAP). During term time, the research groups hold weekly meetings to discuss ongoing work, and there are also weekly seminars featuring external speakers. If you do not have any postgraduate experience of statistical analysis, you can take our MSc module in Research Methods.

Careers

Our programmes have been developed and designed to provide students with the required knowledge and skills to work autonomously in the field of sport science and sports therapy. The programmes provide opportunities for you to develop and demonstrate both specialist academic and transferable skills such as good communication, problem solving, critical analysis and the ability to work independently to a high standard. The programmes also aim to give you the opportunity to build long-term careers within your chosen field.