Athletes and academics are sharing a world-class facility as UTS researchers bring science to the sportsground.
Tackling the limits of human performance
Researchers
Aaron Coutts
Job Fransen
Matt Jeffries
Research centre
UTS Human Performance Research Centre
Partners
Australian Rugby Union
National Rugby League
Sydney Dance Company
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An Australian first, the UTS Human Performance Research Centre integrates academia with world-class, architecturally designed sporting facilities to directly link researchers with industry.
Located above Australian Rugby Union headquarters, in the heart of the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) sporting precinct, the centre physically embeds UTS academics and students in the world of professional sport, where they can work at the cutting-edge of sports research to better understand the limits of the mind and body.
"A lot of our research is athlete- and sports-focused, so we get out of the lab and we partner with sports,” says Centre Director Aaron Coutts.
“We’re in a fantastic position to collaborate with the precinct partners, all the sporting clubs, sporting teams and organisations, and, of course, the Australian Rugby Union.”
A lot of our research is athlete- and sports-focused, so we get out of the lab and we partner with sports. We’re in a fantastic position to collaborate with the precinct partners, all the sporting clubs, sporting teams and organisations, and, of course, the Australian Rugby Union.
Welcome to UTS at the Rugby Australia Building in Moore Park. This world-class facility is a first for Australia - embedding university programs in a sporting centre of excellence. It's home to more than 700 staff, researchers and students working across sport and exercise science and physiotherapy.
Our location within Sydney's elite sporting precinct provides us the opportunity to work as professional athletes, coaches and sporting organisations which is opening doors to internships and exciting careers.
Our high performance training spaces include a multi-purpose Sports Hall, a resistance training facility and this rooftop running track. State-of-the-art classrooms and study spaces make it a great place to learn, collaborate and connect.
In our cutting-edge research labs we're working on a range of projects involving exercise physiology biomechanics, training sciences, skill acquisition, strength and conditioning and injury management and prevention. Our researchers are making an impact in both sports performance and health outcomes for people of all ages and abilities.
UTS Graduate School of Health operates an on-site physiotherapy teaching facility for post-grad and research students with a focus on neuromuscular rehabilitation and injury prevention.
And there's no better place for you to learn the skills to take you into the press box then with our industry relevant sports media and journalism degree. This custom-built facility is providing unmatched opportunities for UTS students and researchers looking to build a career in Australia's Sport and Exercise industry. And it's allowing UTS to play a leading role in the future of Australian sport.
The world-class facilities include a rooftop running track, indoor training court, state-of-the-art motion tracking equipment and even an environmental laboratory that allows scientists to replicate extreme weather environments.
The centre is also about to open a skill acquisition laboratory where researchers will be able to track the architecture of decision-making in sportspeople by simulating in-game scenarios and analysing reactions.
Distinguished Professor Coutts says the close physical connection with sporting codes, including soccer, AFL, rugby and cricket, ensures the centre is delivering practical, relevant research that provides authentic solutions to real-world problems.
Coutts cites a current project aiming to improve the performance of rugby league referees, which was initiated by the peak body, the National Rugby League.
“The NRL understood that their referees’ performance was influenced by many other factors than just how much referees run and how fit they are,” says lead researcher Dr Job Fransen.
“They wanted to understand what the perceptual cognitive processes are that underpin the decision-making of NRL referees.”
As part of the project, UTS doctoral student Matt Jeffries is involved in research while working for the NRL as its referees’ high performance coach.
Fransen says it is an approach that benefits everyone: “By embedding students within the NRL referees program, they learn to translate scientific findings into practical applications that directly benefit the end user: the referees, the referee training program and the game."
By embedding students within the NRL referees program, they learn to translate scientific findings into practical applications that directly benefit the end user: the referees, the referee training program and the game.
Coutts has also recently focused on investigating the management of player workloads, with the goal of maximising time spent on the field.
"If you can control load, you can reduce injury risk and if you reduce injury risk or injury rates, you can increase player availability,” he says.
"It's not always about taking the player off the field, it's about maximising their availability, not minimising it."
And it’s not just sporting codes and competitive athletes who are benefitting from the centre’s research.
Coutts and his team are also investigating the impact of load on dancers from the Sydney Dance Company and Indigenous dance group, Bangarra.
“Dancers are high-performance athletes and the physical demands their bodies are placed under increases the risk of injury,” says Coutts.
“We are looking at the relationship between load and injury with a view to increasing their longevity as performers.”