As the Professional Doctorate in Human Performance and Innovation enters its fourth year the course Co-Director Professor Giles Warrington Provides on overview of the programme.
The professional Doctorate (PD) in Human Performance and Innovation was established in 2021 and a full cohort of 20 EU and International Doctoral Candidates have joined the programme annually since this date. The programme is a direct response to an evident and growing need for professionals who are both academically astute and capable of demonstrating high-level critical thinking within practical contexts. As such, this landmark programme offers an alternative route to Doctoral qualification by recognising the need to create agile and individually tailored programmes of study moulded around the working lives of busy professionals operating in high-pressure environments.
In order to advance human behaviour and performance, the aim of the programme is to provide experienced practitioners, who work in different settings, with enhanced skills and knowledge thereby enabling them to envision, evolve and critically evaluate, novel innovations beneficial to their specific domains of expertise. These domains include the workplace, business, health, education, physical activity promotion, wellbeing, coaching and sport. The programme is focused on driving innovations within the PD candidate’s specific field of professional expertise. Content is customised to develop the skills and knowledge bases necessary to drive the evolution, development, validation and implementation of targeted innovations. To facilitate the needs of industry-based PD candidates, to which the programme is targeted, it is delivered exclusively through e-learning modalities.
Some examples of current innovations/Doctoral titles include the following:
- Transitioning from breakthrough to elite intercounty hurling. An exploration of the requirements.
- Performance Mindsets: what are they? Can they be learned in a corporate setting?
- An identification of the key personal and environmental influences on organizational decision making. Designing a framework to ensure higher quality decisions are taken within global technology organisations.
- Aging Gracefully: Does maturation influence talent identification processes within academy hurling
- Skill Based Assessment for Talent Development in Rugby Union: An investigation into current practices and creation of an assessment model for future practice.
- Learnings from high performing sports teams and what we can learn in business.
- Transference of Elite Sporting Performance practices to the corporate environment. (Individual, team, business unit, organisation)
- Exploring skilled rowing coaching and high intensity strength endurance training programmes: Expediting transfers in their late teens and early twenties to high performance national and international rowing programmes.
The premise of the PD in Human Performance and Innovation recognises that experienced practitioners, embedded in professional environments, already have substantial domain-specific knowledge, expertise and experiences. The programme of study is customised to the learning and development needs of the doctoral candidate. The PD route thus offers practitioners a personally tailored programme of study designed to drive, implement and evaluate beneficial innovations within their realm of expertise and serve their future career ambitions.
Testimonies from current PD Candidates:
‘The work I have done as part of my Professional Doctorate has become an integral part of our everyday leadership programme. It has helped me further refine my critical and strategic thinking. The evaluation tools I have developed are helping to highlight leadership and team issues long before they become problem. The applied practitioner focus of the Doctorate has greatly enhanced my professional practice’.
Keith Wood, Former Irish Rugby Captain and British and Irish Lions player, Year 4 Doctoral Candidate
‘The professional doctorate programme has enabled me to pursue research to create a piece of innovation which contributes to both academia and practical applications in my field. The program’s structure has pushed me beyond conventional thinking, fostering innovation in areas where it’s most needed’.
Tommy Gallagher, Physical Therapist, Injury Management, Letterkenny – Year 4 Doctoral Candidate
“Studying a professional doctorate with U.L. has deepened my understanding, broadened my perspectives, and refined my critical thinking skills in the areas of Physical Literacy and Physical Activity. These skills have empowered me to design and implement a Physical Literacy intervention in my school, enriching student development holistically.”
Keith Costello, Primary School Teacher, Year 4 Doctoral Candidate
“The professional doctorate course has had a significant impact on my thinking and will continue to influence my professional practice. As a professional involved in sport and physical activity, I have been able to combine my existing expertise and knowledge with the structured and flexible learning environment provided by the course. This has enabled me to develop my research skills and strategic thinking, leading to innovative and effective solutions in my work. The course has given me the ability to make meaningful changes in areas of my work, with the aim of increasing participation in physical activity”.
Fran Ronan, Head of Local Sports Partnership, Sports Active Wexford, Year 4 Doctoral Candidate
Deadline for Application – June 27th 2025; APPLY HERE (Applications will open on January 27th , 2025
Giles Warrington is a Professor (Chair) of Human Performance and Innovation in the Department of Physical Education and Sport Sciences (PESS), University of Limerick. He is Co-Director of the Sport and Human Performance Research Centre (SHPRC), a member of the Health Research Institute (HRI).
Contact: Giles.warrington@ul.ie Follow on X ResearchGate LinkedIn
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