Skip to content
Steve Faulkner

Steve Faulkner

Senior Lecturer

School of Science & Technology

Staff Group(s)
Engineering

Role

Steve is a lecturer in the Department of Engineering on the Sports Engineering degrees. He has expertise in exercise and environmental physiology and its importance to human performance and product design. Steve is the module leader for the Anatomy, Physiology and Biomechanics module.

Career overview

Dr Faulkner has been working in the field of exercise physiology for more than 10 years, with a particular interest in the physiological factors that limit exercise performance and how they can be also used to promote improved health in the general population. He has experience of applying the physiological principals that determine sports performance to product design, having experience of working on the research and development of a number of products that have been used in high profile sports events such as the Olympic Games and football World Cup.

He completed his BSc in 2005 at The University of Birmingham. He then moved to Manchester Metropolitan University where he completed an MSc in the cellular regulation of skeletal muscle mass. He then went on to his PhD in the field of thermoregulation and exercise performance at Loughborough University in 2012.

Following his PhD, Dr Faulkner completed a post-doctoral position within the Leicester-Loughborough Diet, Lifestyle and Physical Activity Biomedical Research Unit, where his primary interest was the development of novel interventions for the treatment and management of chronic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Steve has worked with a wide range of industrial partners as part of his research involvement including the Ministry of Defence, English Institute of Sport, Les Mills International, Technogym and Adidas. 

Steve is a competitive athlete and competes in triathlons from sprint to iron-distance.

Research areas

Steve’s research is focused on the implementation of novel interventions to promote improvements to human performance, with a particular focus on thermoregulation and human performance in the heat. He has worked on projects related to exercise interventions designed to improve health in clinical populations. He has also developed research focusing on novel interventions that may be used to mimic some of the effects of exercise in populations who have poor adherence to exercise or limited capacity to engage in physical activity. He has worked on the use of passive heat to improve the cardio-metabolic symptoms associated with chronic disease states.

Steve also has expertise in working with elite sport and designing interventions and equipment to maximise sports performance. Most notably, Steve worked with British Cycling and Adidas in the build up to the London 2012 Olympic Games. He has recently been working as a coach and head of sports science to the Huub-Wattbike Test Team, who won the 2018 UCI Track World Cup in London.

Previous PhD Supervision

  • Dr Jamie Pugh (2016, Loughborough University – Physiological responses to concurrent training and high intensity interval training: Implications for muscle hypertrophy.
  • Dr Kate Spilsbury (2016, Loughborough University – Tapering strategies in elite middle distance runners)
  • Dr Jingfeng Huang (2015, Loughborough University, Nanyang Technology University, Singapore; Ultra-sensitive carbon based sensors)

Steve is happy to explore opportunities to carry out postgraduate research towards an MPhil / PhD in areas relating to human performance and Sports Engineering.  Please contact Steve directly to discuss future opportunities. Further information may be obtained on the NTU Research Degrees website.

External activity

Dr Faulkner is a reviewer for a number of international publications in his field, including Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism Ergonomics, European Journal of Applied Physiology, European Journal of Sports Science and Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sport. He has acted as a reviewer for public finding agencies.

Steve has also been invited to deliver workshops to national governing bodies for triathlon (British Triathlon Federation) and cycling (British Cycling and the Portuguese Cycling Federation). He has also been invited to present his work at a number of high profile international conferences.

Sponsors and collaborators

  • Huub Design
  • Parcours Velo
  • Verve Cycling
  • The English Institute of Sport
  • Technogym
  • BAE Systems
  • Defence Science and Technology Laboratory
  • Adidas
  • Les Mills International
  • The National Institute of Health Research
  • Union Cyclist International (UCI)
  • British Triathlon

Publications

The threshold ambient temperature for the use of pre-cooling to improve cycling time trial performance. Faulkner SH, Broekhuijzen I, Raccuglia, M, Hupperets M, Hodder SG, Havenith G. Int J Sports Physiol Perform, 2018  doi: 10.1123/ijspp.2018-0310 (In Press)

The acute and chronic effects of hot water immersion on inflammation and metabolism in sedentary, overweight adults. Hoesktra SP, Bishop NC, Faulkner SH, Bailey, SJ, Leicht CP. J Appl Physiol, (2018)  doi: 10.1152/japplphysiol.00407.2018

Satellite cell response to concurrent resistance exercise and highintensity interval training in sedentary, overweight/obese, middleaged individuals. Pugh JK, Faulkner SH,  Turner MC, Nimmo MA.  Eur J Appl Physiol 2018 118: 225. DOI 10.1007/s00421-017-3721-

The effect of passive heating on heat shock protein 70 and interleukin-6: a possible treatment tool for metabolic diseases? Faulkner SH, Jackson S, Fatania G, Leicht CA, Temperature, 2017,4 (2), 1-13. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/23328940.2017.1288688

Increasing heat storage by wearing extra clothing during upper body exercise upregulates heat shock protein 70 but does not modify the cytokine response. Leicht CA,  Papanagopoulos A, Haghighat S, Faulkner, SH, J Sports Sci, 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02640414.2016.1235795

Comments on the CrossTalk proposal and opposing view: High-intensity interval training does/does not have a role in risk reduction or treatment of disease. Personalised exercise – time to HIIT the right balance. Pugh JK, Faulkner SH, J Physiol, 2016, 6-7.

Post-warm up muscle temperature maintenance: blood flow contribution and external heating optimisation. Raccuglia M, Lloyd A, Filingeri D, Faulkner SH, Hodder S, Havenith G, Eur J Appl Physiol. 2016, 116(2): 395-404.

Acute molecular responses to concurrent resistance and high-intensity interval exercise in untrained skeletal muscle. Pugh JK, Faulkner SH, Jackson AP, King JA, Nimmo MA,  Physiol Rep, 2015, 3(4) e12364.

Group Studio Cycling; an Effective Intervention to Improve Cardio-Metabolic Health in Overweight Physically Inactive Individuals. Faulkner SH, Pugh JK, Hood TM, Menon K, King JA, Nimmo MA, Journal of Fitness Research. 2015, 4(2): 16-25.

Conductive and evaporative precooling lowers mean skin temperature and improves time trial performance in the heat. Faulkner SH, Hupperets M, Hodder SG, Havenith GS, J Med Sci Sports, 2015, 25(S1): 183-189.

Tapering strategies in elite British endurance runners. Spilsbury KL, Fudge BW, Ingham SA, Faulkner SH, Nimmo MA, Eur J Sport Sci, 2015, 15(5): 367-373.

The detection and measurement of interleukin-6 in venous and capillary blood samples, and in sweat collected at rest and during exercise. Faulkner SH, Spilsbury KL, Harvey J, Jackson A, Huang J, Platt M, Tok A, Nimmo MA, Eur J Appl Physiol. 2014, 114: 1207–1216.

Interleukin-6 in combination with the interleukin-6 receptor stimulates glucose uptake in resting human skeletal muscle independently of insulin action. Saini A, Faulkner SH, Moir H, Warwick P, King J, Nimmo MA, Diabetes Obes Metab, 2014, Oct;16(10): 931-6.

See all of Steve Faulkner's publications...

Press expertise

  • Human performance, particularly where environmental factors are likely to influence the outcome of sports events
  • Endurance training in elite cycling
  • Passive heat therapy
  • Management of chronic disease
  • Physiological factors relating to sport performance
  • Technology in sport
  • Endurance exercise (in particular cycling, running and triathlon)