Research Participation Opportunities

Find out why you should consider getting involved with research, and how you can advertise your opportunities too

There is a growing body of dance medicine and science-focused research that aims to improve our understanding of what it takes to produce healthy, high performing dancers. Remember that research cannot happen without participants, so as dancers, teachers, choreographers, and those actively working within the dance industry you have a very valuable role to play within the scientific research process.

Organisations such as The International Association for Dance Medicine and Science (IADMS) promote research excellence within the dance medicine and science community as well as producing resources to disseminate research recommendations within the wider dance community.

We know that many professional dance companies and vocational dance schools are frequently approached by researchers, undergraduate as well as postgraduate, to take part in their projects. In order to help prevent these dancers suffering from ‘research fatigue’, while encouraging participation in research, we have produced a checklist (below) for schools and companies to help you decide on the quality of research opportunities presented to you and prioritise those you take part in. These points could also apply to individuals in deciding whether to participate in research or not.

 

White female dancer with long red hair running on a treadmill wearing face-mask to measure cardiovascular fitness. White male physiologist looking over to observe stats on the machine. In a white laboratory setting with a window in the background

Research participation checklist

  • Is the research at postgraduate level, with the intention for it to be published?
  • Is the research applied research that will have a practical bearing on dancers’ health, wellbeing, performance capabilities or education, on an individual level, organisational level or for the dance world at large?
  • Is the researcher planning to or have they sought input from dance professionals in choosing what to research and/or designing the research?
  • Is the researcher offering to provide feedback during and/or following the research that will be useful to the dancers and their work/training?
  • Have you or the researcher sought advice from One Dance UK’s HDP to ensure that this research project complements or adds to the research knowledge base and is not unnecessarily duplicating work already done?

If you can answer yes to these points it is likely to be worth your while taking part in a research project that may benefit dancers, company and the dance world at large.

Current opportunities

Listed below are research projects being conducted by One Dance UK members, which are currently seeking participants. If you are interested in taking part, please do get in touch with the researchers directly, or if you have any questions or concerns, contact the Healthier Dancer Programme: hdp@onedanceuk.org.

CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES 

Project summary 

-The Primary aim of this study is to explore the association between the risk of low energy availability and MSK injury prevalence in UK dancers and athletes.

-The Secondary aim is to investigate the association of nutritional intake, eating disorders, and menstrual irregularities with MSK injury prevalence.

-The Tertiary aim is to measure body composition for the dance cohort only. We will investigate the association between body composition and MSK injury prevalence in in UK dancers and athletes.

Confidentiality and ethical approval

Collected data will be stored in the QMUL cloud system SharePoint in a dedicated folder. Only researchers named on this application will have access to it.  Ethical approval reference:  QMREC2018/48/138

Inclusion Criteria 

  • Female and male professional, preprofessional, recreational, vocational dancers.
  • aged 18 and above.

Exclusion Criteria 

  • If they have pre-existing medical condition (Endocrine conditions, chronic pain conditions, autoimmune disorders, neurological conditions),
  • Pregnant, or on medication (Appetite suppressants or weight loss medications, Corticosteroids, Antidepressants, Stimulants: Drugs like amphetamines, Antacids, Thyroid hormones, Opioid pain medications, immunosuppressants).

Benefits to the participant

By exploring the association between the risk of low energy availability and MSK injury prevalence, individual participant will have the opportunity to gain valuable insights into their own health and well-being, specifically in relation to MSK injury risk. Study participants also can influence the development of implementing targeted injury prevention strategies.

Contact details of researcher

Name: Nouf Bin Diran

Email: n.bindiran (at) qmul.ac.uk

Project summary

The project aims to investigate the impact of lower limb symmetry on the prognosis of rugby players and dancers with lower limb musculoskeletal injuries. By studying the correlation between parameters and injury outcomes, the study aims to improve diagnostic accuracy for similar injuries in the future. The findings will guide the design of individualized recovery programs, addressing inequalities from the start to maximize recovery and improve functional outcomes. The project aims to improve injuries management in sports and dance, improving both short-term and long-term recovery outcomes and performance.

Research Setting 

Research can be conducted at your institute/dance school/ training or Mile End Hospital, Sports and Exercise Medicine department, Queen Mary University.

For this study, we would like to conduct a range of strength and biomechanical tests. We will also ask you to complete a set of questionnaires which will relate to your injury, we will ask you to record where you get pain on an app called Navigate Pain and perform a set of biomechanical tests on Force Deck which stores de-identified data on an EU server.

We will conduct these tests when you first attend, 6 weeks later. Each participant’s data collection would take about 20-25 minutes.

The testing will involve some biomechanical jumps, squats and leg strength tests. We ask you to do some movements while standing on force plates. These movements are balancing on one leg, squatting, jumping and jumping off a box. You only need to do the tests you are comfortable doing and can stop at any time.

For more information, please refer to the Participants information sheet and consent forms which is attached with the email.

Confidentiality and ethical approval

We received the ethical approval from our university’ ethical committee. All the data collected at each visit will be de-identified and anonymised. Data will be stored in on a secure database and in password protected laptops.

Queen Mary Ethics of Research Committee reference number: QMREC2018/48/134

Inclusion Criteria 

  • We want dancers of age group 18 to 65 years,
  • Any dancer with or without lower limb musculoskeletal injury who are willing to participate.
  • If dancers aren’t sure about their injury, if they have some pain which they are not clear about, they can reach out to us through given email anytime without working hours i.e., Mon-Friday 9a.m. to 5 p.m.

Exclusion Criteria 

  • A non-dancer less than 18 years or more than 65 years of age and
  • dancers diagnosed with any cardiovascular, rheumatologic, neurological condition or not willing to participate.

Benefits to the participant

If dancers wish to get feedback on their testing, we can give them the test report of their strength and functional tasks results. This might be useful information for you and your clinician (doctor, physiotherapist, etc.) to guide your rehabilitation or training. These tests can be expensive but there will be no cost for them.

Contact details

Following are the name and details of investigators/supervisor in our research project:

Principal Investigator

  • Name: Prof. Dylan Morrissey
  • University: Queen Mary University of London, William Harvey Research Institute
  • Email: d.morrissey (at) qmul.ac.uk

Student investigator

  • Name: Ritika Sony
  • University: Queen Mary University of London, William Harvey Research Institute
  • Email: r.sony (at) smd23.qmul.ac.uk

Student Co-investigators

  • Name: Merve Bodur
  • University: Queen Mary University of London, William Harvey Research Institute
  • Email: m.bodur (at) qmul.ac.uk

 

  • Name: Krushi Pandya
  • School or Institute: Queen Mary’s University of London
  • Email: ha23808 (at) qmul.ac.uk

 

Take part in the study here

Project summary 

This cross-sectional study aims to assess the perspectives and practices of sport scientist and sports-medicine practitioners within the ballet. It focuses on understanding their role in optimizing dancers' performance and minimizing the risk of injuries. Additionally, the study explores how these perspectives and practices align with current evidence-based approaches in sports scientist and medicine.

Objective: 1. To assess the perceptions and practices of sport scientist and sports medicine practitioners towards training load monitoring, their roles and responsibilities within the ballet or ballet-adjacent organization. 2. To survey the specific practices and interventions implemented by sport scientist and sports-medicine practitioners to support ballet dancers in their training and performance.

Research Setting 
Online survey questionnaires, takes 10 mins to fill out. Data will be stored on my university’s OneDrive.

Confidentiality and ethical approval
Written consent will be obtained, it will be an online survey which guarantees me and the participants anonymity. Ethical approval has been granted from the University of Edinburgh and my supervisor Matthew Weston

Inclusion Criteria 
We are seeking individuals fitting the following demographic criteria to participate in our research: individuals engaged in sports or healthcare related to sports and ballet-adjacent fields, possessing a minimum of 1 years of experience in their respective domains. i.e: the participants must be sports scientists or sport-medicine practitioners; such as physiotherapist, strength and conditioning coaches, sport scientist research, manual therapist, exercise physiologist, dancer coaches, gyrotonic instructors.

Exclusion criteria
Individuals who have not consented, professions with less than 1 years of experience within the ballet domain and professions that do not directly interact with the ballet dancers

Benefits to the participant
This study explores the decision-making processes, practices, and perceptions surrounding training load monitoring among sports scientists and sports-medicine practitioners within ballet. Halson et al. expressed that diligent monitoring of athletes’ training load is essential in determining whether they are adapting to their prescribed training program, comprehending individual responses to training, evaluating the presence of fatigue and the associated need for recovery, and mitigating the risk of non-functional overreaching, injury, and illness. However, despite the recent boom in research in this domain, much of what is known about athlete monitoring still comes from personal experiences and anecdotal accounts, often lacking formal publication (Bourdon et al., 2017; Halson, 2014). By conducting this study, we can raise more awareness for ballet as an intensive athletic sport that can develop robust academic literature surrounding training load monitoring and assist and inform coaches/managers' decision-making on dancers' ability for training. Moreover, this study aims to get global perspectives and practices of sports scientists and sports-medicine practitioners within ballet; the outcome of this research can help us know where the future of ballet is heading, as well as practice-based evidence and evidence-based practice.

Contact details

  • Name: Sara Saud Alshawi
  • Email s2598180 (at) ed.ac.uk

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Take part in the study here

Project summary 
I an investigating whether menstruation symptoms and the way adolescent girls feel about themselves, affects how much physical activity they do. This is important because seven in ten adolescent girls in the UK do not enjoy or take part in physical activity, and 85% of girls do not reach the WHO-recommended average of 60 minutes a day of physical activity. Yet, participating in physical activity during the crucial developmental period of adolescence is known to reduce all mortality risks and poor mental health while increasing bone health, academic achievement, brain development, job prospects, life skills, and life chances. My aim is to gain understanding into why adolescent girls reduce physical activity and investigate a feasible solutions to prevent it from happening.

Research Setting 
Online via a computer or smart device.

Confidentiality and ethical approval
All data is anonymous and no IP address data is collected at any point. Full ethical approval has been granted by the School of Psychology Ethics Committee at the University of Buckingham

Inclusion Criteria 
Adolescents who are able to menstruate between 12 & 18 years old. This includes girls, trans boys, and other young people who have periods

Exclusion criteria
Anyone who was not observed female at birth. Anyone who is younger than 12 or older than 18 years old. Anyone who has not started their periods (unless they are taking part during as an activity in a school/dance school environment.

Benefits to the participant
Participants will be able to share their experiences of menstruation, physical activity levels and how they feel. This will bring understanding of how menstruation symptoms and how adolescent girls feel about themselves affects physical activity. From this pioneering research, it is hoped that girls in the future are less likely to stop enjoying being active.

Contact details

  • Name: Lisa Ruggles
  • Email: 2300724@buckingham.ac.uk

Take part in the study here