Our projects

Recent research projects

Our multidisciplinary team at the Performance and Expertise Research Centre researches issues surrounding the acquisition, maintenance and loss of expertise.

Learn more about our recent research.

Optimising training for performance and adaptation

Help develop and test better ways to individualise training for physical performance. This project will investigate how training can be planned, monitored and adjusted to account for differences between individuals and changes in performance, fatigue and recovery over time.

You'll contribute to applied research examining how training load, physiological and performance data and athlete feedback can be used to inform training decisions. Projects may span endurance and strength training, with opportunities to work across sport, tactical and occupational settings.

The research aims to develop practical approaches that:

• improve the prescription and progression of training
• identify meaningful individual responses to training
• integrate performance, training and recovery data
• translate research findings into better training decisions.

Contact: Professor Tim Doyle

Researching performance in defence and emergency services

Turn challenges from your workplace into applied research that can improve practice. This project is designed for people already working in defence, emergency services or related operational environments who want to investigate a physical performance problem relevant to their organisation.

Your research could examine areas such as physical employment standards, occupational task performance, physical training, injury risk, fatigue, readiness or the physical demands of operational roles. Wherever possible, projects will be shaped around real problems, populations and data from your professional setting.

You'll work with researchers in human performance to develop rigorous research that can:

• answer questions relevant to your organisation
• evaluate current practices and identify opportunities for improvement
• develop and test evidence-informed approaches
• translate research findings into operational practice.

Contact: Professor Tim Doyle

Diagnostic performance

The ability to perceive, discriminate between and use environmental and stimulus cues is critical to performance in many professions. Yet this capability is rarely assessed once practitioners become qualified.

Our easy-to-use online assessment tool, EXPERTise 2.0, measures this skill. It has been tested successfully in a wide range of contexts including:

• software engineering
• cybersecurity
• medicine
• allied health
• transportation.

It is currently used for the selection and assessment of electrical controllers by industry partner Thomson Bridge.

Contact: Mark Wiggins, Mike Richardson

Human-machine teaming and training

Effective team performance is dependent on individuals learning critical tasks and teamwork skills. This requires training simulations that:

• include intact teams
• promote self-guided learning.

In collaboration with the Australian Government’s Defence Science and Technology Group, we have developed cutting-edge computational modelling techniques and AI systems that replicate the behaviour of human teammates within simulated team-training exercises.

This reduces the logistical and financial costs of team training, and enables the development of targeted, trainee-specific programs that can be completed remotely.

Contact: Mike Richardson, Mark Dras, Rachel Kallen

Detecting attentional lapses and preventing distraction

Funded by: Australian Research Council (ARC)

Modern environments are cluttered, noisy and often include technology that is supposed to enhance productivity but has the opposite effect.

This project focuses on understanding the impact of modern environments on attention, particularly in driving safety, as well as using patterns in brain activation to detect lapses in attention prior to errors occurring.

Bringing together research on attentional lapses, distraction, and interruption, it contributes to translational research for improved attention and performance.

Biomechanics, physical performance and exercise

Our research focusses on sport, exercise and occupational settings, with a common purpose of improving how people move, perform, and tolerate physical demands.

We bring together experts in biomechanics, exercise science, physiotherapy, wearable technology, tactical performance, running injury, and applied human performance research.

We commonly use physical performance testing, wearable sensors, markerless motion capture, 3D motion analysis, body composition assessment and applied field-based methods.

Contact: Tim Doyle, Joel Fuller

Sustaining high performance in sport

High-performance athletes have always needed to manage setbacks and difficult circumstances, such as losing, injury, loss of form, and pressure from fans, coaches and competitors.

In partnership with national sporting bodies such as Cricket Australia, our research has informed protocols that directly impact performance, such as:

• building athletes’ awareness of emotional skills
• promoting better work-life balance
• reducing psychological risk from isolation
• promoting flexibility and perspective.

We also conduct research using digital software and mobile applications that help all Australians (including athletes) build the skills to recover from, or live well with, chronic pain.

Our research identifies unique marketable benefits of the app and two major areas for future innovation that are now being pursued.

Contact: Tim Doyle, John Sutton

Enhancing lifeguard performance

In collaboration with the Y NSW and the ARC, we have developed evidence-based solutions for selecting, training and maintaining the individual performance of lifeguards.

A key component has been the development of virtual reality (VR) training that allows users to develop and practice strategies to improve sustained attention in near-to-real contextual environments.

It is portable and cost-effective, and is now used across Y NSW sites, improving access to high-quality and effective training, even in remote locations.

Contact: Kim Curby, Mark Wiggins

Flood risk communication

In Australia, floods are the second-most deadly natural hazard, following heatwaves. Many flood deaths and rescues are avoidable, with most being due to people entering floodwater in motor vehicles or engaging in recreational activities.

In collaboration with the Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre, we are working with the state emergency services across Australia to:

• develop effective public flood risk communication strategies
• identify the factors that lead to risky decision-making during flood emergencies.

Enhancing resilience

Until now, daily stressors were overlooked as catalysts for strengthening resilience. Our interventions, which help leverage stressor experiences, are the only evidence-based solutions shown to successfully support the strengthening of emotional resilience and performance.

Supported by our trained coaches, individual resilience training programs use guided self-reflection strategies to enhance personal insight into a person’s unique resilience strengths and areas for growth.

Our team resilience training programs use a novel debriefing strategy so teams can coordinate assets to support resilience. This debriefing protocol is a scalable method for providing team leaders with the tools to enhance team resilience. Find out more about the team and our work.

Contact: Monique Crane

Evaluation criteria

Evaluation criteria help people articulate thoughts that are often considered intuitive.

Establishing evidence-based evaluation criteria is useful for:

• teaching and skills development
• determining measures by which things can be recognised.

For example, in performing arts we developed a rubric for evaluating film editors’ work that was an essential prerequisite to establishing the Australian Screen Editors Guild Awards. It was then shared with the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards for their editing awards.

Contact: Greg Downey, Karen Palmer