Quantifying and the unquantifiable: computing technology and sports

This project studies the relationship between technology and sports, from its earliest days to the current state of the art and projections into the near future. The studentship supports study of co-production and utilisation of computing technology on and off the field of play. Areas for exploration include game tactics and coaching, athlete training and performance monitoring, and the technologically-mediated fan experience pitchside and at home.

A successful project in this area will examine this core relationship across variable dimensions. These could be national contexts; temporal analyses; or the different and potential uses of technology in similar sports.

Key research questions for the project explore the technical challenges inherent in quantifying and modelling the data and practices in sports to varying degrees of detail; resistance, adoption, and co-production of computing technology within sports; and an examination of the social and cultural effects of technologising sports.

Two example pillars of research are as follows:

(1) investigate the statistical and data aspects of sports training, monitoring, and reporting (is "data doping" going to be the next major battleground in sporting fairness?)

(2) analyse the increasing use of digital media technologies in the transformation of sports broadcasting from mass media to an individualised experience (are we reaching a point where an NFL broadcast looks like a Madden stream?). Candidates are also invited to consider and present their own preferred research directions.

The project offers the opportunity for cross-disciplinary techniques, notably Computer Science, Media Studies, Sports and Exercise Sciences, Statistics, and Data Science. An ideal candidate would be excited about multimedia research outputs, such as the use of interactive media for instructive and illustrative examples as well as narrative context; this can leverage and build on local expertise in mixed reality.