A PhD in Sport and Exercise Science at UWA will help you unlock your power to enhance the success and performance of elite athletes and sporting teams.
And with UWA’s vast industry connections, you’ll have the opportunity to undertake your PhD at organisations such as the Western Australian Institute of Sport (WAIS).
We interviewed Caitlin Attwell, a first-year PhD student at WAIS, about her research and how it aims to impact the performance of female athletes.
Caitlin Attwell
After studying a Bachelor of Science and honours in Sport Science, Exercise and Health, Caitlin’s decision to study a PhD at UWA was solidified when she was offered a “scholarship opportunity for a research project in a topic that [she is] passionate about, that was also industry embedded at WAIS.” Caitlin is now in her first year of study for her PhD at UWA.
Caitlin shared her favourite aspects about studying at UWA so far are the support and encouragement she receives from supervisors and the opportunity to complete her PhD at WAIS and work in high performance sport.
What has your experience at WAIS been like so far?
“It has been very exciting starting my PhD at WAIS this year. I’ve been able to see first-hand the work that goes into preparing athletes to compete on the world stage and get to know some of the athletes who have qualified."
What are you researching?
“The main aim of my PhD is to investigate female-specific strategies to detect and correct iron deficiency in female athletes. Athletes in general are at a high risk of iron deficiency due to their training and performance demands; however, female athletes are at a much higher risk than male athletes.”
Why have you focused your research on this area?
“Over the past 70 years, there has been a significant increase in the number of women engaging in elite sport. Despite this, sport and exercise science research has not yet caught up, with a majority of research to date conducted in male athletes.”
“Unfortunately, this means that insights gained from research in male athletes is used as the blueprint for female athletes too, which is potentially limiting the health and performance potential of our female athletes.”
How will your research impact female athletes?
“We hope to create a novel screening tool to facilitate the early detection of iron deficiency in female athletes, which can be used by staff, practitioners and athletes at WAIS. The use of this tool will be a simple way to flag those at risk, aiming to reduce the number of female athletes experiencing more severe stages of iron deficiency.”
“Additionally, we hope to refine the current strategic recommendations for iron supplementation by investigating a female-athlete specific approach to supplementation. These findings will help to further inform the current iron supplementation practices to maximise iron absorption outcomes for women, and thus reduce the prevalence of iron deficiency among female athletes.”
“On the community level, I hope that our research will contribute towards removing health-related barriers to women’s participation in sport in general and encourage more women to engage in sport on the whole.”
Where do you see yourself in ten years?
“I would love to be working in a physiology role in high performance sport. Especially if I can work with female athletes or be involved with sports where women traditionally have a much smaller representation, for example, action sports like surfing.”
Hear more about what our PhD students at WAIS have to say about their experiences so far
Interested to find out where a PhD in Sport and Exercise Science could take you?
Find out more about our postgraduate study options including the Doctor of Philosophy.
