IoS - Dr Clare Pheasey

Hello. My name's Clare Pheasey and I'm a senior lecturer in sport and exercise physiology. I'm also the program director for the BSc in Sport and Exercise Science.  

I'm a BASES accredited sport and exercise physiologist, and that means I've been fortunate enough to work with regional, national and international athletes in a variety of sports from orienteering, golf, paralympic swimming and distance and ultrarunning.  

Sports Science is the application of those scientific principles you learned at school. Your biology, your chemistry, and your physics. But applying that to a sport or an exercise setting. That means we're interested in answering questions like, “how can we improve an athlete's performance?”, “how can we prevent injuries” or “how can we help with the prevention and treatment of chronic illnesses?”. 

As a result, sport and exercise science can be applied across a broad range of settings within society. It may help to use the distinction of sport science and exercise science, where sport science is where we have a tendency to apply those principles relating to science but in a sporty setting. So, looking at athletic performance, whereas if we consider exercise science, we're now using those same principles, but we're applying them to a more exercise and health based setting where we're looking at improving the health and wellbeing of members of the public. 

In September 2025, Keele is launching its BSc in Sport and Exercise Science, a program designed to challenge students to examine the fascinating role science plays in sport, exercise, health and well-being. In doing so, our students will gain valuable theoretical and hands on practical experience in labs such as this in order to help them to develop the confidence to critically analyse some of the contemporary issues that we face in society around sport and exercise.  

Keele offers a thriving and dynamic environment for both teaching and research excellence. With our large 600 acre campus, there is plenty of space for students to study, exercise and train. If you have any questions about studying sport at Keele, please don't hesitate to get in contact.