Co-Founder & Editor-in-Chief

Dr Jill Alexander

Ph.D. MSc, BSc (hons), MSST, MSMA, FHEA, PGCTHE

Jill is a Senior Lecturer and Course Lead for the MProf in Elite Performance programme at the University of Central Lancashire, prior to that she led the BSc (hons) Sports Therapy programme. She lectures on MSc Football, Science and Rehabilitation and developed the recently validated MSc Football Medical Leadership and Performance programme. Her MSc is in elite equine rider performance and she has worked medically within rugby union for over 16 years. Her Ph.D. titled; Utilisation of Cryotherapy in Sport: Understanding the Multifaceted Response, provides a framework for optimisation of cryotherapy for injury, recovery and performance in sport, and was presented at the 2022 FIFA Medical Conference in Lyon. 

Jill is involved in several funded research projects including a Times Higher Education Award (THE) nomination for a tripartite Knowledge Transfer Partnership cryotherapy project; and most recently a project for the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI) to develop an evidence-based classification system in Elite Para equestrian dressage.

Jill is the Research and Funding Lead for the Football Performance Hub at UCLan, and has published over 40 peer-reviewed publications in cryotherapy, recovery and elite performance. In addition, she has been involved with several research bids within the university, inclusive of VALD Performance, UEFA and the FA Premier League, contributing heavily to recent innovations and guidelines developed by this world leading governing body. She is working on several international collaborations for publication, consultancy for a Premier League Football Club and elite club environments to maximise their recovery protocol strategies for improved player performance.

Co-Founder & Managing Editor

Dr David Rhodes

Ph.D. MSc, BSc (hons), MSST, FHEA, PGCE, PGCTHE

Currently a Senior Lecturer and Course Lead in the DProf in Elite Performance, with a special research interest in elite football performance.  At the University of Central Lancashire David also leads the Football Performance Hub, which has grown successfully over the last 12 months working with leading practitioners from around the world to develop ‘real world’ impactful research in the field.  With strands specifically associated with Recovery, Human Braking Performance and Coaching Practice, the hub is producing leading work within contemporary areas within elite football. 

In addition, to this David also developed and delivers on the MSc Football Science and Rehabilitation and the newly developed MSc Football Medical Leadership and Performance.  Following his graduation in sports science, he completed work within elite sport before embarking on an MSc in Sports Therapy.  David’s work in elite sport has continued working at varying levels across football including the following clubs Preston North End, Accrington Stanley, Salford City, Everton FC and Motherwell FC.  Completion of his Ph.D. in 2017 enhanced his interest in recovery profiles of elite footballers and the impact of intervention and training design. 

David has to date 35+ publications in elite football performance and has aligned this to elite football clubs with the submission of several research and development bids, totalling £500k+ within the last 5 years.  In addition, he has been involved with several research bids within the university, inclusive of Vald Performance, UEFA and the FA Premier League, contributing heavily to recent innovations and guidelines developed by this world leading governing body. 

Hon. Professor Dr Mark Gillett

MSc (SEM), FRCS, FRCEM, FFSEM (UK&I), DipIMC, RCSEd, PGCert MSK

Chief Medical Officer at the Premier League

Mark was appointed as the medical advisor to the Premier League in November 2018 after a decade of experience as a team physician and performance director in that league. He qualified in 1992 and completed higher specialist training in Emergency Medicine in the West Midlands in 2003. He has a MSc in Sports Medicine from the University of Nottingham and is a founding fellow of the Faculty of Sports and Exercise Medicine UK.

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From 2003-2008 he worked for the English Institute of Sport as a sports physician and in 2008 he became first team doctor at Chelsea FC, before moving to WBA FC as director of performance in 2010 and onto Nottingham Forest in 2018.

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In 2012 he was a member of Team GB at the London Olympics as Chief Medical Officer to the men’s and women’s basketball squads. He was instrumental in the development of the AREA pre-hospital care training course for the Football Association in 2008.  

He is a previous chairman of the Premier League Doctors Group and was training program director for Sports & Exercise Medicine in the West Midlands from 2009 – 2016 and deputy chair of the national training committee from 2014-2016.

Dr Damian Harper

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Ph.D., CSci, ASCC, MSc, FHEA, BASES

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Lecturer in Coaching and Performance UCLan Founder of Human Braking Performance.

Damian is an accredited sport and exercise scientist (BASES) and strength and conditioning coach (UKSCA), and world renowned for the impact that his research has had on developing applied sports performance practices. His research interests are focused on innovations and approaches to optimizing human sports performance, which he has a particular interest and expertise in understanding the performance and health implications of high-intensity
movement actions performed by athletes in multi-directional sports.

Damian’s Ph.D. investigated the neuromuscular determinants of deceleration in team sports and pioneered some of the first approaches to help practitioners understand the performance and injury-risk implications of braking during high-intensity deceleration manoeuvres. Damian has published numerous peer reviewed journal articles, presented at national and international conferences, and consulted with many high-performance sports organizations on the importance of deceleration, including the development of the ‘braking strength’ framework for the English Football Association (The FA). Damian continues to collaborate with world-leading experts and organizations from across the globe, with the aim of developing innovate approaches to better understand the role of deceleration for performance enhancement and injury-risk reduction for athletes participating in multi-
directional sports.

Chris Morgan

Lead Performance Physiotherapist Liverpool Football Club

Chris has worked at the very top of men’s professional football for the last 20 years. The vast majority of his professional career has been spent at Liverpool Football Club where he is currently Lead Performance Physiotherapist with the 1st team; he has also been head of physiotherapy at Liverpool FC, Arsenal FC, Crystal Palace FC and worked at the academies of Leeds United and Manchester City FC.

With a special interest in complex hip and groin injuries his passion is to create an elite environment with a group of top class practitioners to deliver a word class service to all.

Dr Chris Yiannaki

DProf, MA, BSc, PGCE, HEA Fellow, UEFA'B' 

Chris comes from a background working predominantly in football and futsal, both academically and in applied practice. Practically Chris has worked in professional football for sixteen years supporting the development of elite youth players in England, whilst also working as a coach educator for over a decade.

Chris completed his doctorate examining futsal and its relationship to football extensively exploring topics related to coaching and talent development. This scholarly work has resulted in numerous publications.

Currently Chris works within the ‘Institute of Coaching and Performance’ at the University of Central Lancashire. This role involves the supervision of post-graduate candidates completing doctoral programs in elite performance.

Dr Neval Grazette

Research & Innovation Project Manager at Manchester City Football Club

Dr Ian Varley

Associate Professor Nottingham Trent University

Ian is an Associate Professor at Nottingham Trent University. Ian authored 25+ peer-reviewed publications. These include 4* publications in world leading journals such as Nature communications (Impact factor 12.1), Sports Medicine (Impact factor 9.8) and Science translational medicine (Impact factor 16.3). Ian has presented at numerous prestigious Sport Science related conferences (American College of Sports Medicine, European College of Sport Science) and presented to leading sporting governing bodies (English Institute of Sport, The English Cricket board, The Football Association, The Premier League, The Women’s Super League).

Ian's main research interests are; Injury and Illness Surveillance, The impact of exercise and physical activity on stress related bone injury, bone structure and bone metabolism and Genetic associations with alterations in bone structure and injury. Ian has experience in leading consultancy based activities related to Injury and Illness for various sporting bodies, including The Football Association and the Premier League.