Facilities
Teaching and Research Facilities
We have outstanding facilities or we have excellent facilities including purpose-built laboratories, clinical teaching rooms, a physiotherapy simulation unit, a Strength and Conditioning suite and on-campus sport facilities support teaching, research and applied practice in health, exercise, nutrition and rehabilitation.
Health Sciences Building
Our purpose-built Health Sciences Building provides over 320 m² of dedicated space for sport, exercise, nutrition and health science. Specialist laboratories cover biomechanics and human movement, exercise physiology, cardiovascular assessment, sport performance, body composition and sport psychology. Together they allow neuromuscular, metabolic, cardiovascular, biomechanical and behavioural factors to be measured in one place.
- Human performance and biomechanics: a 25-metre sprint track with force meters, motion analysis, force platforms, EMG and high-speed capture. These support gait analysis, functional assessment, return-to-play profiling and neuromuscular evaluation in rehabilitation and sport.
- Exercise physiology and cardiometabolic testing: treadmills, gas analysis, vascular and cardiac imaging, NIRS and related physiological monitoring. These support studies of exercise tolerance, cardiometabolic risk and the effectiveness of interventions.
- Nutrition and body composition: DXA scanning for bone and muscle health, and nutrition laboratories with food analysis and testing facilities. These support combined exercise and nutrition studies.
- Sport psychology and motor control: motor-control capture, vision and colour laboratories, and cognitive and neuro-behaviour suites, with space for collaboration between sport psychology and sport science.
Clinical teaching and rehabilitation spaces
Our clinical teaching rooms, located across the University and mostly close to the School, are designed for physiotherapy and sport rehabilitation. Students develop assessment, handling and treatment skills in realistic settings. Our physiotherapy simulation unit uses both manikins and simulated patients, so students can rehearse clinical scenarios and refine their practice and professional skills before working with patients.
The on-site Physiotherapy and Sport Rehabilitation Clinic then gives students experience of supervised, real-world care. The clinic is open to the public, so members of the community can also access its services. [Visit the clinic’s page for details and appointments.] The same spaces support research that delivers and evaluates rehabilitation interventions with clinical and athletic populations.
Strength and Conditioning suite
Our fully equipped Strength and Conditioning suite is prioritised for teaching and research and is coordinated primarily through the School. It supports practical teaching, athlete testing and training, and research on performance and injury-prevention interventions. Students gain hands-on experience of programming and coaching in a working training environment. [Add a line on equipment or capacity, if you have it.]
Shared biosciences laboratories
We also use a further 309 m² of shared biosciences space. It includes a phlebotomy suite and facilities for biochemical, molecular and clinical assays, such as metabolic and inflammatory markers. These laboratories support research in exercise, nutrition and musculoskeletal rehabilitation. They cover molecular biology, microbiology, cell biology, tissue culture, molecular genetics and bioinformatics.
Hope Park Sports
Hope Park Sports - with its state-of-the-art fitness centre, sports hall, and astro-turf pitches gives students and researchers realistic settings in which to deliver and evaluate exercise, rehabilitation and performance interventions. They include:
- a main sports hall with gym and fitness rooms
- six indoor courts, plus squash and tennis courts
- rugby and hockey pitches
- the Physiotherapy and Sport Rehabilitation Clinic (see above)