In June Professor Zoe Knowles took part in ‘The Perception Machine’ whereby scientific experts from the fields of astrophysics to biological anthropology were invited to share new perspectives on selected artworks from Tate’s Constellations exhibitions that offered engaging possibilities for interdisciplinary interpretation. In their hands, artworks became cognitive, historical and cultural ‘lenses’ with scientists offering unexpected insights into formal design and technical processes, past realities and future prospects. Prof Knowles and colleagues from the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences tutor on the MA Art in Science programme at Liverpool School of Art and Design whose postgraduate students and staff led the project. The MA Art in Science programme provides exciting opportunities for artists and scientists to collaborate and explore the boundaries of art and science practice-based research.

Find out more about the MA Art in Science programme and check out Instagram (MA Art in Science) and Twitter (MA Art in Science) (@ArtinScienceMA).

The School of Sport and Exercise Sciences offered a unique opportunity to discover how the First Emperor’s real warriors would have trained in ancient China more than 2,000 years ago, as part of the Terracotta Warriors exhibition at the World Museum in Liverpool. This special public engagement event compared modern day training techniques to the ones used by the Terracotta Warriors using expertise from Liverpool John Moores University’s, Head of Strength and Conditioning, Dr Carl Langan-Evans, with advice from Dr Xin Liu, an international historian from LJMU’s History department.
LJMU recently opened its doors (or rather state-of-the-art environmental chambers) to a number of trekkers raising money for Alder Hey Children's Charity by walking up Kilimanjaro this October. Dubbed as ‘damage limitation sessions’, sport scientists gave the trekkers a supervised flavor of ‘altitude’, monitoring their responses as they exercise for an hour on three difference days in an environment of 2000, 3000 and 4000 m respectively.
The trekkers were supported by ‘Team Extreme’ who consisted of a number of postgraduate and undergraduate students from the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences as well as placement students from local schools. These facilities are run by Dr Ben Edwards, a specialist in Environmental Physiology.
“Thank you so much to Team Extreme for allowing the Alder Hey Children’s Charity Kilimanjaro trekkers to come into LJMU and undergo sessions in the hypoxic chamber. It was a great experience and has given us all really beneficial insights into how we’ll cope with the altitude – not to mention the additional advice you’ve given us for getting up the mountain. The feedback from all the team has been very positive, even the saddle sore bottoms! The sessions have instilled a steely confidence in their ability to successfully undertake the challenge. On behalf of us all, and everyone at Alder Hey who will benefit from the money raised on the challenge, thank you again – you rock!” Mrs Cath Harding, Head of Community Fundraising for Alder Hey Children’s Charity.

The first #FamilyFitFest took place at IM Marsh on Saturday 3 June, a new fitness and wellbeing event encouraging families to look after their health, especially after a childhood cancer diagnosis.
#FamilyFitFest featured a host of different sports and fun activities including football, cycling, racing, athletics, as well as tasters of health and nutrition and wellbeing such as yoga and clean-eating.
An under-researched area, exercise and fitness after childhood cancer is a key focus for Dr Dominic Doran, LJMU Lecturer in Exercise and Health, Sport and Exercise Sciences.

Dominic’s teenage son was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2013. He explains: “When you receive a life-changing leukaemia diagnosis your initial focus is just getting your child through treatment. You don’t think about the ‘after-treatment’ or the side effects that it may have on their physical and mental wellbeing.
“After his treatment for cancer at Alder Hey, my son has also received wellbeing support from The Joshua Tree which has seen him grow in body confidence, self-esteem and general fitness. It’s had a positive knock-on effect on the whole family and I wanted to ensure that other families affected by childhood cancers come along to this taster day to see how they can benefit from the many different types of fun fitness and exercise on offer.”
“It is critical that we better understand how lifestyle, nutrition and activity can help in not only living with the diagnosis, treatment and the after effects of childhood cancers, this event will help start this process of gathering knowledge on these issues.”
#FamilyFitFest is supported by Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, North-West children’s cancer charity The Joshua Tree and the Teenage Cancer Trust with research support from LJMU’s School of Sport and Exercise Sciences.
"We worked with Dr Dominic Doran, LJMU Lecturer in Exercise and Health, Sport and Exercise Sciences to better understand how lifestyle, nutrition and activity can help the families. The relationship between The Joshua Tree and the staff at LJMU was so valuable in creating such an amazing and successful event as the support offered helped to create, what we hope will be, a future annual event for all the North West and North Wales families going through and following such a traumatic time in their lives. Everyone at The Joshua Tree is looking forward to working closely and developing a strong partnership with Liverpool John Moores University in the future to benefit all our families." - The Joshua Tree
On Friday 18 May, Liverpool celebrated LightNight with over 100 free performances, exhibitions, installations, workshops and talks. The 2018 theme was Transformation, with exhibits and installations reflecting upon the transformative nature of the self and the world around us. LJMU was a principal sponsor and many students and staff were involved to make this year’s event bigger and better than ever. On the night, approximately 2,100 people visited LJMU and our partner sites. The Football Exchange exhibited for the School of Sport and Exercise Sciences as part of their celebrations of 20 years of the BSc Science and Football programme, the first programme of its kind in the world and how its graduates and research has ‘transformed’ the soccer industry globally. Visitors were able to use GPS systems used to track player performance in a short small-sided game and then able to view their scores and see how they fared against typical positional data from professional players.

As part of an ongoing relation with Randox LJMU School of Sport and Exercise Sciences has again developed an educational series based around health and well-being, delivered by a combination of world-leading industry and academic speakers. Take a look at the 2017 event review below. The Randox Health Week programme focused in particular on aspects of mental health, physical activity and health diagnostics, which is particularly fitting given the nature of the Grand National sponsor’s line of work. With over 36 years’ experience in creating and manufacturing innovative and cutting-edge clinical diagnostic products, Randox Health has developed the world’s most comprehensive and personalised health check; so highly advanced that it can detect the earliest possible signs of disease even before a patient becomes symptomatic. It is this pioneering health check from Randox that led to Sir Anthony McCoy being diagnosed with prediabetes. Joining Randox Health Week Sir Anthony led a discussion on transforming our health behaviours from a reactive to a proactive approach. Public events focused on current research between Liverpool John Moores University’s School of Sport and Exercise Sciences and the Racing Welfare (funded by the Racing Foundation) focused on mental health in the racing industry and also a workshop giving insight into how Liverpool is leading global initiatives on becoming ‘An Active City’ with international keynote speakers local City representatives as discussants. Take a look at the details of our outreach work as part of this programme. Look out for announcements on our 2019 programme on our news page or Twitter feed @LJMUSportSci (opens in a new tab) later this year.