Pippa is an endurance runner who came to Loughborough University in 2015 to pursue a career in sports science. She studied her undergraduate degree graduating with a first-class degree whilst also gaining practical experience during a year in industry based at TeamBath and volunteering as a sports science intern with Lightning cricket during her final year.
Determined to pursue a career in physiology, she registered for the Exercise Physiology MSc at Loughborough and was thrilled to be offered the opportunity to study her MSc part-time whilst undertaking a 2-year physiology placement with Loughborough Sport. These two years were excellent in developing her skills as an applied practitioner within the triathlon and athletics program. She also completed her final dissertation investigating the impact of acute training load on resting metabolic rate in an elite triathlete population.
Pippa is excited to branch out from endurance sports and will be undertaking a PhD project supervised by Prof Vicky Tolfrey, Dr Richard Blagrove and Dr Richard Burden and co-funded by British Wheelchair Basketball (BWB) and the SSEHS. She will be aiming to further the scientific understanding of ‘what it takes to win’ (WITTW) in wheelchair basketball with the use of physiological testing to help identify performance determinants. Using the ‘embedded scientist’ approach she will aim to provide clarity on these physiological determinants to help optimise training principles and answer key performance questions relating to key competitions in the lead up to Paris 2024.