Stuart is Professor of Physical Activity, Health, & Wellbeing and member of the senior management team in the Department of Sport and Physical Activity, where he oversees and teaches on the Physical Education and School Sport undergraduate degree programme. Stuart Chairs the Department Research Committee and is the Department Research and REF Coordinator.
Stuart joined Edge Hill in 2014 having previously worked at Liverpool Hope University (1998-2001) and Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU) (2001-2014) as a Senior Lecturer, Reader, and Professor. He was awarded his PhD from LJMU in 2005, having completed his MSc in Sports Science (1997) at Loughborough University, and BEd (Hons) in Physical Education (1994) at LJMU. He is a BASES Fellow and a BASES accredited sport and exercise scientist.
Stuart’s research focuses on 24-hour movement behaviours (physical activity, sedentary behaviour, sleep) health, and wellbeing with an emphasis on children and young people and the role of schools in activity and health promotion. He is also interested in using novel accelerometer metrics and analysis approaches to better understand the relationships between movement behaviours and health and wellbeing. His research aligns to the behavioural epidemiological framework with key aspects relating to physical activity and sedentary behaviour measurement, their correlates, and interventions to change activity behaviours and health outcomes. Stuart sits on the UK Chief Medical Officers’ Expert Group for Physical Activity in Children and Young People which developed the 2019 UK Physical Activity Guidelines, and is a panel member for the England Report Card as part of the Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance. He was a REF2021 Panel Member for Unit 24 (Sport and Exercise Sciences, Leisure and Tourism), has published over 150 peer-review journal articles, supervised 22 PhD students to completion, and examined 25 PhD candidates. He is co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Youth Physical Activity, Associate Editor for the Journal of Sports Sciences (Physical Activity, Exercise, and Health Section), and an Editorial Board Member for the Journal of Activity, Sedentary, and Sleep Behaviors, and the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. Stuart regularly collaborates with research colleagues nationally and internationally.
Stuart oversees and teaches on the BA (Hons) Physical Education and School Sport programme. He contributes to physical activity and health, research skills, and dissertation modules.