Summer Science Exhibition 2012A high jump for science

• 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm on Tuesday 03 July 2012
• at The Royal Society, London

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Panel discussion with Professor Steve Haake, Dr Vicky Tolfrey, Professor Sanjay Sharma and chaired by Julie Gould as part of the 2012 Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition

Event details

Sport science is a discipline young in its years compared to medicine and astronomy but over recent years the pursuit of excellence in sport has driven it on. As we approach the London 2012 Olympics we look at what developments have been made in this field in terms of both engineering and medicine. Join scientists and engineers as they talk about the technology they create to help athletes achieve their goals.

Professor Steve Haakeis director of the Centre for Sports Engineering Research at Sheffield Hallam University. He lectured for 15 years in mechanical engineering and founded the International Sports Engineering Association, the journal Sports Engineering and the International Conference on the Engineering of Sport. He is a member of the Technical Commission of the International Tennis Federation advising on the effect of equipment design on the rule of tennis, and is a consultant to Adidas. He was awarded an EPSRC Senior Media Fellowship in 2010 which he will use to promote the public understanding of science during the London 2012 Olympics. He appears regularly on BBC radio.

Dr Vicky Tolfrey is a Reader in Applied Disability Sport and Director of the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport for the School of Sport, Exercise & Health Sciences at Loughborough University. Vicky Tolfrey joined the PHC as the Director in late 2007 and leads the Research Strand on Sport Science. She was appointed as the Project Assistant for the British Wheelchair Racing Association (BWRA). After completion of the work with the BWRA, Vicky went on to work with the Great Britain Men's wheelchair basketball team for four years. Vicky is a BASES Accredited and has provided applied sport science support to Paralympic athletes since 1994, and has attended the Atlanta, Sydney Paralympic Games, the Cyprus holding camp for Athens 2004 and the Far East holding camp for Beijing 2008.

Professor Sanjay Sharma works at the CRY Inherited Cardiac Diseases and Sports Cardiology Clinic, Cardiovascular Sciences Research Centre, based at St George’s, University of London and St George’s Healthcare Trust. He is Medical Director for The Virgin London Marathon, English Institute of Sport, British Rugby League and the Lawn Tennis Association and cardiologist for the 2012 Olympics. Professor Sharma's interests include cardiovascular adaptation in athletes, sudden cardiac death in the young and heart muscle diseases.

Julie Gould is a Welsh swimmer and was a member of the Wales team at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. She placed 7th in the 400m individual medley and 8th in the 200m individual medley.  

Enquiries: Contact the events team