Emily
Dargue

Emily Dargue completed her BSc in Sport Science and Coaching and MRes in Sport and Exercise Psychology at NTU.

Emily is currently completing her PhD at NTU with the thesis title of 'The Effects of the Perfectionistic Climate on Youth Athletes Experience in Sport’ working within the Sport and Performance Psychology Research Group. Emily is also working as a part-time Research Assistant in the School of Psychology Sport Science & Wellbeing at the University of Lincoln on a project titled 'Acting on Doping: An Empirical Investigation of Protective Factors against Doping Vulnerability'.

What made you choose to study a postgraduate course at NTU?
I did my undergraduate course BSc (Hons) Coaching and Sport Science at NTU, which was an extremely enjoyable experience. After doing sport psychology for the first time, I really wanted to continue learning more areas within sport psychology and increase my research skills. I had such a great experience at NTU, I wanted to further my time at the university, therefore it was a very easy decision for me to apply for a PG course at NTU. I also wanted to keep building on the relationships I had formed with specific lecturers at NTU as I wanted to work/collaborate with them in the future.

What was the highlight of your course?
One thing I did love about this course was all the guest lecturers that came in to NTU to talk on the areas of research that they were classed as experts within. This allowed us to build up networks with NTU but also with other universities. Due to this experience of having guest lecturers it allowed me to have the opportunity to work with and publish one of my assignments with a guest lecturer from another university (University of Lincoln) in 2021. Making this connection has now helped me four years later to secure a job working with this guest lecturer as their research assistant at the University of Lincoln.

Did studying a postgraduate course help you develop skills for your chosen career?
I would not be where I am today within my career without studying on this PG course. I was able to develop my research skill (i.e. participant recruitment, learnt new data collection & data analysis methods) and communication skills (report writing and presentations). Being able to publish one of the assignments allowed me to understand the process of publishing a study from start to finish. All the experience I gained within this PG course allowed me to go onto the career path within research that I wanted to follow and put me in a good place to stand out when applying for the positions I was interested in.

What are your career plans?
I am currently a PhD researcher at NTU. Doing the PG course allowed me to apply for PhD positions and eventually helped me landed my PhD studentship scholarship at NTU less than a year after competing my course. After completing my PhD, I want to look at applying for research assistant positions, Post Doc projects or lecturer roles.
I am about to start as a research assistant at the University of Lincoln on a short-term contract while I finish my PhD. My aim is to stay within the academic/research world but would love to in the future become an accredited sport psychologist and work within sports clubs.

What advice would you give to others?
I would say to make sure you always take opportunities that are given to you. Do not shy away. It is never going to be easy to reach your dreams, so you have to be able to push yourself out of your comfort zone and learn to handle the feeling of discomfort that comes with that. Reach out to lecturers to see if there are any projects within the university that you can be a part of and help on. This will allow you to learn from experienced researchers and the chance to be part of the publication. Finally make sure to engage with the guest lecturers as these could be people you work with in the future.