Centre Staff and PhD Researchers

Ryan Adams

Lecturer In Coaching & Sports Development

Sinead Connolly

Lecturer in Sport & Exercise

Mrs Sinead Connolly is a full time Lecturer in physical education and sports coaching. She joined the School of Sport staff team in January 2008, prior to this Sinead worked as a physical education teacher for eight years and spent three years working as the Northern Ireland Coaching/Education Officer for the (then) Northern Ireland Institute of Coaching and Sport NI. As a Lecturer in the School of Sport the main focus of her work is in the areas of Sports Coaching and Physical Education. She teaches both theoretical and practical modules across both BSc programmes (sport studies and sport & exercise sciences). As the Learning and Teaching Coordinator for the School of Sport; Sinead leads the staff to develop, promote and grow the quality of provision so that the student experience is the very best it can be.

As a British Gymnastics, Coaching Ireland and Sport NI Coach Educator and Assessor Sinead has extensive experience providing coach education courses in both generic and sport specific settings and has made a significant contribution to the workforce development in gymnastics in particular. Sinead has co-authored a number of courses and resources in the areas of safeguarding children in sport, gymnastics and physical education. She worked closely with Gymnastics Ireland in the production of their GymEDGE programme.

In 2006 Sinead established Club GymFUN, a community gymnastics club based at Ulster University. This club has become a focus for the award winning Ulster University GymFUN Coach Education and Employability programme which has produced over 200 gymnastics coaches and has training more than 200 school teachers in gymnastics. In 2015 the Club was awarded the prestigious British Gymnastics Club of the Year NI award and was runner up in the national Club awards. Sinead’s contribution to workforce development was also recognised at these awards when she was runner up in the Coach Educator Category at the British Gymnastics National Awards.

Dr Paul Darby

Reader in Sport & Exercise

Paul Darby joined Ulster University in 2002 having previously held a lectureship at Liverpool Hope University. He was awarded his PhD from Ulster University in 1997. He is currently reader in the sociology of sport and leads the Centre for Sport in Society.

His teaching and research interests lie in the social sciences and history of sport. Alongside almost 90 articles in peer reviewed journals and edited collections, he is author of two research monographs: Gaelic Games, Nationalism and the Irish Diaspora in the United States and Africa, Football and FIFA: Politics, Colonialism and Resistance; and has co-edited two collections on sport and the worldwide Irish diaspora and football related disasters. He is currently working on a co-authored monograph on African transnational football migration and football to be published by Manchester University Press in late 2019.

His research has been funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, the British Academy, the European Union, UNICEF and UK Sport. Paul was editor of the international journal Soccer and Society and currently sits on the editorial board of Soccer and Society, Impumelelo: The interdisciplinary electronic journal of African Sport and Sportsworld: The Journal of global Sport. He has also guest edited special issues of African Historical Review and Sport in Society.

He was a member of the ESRC Peer Review College (2010-2014) and has acted as a peer reviewer for numerous international journals. He is a founding member of the Sport Migration Network hosted at Aalborg University in Denmark. He teaches undergraduate and postgraduate modules across a number of sports related courses and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Dr Paul Donnelly

Senior Lecturer in Sport Development & Coaching

Dr Kyle Ferguson

Head of School of Sport and Exercise Science

Kyle graduated from Ulster University with a degree is Sport and Exercise Science in 2000 prior to working in sports development in Northern Ireland and the USA. A return to education in 2006 led to completion of a MSc in Management from Queens University and further experience in sports management in New Zealand.

A return to Northern Ireland in 2009 saw Kyle take up post at Ulster university and complete a PhD in Sport policy and Performance. Roles within the School of Sport included responsibility for leading on global engagement, partnership development, consultancy, academic enterprise and flexible learning,

Kyle is responsible for the Centre for Sports Enterprise with the objective of establishing collaborations between researchers, entrepreneurs and the sports industry. Kyle established a unique partnership with the Irish Football Association which led to the creation of the BSc Football Coaching and Business Management degree in 2016 and acted as course director until 2021. During this time the programme achieved 100% satisfaction within the National Student Survey, recognition of the value of delivery.

Kyle has led the successful completion of a range of local, regional and international research and consultancy projects across sports innovation, social inclusion and physical activity. Kyle’s research focuses on measuring sports policy and performance with particular emphasis on effectiveness and efficiency in the public sector. At a policy level Kyle served on the board of Sport NI for nine years setting and overseeing national sports policy at both participation and performance level, using his research to inform policy design and implementation.

A performance analysis tutor and practitioner at youth International level Kyle is also a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Professor David Hassan

Professor of Sport Policy and Management

Professor Hassan has published 15 books and 175 other scientific outputs, having worked collaboratively with academic researchers from around the globe.

A prominent scientist with an international reputation, he was awarded a Distinguished Research Fellowship by Ulster in recognition of his outstanding contribution to research. He is also a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences.

He has held many leadership roles at the University, including Associate Dean of the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences, where he forged a substantial overseas partnership network for Ulster, Head of School, Head of Research Graduate School, Provost of the Belfast and Jordanstown campuses, and Chair of the Building and Infrastructure committee for Ulster’s Graduate Entry Medical School.

Professor Hassan was the Founding Co-Director and Chair of the Special Olympics Regional Research Centre for Europe and Eurasia at Ulster (SORRC). SORRC is a vibrant pan-continental research centre with a clear focus on inclusion and opportunities for young people with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

As Co-Director of SORRC, David developed the Centre’s fundamental and applied research programme taking a multi-disciplinary approach. David grew SORRC to a collaboration of over 30 researchers employed at 11 Higher Education Institutions across Europe.

Professor Hassan’s research in the field of intellectual disabilities, supported extensively by over £300k of competitive external funding, has significantly enhanced the integration of young people with developmental disabilities across several European countries.

Professor Hassan has a reputation as an advocate for change and has provided strategic direction and leadership as part of a significant portfolio of industrial and commercial experience.

In 2013, the FIA World Motor Sport Council appointed him to its Strategic Task Force, and it began an association with the global governing body of motorsport that prevails, principally through the renowned FIA University, today. Nationally, he has been appointed to numerous leadership roles by the GAA, including to its strategic committee, ‘Towards 150’ in 2015, as a non-executive board member on the Ulster Council Management Committee from 2017 to 2019, as Chair of the GAA’s Standing Committee of the Playing Rules (from 2018 to 2024), as Chair of the Ulster’s Council’s Strategic Plan (2019 – 2021), as a member of its National Strategic Planning Oversight Committee (2021 – 2022) and, most recently, as Chair of the GAA’s new Amateur Status Committee, a brief he assumed in February 2024.

He has been honoured by the President of Ireland for the impact of his academic research, whilst his work examining the needs of young people with a range of complex disabilities in the Middle East has been recognised by the UAE Minister for Culture, Youth, and Social Development.

In recent years UEFA has appointed Prof Hassan as an expert witness to several high-profile investigations, including those surrounding events at a UEFA Champions League game between Ajax and Glasgow Celtic FC that resulted in serious fan disorder.

His leadership roles extend to being Editor of both an SSCI-ranked academic journal and a successful book series for the global publisher Routledge. Professor Hassan has extensive non-executive and board experience as either a Trustee, Director, Board Member or Advisor on a wide range of external bodies and organisations including his most recent UK appointment to the UNBOXED Evaluation Expert Advisory Group (EAG), a series of 10 art, science and technology projects across the British Isles.

Professor Hassan has delivered over 30 keynotes/ invited lectures at various events around the world. A specialist reviewer for the Hong Kong Council for Accreditation of Academic and Vocational qualifications, Prof Hassan has held Professorial appointments at the leading global institutions in his field – Loughborough University, UK, University of Technology, Sydney and Griffith University, Gold Coast, Australia and The University of Newcastle Business School, New South Wales.

A regular commentator for the international media, Prof Hassan was an expert contributor to the PPI Gold Award-winning documentary broadcast by the BBC entitled ‘Does the Cap Fit?’ and, more recently, its award-winning series ‘The Long and Short of It’ in February 2024.

Tandy Haughey

Senior Lecturer

Tandy Jane Haughey graduated from Ulster University in 1994 with a BA Honours Degree in Sport, Exercise and Leisure. In 1995 and 1996 she was awarded a PGCE in Physical Education and an MSc in Sport, Exercise and Leisure, also from Ulster. After spending three years teaching physical education in Assumption Grammar School, three years as a Sports Development Officer for Castlereagh Borough Council and three years a Coach Training and Development Officer for Coaching Northern Ireland, in 2005 she was appointed as a Lecturer in sports coaching and development at Ulster where she contributes to undergraduate and postgraduate teaching, research, community outreach and consultancy.

Tandy lecturers across all programmes within the School of Sport but specifically within the BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching Degree programme, she is also Course Director of the BSc in Sport Studies. Tandy is involved with the development of children’s coaching from a Northern Ireland perspective, associated with Netball Northern Ireland, Coach and Talent Networks, qualified Assessor and Mentor and a fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Tandy is currently involved with the Athena Swan Mentorship programme (FAME) as a mentor.

She is also currently developing the CPPD L3/4 Coaching Children Workshop as part of a suite of CPPD for high performing coaches in association with scUK which will be delivered across the UK. Tandy has positive working relationships with Sport Northern Ireland, scUK and the Youth Sport Trust and has worked in partnership with these organisations to bring conferences for coaches and future young ambassadors to Ulster.

Dr Conor Heffernan

Lecturer In Social Sciences Of Sport

Dr Paul Kitchin

Senior Lecturer

I am a Senior Lecturer in sport management within the School of Sport. My PhD investigated organisational change on managers, staff, and youth participants in para-sport.

I am interested in how social justice is developed through sport, that said I am also interested in how injustice is exacerbated through sport. I examine how management facilitates the discrimination of disabled people and along with colleagues I am also interested the nexus between sport business, marketing, and gambling.

I am a Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy and my teaching and supervision focuses on leadership, management, and justice in and through sport organisations.

I am a former faculty member and sessional lecturer in universities in Britain and Australia. Across Britain and Ireland, I have acted as an external assessor and examiner to a number of sport business programmes.

Dr Katie Liston

Senior Lecturer

Dr Katie Liston has worked in the Irish and UK higher education sectors since 1998. She completed her PhD in sociology at University College Dublin and was the first academic to examine the experiences of elite sportswomen on the island of Ireland. She joined Ulster University in 2008 as part of the teaching and research team in the social sciences of sport and she is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Dr Liston is a senior researcher in the Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Institute and a core member of the Centre for Sport in Society. She specialises in the analysis of the links between sport and identity from single and interdisciplinary perspectives. This work includes, but is not limited, to the study of pain and injury, national identity and Irish-British relations, gender and online harms. She supervises full- and part-time doctoral researchers at Ulster University, Nottingham Trent University and Technological University of the Shannon.

Katie is co-chair of míde: an All-Island Research Collective for Women in Sport, Health and Exercise (míderesearch.com) and she has acted as external examiner at a number of UK HEIs.
Dr Liston is a former elite athlete. Her sporting background includes national and international sporting honours (in Gaelic football, rugby union, athletics and football/soccer) and wide-ranging administrative, management and coaching experience as well as voluntary advisory roles on various strategic committees.

She is also Director of Inspire Education and a regular contributor to print, online and radio outlets on the island of Ireland.

Dr Mary Margaret Meade

Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology

Dr Kyle Paradis

Lecturer in Sport Sociology/Sport Psychology (Mental Health)

Kyle moved from Toronto, Canada to join Ulster University as a Lecturer in Sport & Exercise Psychology in the School of Sport and Exercise Science within the Faculty of Life and Health Sciences at Ulster University.

Kyle is the Research Centre Lead for the Centre for Exercise Medicine, Physical Activity, and Health, and is a member of the Centre for Sport and Society, within the Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Institute.

Kyle is the Course Director for the BSc (Hons) Program in Sport and Exercise Science in Belfast and he teaches undergraduate and graduate modules in sport and exercise psychology.

Kyle also teaches on the MSc Program in Sport and Exercise Psychology in Belfast and supervises PhD students in sport and exercise psychology.

Kyle is also a Certified High-Performance Curling Coach and an international curling athlete. He has represented Ireland on the national team competing at several European Curling Championships.

Education

• PhD, Kinesiology, Psychological Bases of Physical Activity (University of Western Ontario)
• MED, Higher Education Practice (Ulster University)
• MHK, Human Kinetics, Sport & Exercise Psychology (University of Windsor)
• BA (Honours), Sport Psychology (Laurentian University)

Dr Lee-Ann Sharp

Lecturer in Sport & Exercise Psychology

Dr David Woods

Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science