Professor Jon Wheat's Inaugural Lecture
Marching to a goal-equivalent beat: Movement variability in military personnel carrying load
In this lecture, Jon will focus on findings from an experiment within a broader collaborative research project with La Trobe University, Melbourne investigating movement variability in military personnel.
- From: Tuesday 18 March 2025, 5.30 pm
- To: Tuesday 18 March 2025, 7.30 pm
- Registration: 5:30 pm
- Location: Lecture Theatre 3, Teaching and Learning Building, Clifton Campus, Nottingham, NG11 8NS
- Booking deadline: Tuesday 18 March 2025, 3.00 pm
- Download this event to your calendar
Event details
In this lecture, Jon will focus on findings from an experiment within a broader collaborative research project with La Trobe University, Melbourne investigating movement variability in military personnel. Jon will discuss findings which help explain how soldiers cope with the additional demands of carrying the heavy loads typically encountered during training and operational tasks. Movement variability is often perceived as unskilled, random, disorganized or detrimental. However, the results of this research help to illustrate how this is not always the case, with soldiers able to manipulate variability in their gait to adapt to the demands of carrying load. More broadly, the lecture will encourage the audience to consider how movement variability can be a useful and functional feature of healthy human movement.
Biography
Jon Wheat is Professor of Biomechanics in the Department of Sport Science and the Sport, Heath and Human Performance Enhancement (SHAPE) research centre at NTU. Before joining NTU in March 2024, Jon spent 23 years at Sheffield Hallam University; first as a PhD student and, for the last 5 years, as Associate Dean, Research and Innovation in the College of Health, Wellbeing and Life Sciences. Jon’s biomechanics research is influenced by the Ecological Dynamics approach to motor learning. He has worked on the development, validation and application of biomechanics measurement systems that can be used outside of the laboratory in more representative environments. Jon has also studied the functional aspects of within-individual movement variability with work across sport and health domains; for example, the gait of stroke survivors, postural control during balance tasks, the gait of military personnel, motor development in children and the coordination of a rider with their horse in dressage. Jon is impact champion for sport science and co-Director of NTU’s Health Innovation strategic research theme.
Programme
5.30 pm | Registration and welcome refreshments |
6 pm | Welcome talk |
6.05 pm | Lecture begins |
6.50 pm | Close and thanks by Executive Dean |
7 pm | Drinks reception |
7.30 pm | Close |
Location details
Address:
Clifton Campus
Nottingham
NG11 8NS
Parking:
Take a look at our maps and directions page to find the best parking for you to our Clifton campus.
Travel Info:
Take a look at our maps and directions page to find the best parking for you to our Clifton campus.
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