New MICCN-St Kilda Football Club partnership set to reduce recovery times and enhance player performance
The performance of elite athletes can be compromised by numerous factors including core body temperature, jet lag, and even sleep disruption. Recovery can take weeks, and can have a real impact on overall team performance.
The Monash Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neurosciences (MICCN) recognises the need for change, and is taking action via a prestigious new partnership with St Kilda Football Club.
The collaboration, which also involves Philips Healthcare, will facilitate the development of innovative sleep interventions to improve player recovery from strenuous training programs, games and injury.
Initiatives include the review of players’ current sleep practices, creation of personalised sleep schedules, and enhancing quality of sleep, to ensure that any recovery time is minimal and that player performance peaks from first bounce, no matter where and when the match is being played.
“We are excited by this new partnership, through which we will effectively be optimising sleep health for AFL professionals, leading to improvements in overall health, performance and, when still required, faster recovery times,” Professor Shantha Rajaratnam, Lead of MICCN’s Sleep Program, said.
St Kilda Football Club High Performance Manager Matt Hornsby said that minimising the impacts of recovery could make a major difference to the overall performance of any elite athlete.
“We’re really excited to see how this study develops and what insights it can give us,” Hornsby said.
“Optimising recovery is so vital to performance, so we’re looking forward to learning more about the impact sleep practices can have on our playing group.”
The project is being offered through MICCN’s Graduate Education and Industry Centre program, which presents candidates with the opportunity to undertake research that is of direct or immediate relevance to industry.
Current opportunities with St Kilda Football Club – seeking a PhD student and a postdoctoral researcher
MICCN’s Graduate Education and Industry Centre is seeking a high-calibre and ambitious PhD candidate to work with our collaborators on the St Kilda Football Club sleep and performance project. For more information and to apply, visit the Monash website. Applications close 5pm, Friday 27 July 2018.
In addition, MICCN is also offering a Translational Fellowship in Industry to a suitable postdoctoral researcher (note: this opportunity is open to current MICCN employees only). Our Translational Fellowships are designed to support our postdoctoral researchers in the Sleep Program, to conduct collaborative research projects in conjunction with a host industry partner – in this case, St Kilda Football Club. As part of the Fellowship, the lucky applicant will assist with accelerating the transfer of research-derived outcomes into St Kilda Football Club’s performance regime, whilst enriching their knowledge of the commercial research environment. For more information and to apply, visit the Monash website. Applications close 5pm, Friday 27 July 2018.
For more general information on our other industry partnership opportunities, please contact Dr Andrew Tucker on t: 03 9905 0864, e: Andrew.Tucker@monash.edu.