Dr Alison Maitland

Alison was awarded an Isambard Scholarship to complete her PhD degree examining organisational culture and coach-athlete relationships in elite sport.  She has a Masters degree in Sport Coaching from Brunel University and an undergraduate degree in Banking and Finance from Loughborough University.  

Alison is also a HCPC registered and BASES accredited Sport Psychologist and works with individuals and teams across a diverse range of sports from real tennis, rackets and golf to rowing, football and netball.  In her spare time she coaches netball and supports her netballing and rowing daughters and a husband with a passion for golf. 

Alison spent a number of years as Human Resource Director of a multinational organisation and is a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development. 

Alison teaches on several Sport Sciences undergraduate modules. 

Research Interests

• Impact of organisational culture on sport experiences
• Women and young peoples' sport participation
  

Alison’s research focuses on the organisational and cultural dimensions of sport, and the influence this has on coaching policy and practice. She has used her research examining the impact of organisational culture on the coach-athlete relationship in elite sport to inform changes to women’s experience in elite sport and the disconnected nature of coach-athlete relationships.

She has worked on a number of funded interdisciplinary projects related to this interest including:  the Football Association Mixed Gender project, which examined the social, physical and psychological issues surrounding increasing the age of mixed gender football from 11 to 14; and a StreetGames, UsGirls project examining the inequalities, participation and experiences of women and girls aged 16-25 on UK Sport funded UsGirls doorstep sport programmes.  

 Publications

Journal Papers

Maitland, A. and Gervis, M. (2010).  Goal setting in youth football.  Are coaches missing an opportunity? Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy, 15, 323-343.

Conference Papers

Maitland, A., Hills, L., & Rhind. D. (2012). Impact of an organisational culture on coach-athlete relationships. Pre-Olympic International Convention on Science, Education and Medicine in Sport. Glasgow, UK

Maitland, A. (2011). Organisational cultural communication in elite rowing spaces. Leisure Studies Association Conference, Southampton Solent University, UK.

Maitland, A. (2010). What is missing from goal-setting? 6th ICCE Continental Coach Conference, Arnhem, Netherlands.

Research Centre: Brunel Centre for Sport Health and Wellbeing

Research Centre