Our leaders
Distinguished Professor Aaron Coutts
Head of School
Aaron Coutts is a distinguished professor in sport and exercise science. Aaron teaches in the areas of applied exercise physiology, exercise prescription and research design and statistics. His research is focused around developing evidence-based methods for improving performance and health of athletes. Aaron also provides sport science advice to several top-level professional football clubs and sporting organizations. He is a Director of Exercise and Sport Science Australia (ESSA) and a member of the Nike Sport Research Laboratory Advisory Board. Aaron has published more than 200 scientific articles and has been an invited speaker to many sport science conferences. He is an Associate Editor for the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance and an editorial board member for the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport.
Professor Mark Watsford
Deputy Head of School, Research
Mark is the Deputy Head of School (Research) and has been an active researcher for over two decades. He is a strong advocate for collaborative research and has a wealth of experience from managing a range of laboratory-based and field-based research projects. He has extensive experience with the physiological and biomechanical assessment of athletes and has several research interests in the area of applied sports science. Mark’s primary research focus is the examination of muscle stiffness as it relates to soft-tissue injuries and athletic performance in athletes, however he is also integrally involved in identifying other factors contributing to performance in a range of sports including Australian football, rowing and cricket. Mark has been the co-ordinator of a long-standing research partnership with the conditioning department at the Sydney Swans Football Club, conducting research to optimise performance in Australian rules football. This research includes aspects of physical monitoring and preparation, injury analysis and athlete wellness and development.
Dr Rob Bower
Deputy Head of School, Teaching and Learning
Rob is the Deputy Head of School (Teaching and Learning) with a PhD in Sports Engineering and a Bachelor of Education majoring in Physical Education and Mathematics. He has also completed a Master of Applied Science (Exercise and Sport Science). Rob has won a national teaching award from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council for Developing and fostering experiential learning to enhance student engagement in the field of Sports Science. Rob’s main areas of research include the design and performance of sporting equipment and in particular, tennis rackets and cricket bats.
Dr Blake McLean
High Performance Sport Course Director
Blake is a senior lecturer in sport and exercise science and the course director for the Master of High Performance Sport. For more than a decade, Blake has worked within high-performance departments in the AFL, NRL, NBA and USA collegiate sport. Blake is involved in a number of international industry research collaborations, aiming to develop best practice human performance models, to support evidence-led decision making in the pursuit of optimal health and performance for team sport athletes. Blake also serves as part of the Exercise & Sports Science Australia (ESSA) Sports Science Advisory Group and is a member of the Nike North American Sport Scientific Advisory Group.
Dr Lee Wallace
Bachelor of Sport, Exercise Science and Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Management Course Director
Lee is the course director for the Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science and Management degrees. Lee teaches in the area of structural and functional anatomy. His research interests include examining the effects of varying training stimulus on athletic performance and understanding the relationship between training load and injury in athletes.
Associate Professor Nicolas Hart
Clinical Exercise Physiology Course Director
Associate Professor Nicolas H. Hart, PhD AES CSCS ESSAF is an NHMRC Emerging Leadership Fellow in Cancer Survivorship and Course Director of Clinical Exercise Physiology at the School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation; and Human Performance Research Centre (Faculty of Health) at the University of Technology Sydney. His clinical research focuses on improving outcomes for people living with advanced cancer canvassing (1) survivorship and supportive care issues (including exercise, nutrition, psychosocial, and toxicity management), and (2) cancer outcomes (including disease biology, disease progression, and overall survival). He also founded and co-leads the West Australian Bone Research Collaborative.
