Empowering Health Through Exercise and Nutrition

The Exercise and Nutrition research theme brings together experts in physiology, nutrition, psychology and sports science to explore how lifestyle interventions can prevent disease, optimise performance and enhance wellbeing.

Our work spans chronic disease management, mental health, athlete development and community-based programs, with a strong focus on scalable, inclusive models that deliver real-world impact.

By integrating cutting-edge assessment tools, behavioural science and translational research, we aim to improve health and performance across all stages of life - from childhood through to older age.

Researchers within this theme align with HMRI Research Programs in Breathing and Lung Health and the Global Sports and Movement Collaborative.

Research focuses

Respiratory Health: Modifiable Lifestyle Factors and Assessment Approaches

Explores how exercise and nutrition influence asthma and respiratory health, and develops advanced tools to assess and manage breathlessness and airway dysfunction.

Researchers: Hayley Scott, Lisa Wood, Bronwyn Berthon, Evan Williams, Lily Williams, Hayley Lewthwaite, Sarah Valkenborghs

Key activities
  • Hormonal, metabolic, and weight-related influences on respiratory disease and inflammation
  • Links between nutrition and nutrition biomarkers, with inflammation and respiratory health
  • Physical activity and symptom burden
  • Breathlessness phenotyping and personalised management of respiratory disease
  • Advanced respiratory and body composition assessments (e.g. lung function testing, sputum induction, dual energy x-ray absorptiometry).
Exercise as Medicine

Examines how structured exercise interventions can prevent and manage chronic diseases (e.g. type 2 diabetes, heart disease) and improve mental health, with a focus on scalable, inclusive delivery models.

Researchers: Ryan Drew, Sarah Valkenborghs, Hayley Lewthwaite

Key activities
  • Symptom-guided exercise for type 2 diabetes and long COVID
  • High-intensity interval training for people with disorders of gut-brain interaction
  • Gender-tailored physical activity interventions for men with depression and obesity
  • Behaviour change and long-term exercise adherence strategies
  • Interactive exercise programs for improving mental, physical and social wellbeing in older Australians
  • Physical activity during pregnancy, foetal brain development, and child neurodevelopment
  • Effects of exercise on brain structure, function and metabolism across the lifespan.
Athlete Development and Performance Optimisation

Focuses on enhancing athletic performance through strength and conditioning, fatigue management, data science, skill acquisition, and sports nutrition.

Researchers: Grant Duthie, Mitch Smith, Josh Secomb, Mitch Naughton, Heidi Compton, Rebecca Haslam, Colin Sanctuary, Samuel Callaghan

Key activities
  • Athlete workload and fatigue monitoring in team sports
  • Mental fatigue and performance optimisation
  • Targeted sports nutrition education for optimising performance
  • Wearable tech and data-driven training practices
  • Recovery strategies and interdisciplinary performance team dynamics
  • Talent identification and development
  • Training design and delivery.
Movement, Biomechanics and Musculoskeletal Health

Explores how movement patterns, footwear, and nutrition influence musculoskeletal health, injury prevention, and physical performance across the lifespan.

Researchers: Karen Mickle, Rebecca Haslam, Benji Dutaillis, Josh Secomb, Samuel Callaghan

Key activities
  • Foot structure, footwear, and running biomechanics
  • Nutrition and musculoskeletal health across the lifespan
  • Lower limb function and performance
  • Integration of biomechanics into athlete and clinical care.
Community and School-Based Movement Education

Delivers innovative education programs that integrate sport, movement, and learning to promote foundational skills and physical literacy in children and communities.

Researchers: Colin Sanctuary, Mitch Smith, Karen Mickle

Key activities
  • Best Start Program for foundational movement assessment
  • Maths with the Mariners and Indigenous Maths in Motion
  • School-based sport-integrated learning
  • Work-integrated learning
  • Community engagement and sport-based outreach
  • Assessment, development and delivery of foundational movement skills
  • Biomechanics Research and Innovation Challenge.

Core Facilities/Capabilities

Our upgraded Vic Levi Building is the home of the Exercise and Sport Science facility at Callaghan. Across multiple laboratories in exercise physiology, biomechanics, performance data analysis, and motor skills, our students and researchers form a world‑class hub for human performance science.

Biomechanics

Our biomechanics laboratory has in-ground force plates located in a general-purpose space as well as an instrumented treadmill dedicated for gait analysis. With 16 Qualisys 3D motion capture cameras, we can perform kinematic and kinetic analyses of actions ranging from walking and running to jumping and landings. In addition, we have capabilities to measure muscle strength and electrical activity, providing insights into muscle function and coordination during various movements. Our techniques and tools can be used to evaluate and improve athletic performance or monitor and enhance the rehabilitation process.

Exercise Physiology

Our labs are home to several bikes and treadmills suitable for fitness testing. The bikes and treadmills are equipped to measure your cardiorespiratory fitness. An incremental exercise test is considered the ‘gold-standard’ measure of cardiorespiratory fitness (i.e., VO2max). A VO2max test is a maximal exercise test performed on a bike or treadmill while connected to a machine capable of analysing the participant’s expired air. The test provides data on how much oxygen one can use during exercise and determines the maximum oxygen that the individual can consume during exercise.

Strength and Conditioning

Isokinetic dynamometry testing is a lab-based method for assessing strengths and weaknesses at any joint, during any action. The test utilises specialised equipment to test the strength, range of motion and power of different muscle groups. The test provides a comparison between right and left limbs and identifies any injury risk, deficiencies, or areas for improvement. Recognising differences in strength can help prevent soft tissue injuries, as many injuries occur due to an imbalance in strength. The equipment is also used to compare the strength of a limb post-injury in comparison with the non-injured side to gauge how rehabilitation is progressing.

Team members

Academics
Post-doctoral researchers, research assistants and managers
Postgraduate students
  • Corey Butcher
  • Jacinta Durney
  • Chris Smith
  • Luke Barron
  • Caitlin Cloete
  • Stephanie Graves
  • Jack Jenkins
  • Ella Scott