Alex Blackett

Dr Alex Blackett is Head of Department for Sport and Exercise at Staffordshire University, covering the disciplines of Biomedical, Biological and Forensics in addition to Sport and Exercise. Alex is an active researcher within the subject area of sports coaching and is the founder and lead for the Staffs Uni-Fied Sports Research Alliance (SUSRA), co-ordinating projects that are designed to cover interdisciplinary research that celebrate the unifying power sport has across all communities. He was awarded a PhD in 2017 after researching the fast-tracked career pathways of elite men’s association football and rugby union and players transitioning into high-performance coaching roles. Alex continues to research this area and has worked with numerous organisations to assist their provision in former athlete transitions into coaching. He is primarily a football coach, having previously been coach of Stoke City Ladies FC whilst also having experience of coaching football in New Zealand on their International Player