Mike McGreary

Biography

Mike is a HCPC registered sport and exercise psychologist and chartered psychologist with the British Psychological Society (BPS). Mike joined Keele University in January 2024 and prior to this Mike had worked as a senior lecturer in sport and exercise psychology at Edge Hill University.

As an applied practitioner, Mike has extensive experience in working with elite athletes and high-performance teams across a range of sports, specialising in football, cricket, darts and golf. Mike is also currently an associate editor for the International Journal of Sport Psychology and committee member for the Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology (DSEP).

Research and scholarship

Mike’s research interests are centred around two main topics and focuses on creating research than can be applied, bridging the gap between theory and practice.

1) Think Aloud

The use of the think aloud method grants researchers access to participants' 'live' thoughts during the performance of a task. I am interested in the use of this method to help us understand the cognitions (thoughts) of both athletes and exercisers during the performance of a task. Increasing our understanding of these cognitions can help practitioners and other relevant stakeholders improve performance and enhance wellbeing.

2) Within-career transitions

Athletes will navigate various transitions throughout their career where they are required to make important decisions regarding their career, development and future pathway. A transition has been defined as an event or non-event which results in changed relationships, routines, assumptions, and roles. My particular area of focus is on the junior-to-senior transition, aiming to further our understanding of the demands and barriers associated with the transition and how organisations can support athletes through this transition.

Teaching

I teach across a variety of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and lead the BSc Sport and Exercise Psychology degree. My primary teaching responsibilities are:

• Programme Lead for BSc Sport and Exercise Psychology
• Module Leader for PSY-20070 Foundations of Sport and Exercise Psychology
• Module Leader for PSY-10044 Answering Questions with Qualitative Data
• Module Team Member for PSY-10026 Distress and Mental Health
• Module Team Member for PSY-10034 Intro to Biological and Cognitive Psychology
• Module Team Member for PSY-10050 Professional Practice in Psychology
• Module Team Member for PSY-20064 Wellbeing & Mental Health in the Community
• Module Team Member for PSY-300150 Health and Disease
• Module Team Member for PSY-400135 Applying Psychology
• Module Team Member for PSY-40087 Action Research: Co-creating to Make a Difference