The ever-growing global sports equipment market is worth over 300 billion USD, with the innovative engineering of sports products being fundamental to this growth.
Key challenges for the industry include developing protective equipment to reduce injury risk, technologies to enhance performance and innovations that provide athletes with a more comfortable and enjoyable sporting experience.
Our vision
Our vision is to have a positive global, social and economic impact on sport through world-leading research on the engineering of sports products. We strive to create a collaborative environment that brings together experts from diverse fields to drive innovation and address the current and future challenges facing the sports equipment industry.
Our areas of expertise
The Sports Engineering and Human Factors Research Priority includes experts in mechanical, design and manufacturing engineering, biomechanics, electronics, data science, human science, mathematics and textiles who bring multi-disciplinary solutions to a wide range of challenges focused on advancing sport.
Safety and
protection
Utilising one of the most advanced laboratory capabilities for the reconstruction of sports impacts, our research has focused on the development of advanced body surrogates, understanding the damage mechanisms of impact injuries and setting standards for enhanced personal protective equipment.
Playing
surfaces
Advancing our understanding of playing surfaces related to design, user safety and play performance whilst considering current and future challenges within the surfaces industry such as climate change and sustainable design.
Inclusive
design
Developing unique design solutions focused on improving the quality
of life across different populations including novel assessment and data analysis techniques to optimise breast support for active women.
Our research impact
Our research has had a major impact across the sports industry, including:
• Informing changes to the British Standard for cricket helmets to eliminate serious facial and neck injuries
• Working with FIFA, we have informed the future global standards and strategies for synthetic turf football surfaces
• Influencing every World Cup, European Championship and Champions League football since 2006
• Over 20 years of advancing golf club and ball performance through research with major brands
International reputation
We have an international reputation for our work with global brands, governing bodies and national federations including, adidas, England and Wales Cricket Board, Decathlon, FIFA, Head, New Balance, PING, UK Sports and Umbro on the design, simulation and testing of sporting equipment.
Key projects
Sports Technology Institute
Much of the research to address the Sports Engineering and Human Factors Priority within the School is based at the Sports Technology Institute. The Institute houses state-of-the-art equipment and bespoke test rigs and benefits from established relationships with the University’s sports scientists, psychologists, biomechanists and human biologists.
