BASES Outreach Hub – Bournemouth University

On 5 November 2024, academics from Bournemouth University welcomed 70 students from local schools to participate in a first of many outreach days showcasing sport and exercise provision at the university. Bournemouth University was recently awarded BASES Outreach Hub status and are responsible for running outreach events for local schools and colleges to promote and inspire students to study Sport and Exercise Science, with Bournemouth University being an excellent place to do so.

The day began with a captivating introduction from Dr Emma Mosley, Outreach Hub Lead, who highlighted the expansive field of sport and exercise sciences. She illustrated the wide range of opportunities—from community health engagement to high-performance sports—that this field offers. This was followed by a keynote presentation from Dr Emma Kavanagh FBASES, who shared her journey to becoming an HCPC-registered Sport and Exercise Psychologist. Dr Kavanagh also discussed her experiences of working with teams at major events like the Olympic, Paralympic, and Commonwealth Games. This session showcased the role of psychology in sport and the many pathways for psychologists to engage with individuals, teams and organisations in this dynamic field.

“The opportunity to become a BASES hub has been a fantastic springboard to promote the excellent provision of sport and exercise science we have here at Bournemouth University to local schools” explained Dr Mosley.

Students were then introduced to nutrition, physiology, biomechanics, psychology and coaching through interactive practical sessions showcasing the university laboratory facilities and staff who are passionate about the subjects they teach.

Students got to critically evaluate the contents of sports drinks and produce their own optimally balanced version in the Nutrition laboratory, delivered by Dr Paul Fairbairn and Dr Sarah Hillier. In the Human Performance Laboratory students took part in jump height measurement using force plates with Dr Louise Burgess, analysed their expired gas with Dr Rebecca Neal and had the opportunity to learn about reaction time and eye tracking with Dr Emma Mosley. Andy Boland completed the practical sessions with a dynamic coaching session exploring different types of practice for skill learning.

In the final session of the day, students focused on the competitive element of the day, the BASES National School Poster Competition. During this time students planned an academic poster on a topic of their choice from across the day, some examples included “How do eye tracking glasses work” and “Why is muscle asymmetry problematic for athletes”. Students are due to submit their posters back to the outreach hub by the 20 December and the team will choose a winner. The Bournemouth University winner will be entered into the BASES National School Poster Competition, where all the outreach hubs in the UK submit their posters to and the BASES Outreach Panel then judges the final winner, whose school or college will receive a funded visit of a local sport star or coach.

This outreach day was an incredible opportunity to engage with young people with a passion for sport and allow them to learn about the variety of roles across the sport sector while showcasing the sports provision at BU. Thanks are extended to the Team, including Dr Emma Mosley, Dr Emma Kavanagh FBASES, Dr Chole Casey, Dr Sarah Hillier, Dr Paul Fairbairn, Dr Becky Neal, Dr Louise Burgess, and Emily Phillips.