Sinead Connolly

Overview

Sinead Connolly is a Lecturer in Physical Education and Sports Coaching in the School of Sport & Exercise Sciences at Ulster University, which she joined in 2008. Prior to entering higher education, she worked as a PE teacher and as a Coaching and Education Officer with Sport NI, bringing a strong practice foundation to her academic work.

Her teaching and research sit at the intersection of physical education, sports coaching, physical literacy, and youth physical activity — fields in which she has made a sustained contribution across research, policy development, curriculum design, and coach education.

Sinead was Principal Investigator of the All-Island Physical Literacy Consensus Statement Project (2019–2022). The Statement published jointly by Sport Ireland and Sport NIhas been adopted across policy, practice and research by key national bodies in both jurisdictions.

She has contributed to several national and international research projects, including the Global Matrix 4.0 and 5.0 controbuting to the Ireland North and South Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth (2020 and 2025), the Children's Sport Participation and Physical Activity study (CSPPA 2018 and 2022), and the EU Move Project (Erasmus+, 2022–2023), a European collaboration focused on school-based promotion of healthy lifestyles to prevent childhood obesity.

Sinead developed the GymFun Gymnastics Course and Resource for Teachers, recently translated into Irish to support Irish-medium schools. She has extensive experience delivering coach education in both generic and sport-specific contexts, and has made a significant contribution to gymnastics coach workforce development through the Ulster University GymFun Student Employability Programme — recognised in 2018 when she was runner-up in the British Gymnastics National Coach Educator of the Year award, and by Sport NI, which named the programme Coaching Programme of the Year.

Outside her academic role, Sinead is Founder and Director of The Movement Station CIC, a community interest company in development in Newtownabbey, designed to address physical inactivity and health inequality through an integrated community movement facility. She is also Director of GymFun (2025) Ltd, a 500-member recreational gymnastics club with a distinctive focus on positive gymnastics experiences, fundamental movement skills, retention, youth leadership, and the development of young gymnastics coaches.

Sinead is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

Research Interests

• Physical literacy: definition, measurement and policy application
• Children's and adolescent physical activity — surveillance and determinants
• School-based physical activity and health promotion
• Inclusion of children with disabilities in physical education
• Positive coaching pedagogy and performer-centred coaching practice
• Weight stigma and health promotion in PE contexts
• Social and economic determinants of sport participation
• Youth sport participation and long-term athlete development
• Community-based approaches to physical activity promotion

Current Research Projects

School uniform as a barrier or enabler to physical activity

Multi-institution international study (10 universities) examining how school uniform policy affects children's physical activity, surveying principals and school leaders across jurisdictions.

Children's Sport Participation and Physical Activity (CSPPA)

Contribution to this large-scale all-island surveillance study measuring sport participation and physical activity in children and young people, informing national health inequality policy.

Global Matrix 5.0

Contributing researcher to the most comprehensive global assessment of variation in child and adolescent physical activity to date. NI data benchmarked internationally. Due October 2026.

Weight stigma and health promotion — PE teacher perspectives

Survey study examining how PE teachers perceive and navigate weight stigma in health promotion contexts, with implications for inclusive curriculum design and professional practice.

Cost of living impact on sports participation

Research investigating how rising living costs affect access to sport and physical activity, with a focus on participation inequalities across socio-economic groups.

MASTER Coaching Framework

Research and development work centred on a coaching framework grounded in positive coaching pedagogy, guided discovery and performer-centred practice, supporting coaches to create athlete-supportive environments.

EU Move Project — Let's Move Europa

Erasmus+ co-funded European partnership project on school-based promotion of healthy lifestyles to prevent childhood obesity (2022–2023).

PhD Supervision

Co-designing an inclusive physical education toolkit to support teachers in their practice (current) Advisor. Participatory doctoral study developing a co-designed toolkit to support teachers in delivering inclusive PE for children with disabilities.

Professional and Policy Engagement

• Principal Investigator, All-Island Physical Literacy Consensus Statement
• Founder and Director, The Movement Station CIC, Newtownabbey
• Director, GymFun (2025) Ltd
• Developer, GymFun Gymnastics Course and Resource for Teachers (including Irish-medium edition)
• Runner-up, British Gymnastics National Coach Educator of the Year (2018)
• Sport NI Coaching Programme of the Year — Ulster University GymFun Student -Employability Programme
• Engagement with Sport NI, Public Health Agency, Department for Communities (NI), and Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council

Fellowships

Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA)