Dr Rich Mullen
Senior Lecturer in Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences

Research area(s)

I am a researcher in the broadly defined area of stress and performance in sport. My current interests lie in the following areas:

1. The measurement of competitive state anxiety and its relationship with sports performance.

2. The use of models of stress to predict injury in sport.

3. The relationship between Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory and mentally tough behaviour (defined as the ability to achieve goals under pressure) in sport.

4. The relationship between Reinforcement Sensitivity Theory and competitive state anxiety in sport.

Research Interests

I am primarily interested in investigating the areas outlined above using a variety of primarily quantitative research methods including network analysis of psychological constructs and Bayesian statistical methods.

Project details

1. Knowledge Economy Skills Scholarship (KESS) PhD Award. £60,000. Mental toughness and talent development in Welsh football. 2019-2022 (Principal Investigator).
2. KESS PhD Award. £60,000. Injury monitoring in elite academy footballers. 2016-2019 (Principal Investigator).
3. KESS MRes Award. £20,000. The perceived benefits of StreetGames. 2014-2015 (Principal Investigator).
4. The Leverhulme Trust, Research Project Award, £65000. The conscious processing hypothesis: Investigating breakdowns in motor performance under stress. Nov 1 2007-Oct 31st 2010 (Principal Investigator).
5. European Union Objective 1 Fund, £60000. Bid prepared in conjunction with Dr. Lynne Evans of UWIC and the Welsh Rugby Union to fund a psychological skills training programme to support Regional Academy players, 2000.
6. Science and Engineering Research Council MSc Studentship, £7500. Loughborough University, 1992.