Skip to main content

LEAP-Lab Team

About us

We are a team of internationally-recognised researchers with the aim to understand and improve the performance and learning of complex, dynamic skills across a range of domains from expert performance in sport to everyday activities such as driving and walking. 

Our research team has three main objectives:

  1. Examine the skills that underpin performance including perceptual-cognitive skills (anticipation and decision making) and motor skills, and the relationship between perception and action.
  2. Investigate the moderating factors of these skills such as anxiety, pressure, physiological load, age and personality traits.
  3. Explore how we can enhance the learning of these skills such that they transfer effectively to the real-world environment.

 

Leader(s)

Dr Daniel Bishop Dr Daniel Bishop
Email Dr Daniel Bishop Senior Lecturer in Psychology
I am a Researcher and Senior Lecturer in Sport & Exercise Psychology here at Brunel, a British Psychological Society (BPS) Chartered Psychologist registered to practise with the HCPC, an Associate Fellow of the BPS, and a Fellow of Advance HE (formerly the HEA). I am also the Programme Lead for the Psychology (Sport, Health and Exercise) BSc in the Department of Life Sciences. I have worked in both public and private sectors, including local authorities, the NHS, investment banks, the health & fitness industry and Further Education. These experiences have given me a sophisticated understanding of the challenges faced in this diverse range of industries, which is why I continue to add value to the performance of various individuals and organisations - using established psychological principles to do so. On this note: I am proud to be the Director of Research for The Bikeability Trust. My remit is to procure and generate evidence to demonstrate the efficacy of the excellent Bikeability cycle training programme - including a role for immersive cycle training to consolidate the considerable learning that occurs at all Levels of Bikeability training. In my role as Departmental Lead for Staff Experience & Wellbeing, my vision was for Brunel to deservedly attain national recognition (e.g., the RSPH Health & Wellbeing Awards) for its long-term prioritisation of staff wellbeing and health. When I’m not working, I love to spend as much time as possible with my family and friends, although I have spent a disproportionate amount of time writing my book, Motivation: The Manual (available on Amazon) over the past few years. I have also been rebuilding my left knee from the inside out, with a careful self-determined rehabilitation programme. For those who are interested: I realised (very late) that tight quadriceps and patellar tendons were compounding my cartilage problems, so took to regular self-massage using commercially available percussive and vibrating massagers - a game-changer. I have also found that running in crocs (with heel straps!) instead of (over-engineered) running shoes increases my knee stability, as does using barefoot shoes occasionally - although at a cost to the lumbar spine and fatty pads in the soles of my feet! But to cut a long and slightly sad story short: on 23rd September 2023, I ran a parkrun in 21 minutes, at the age of 48 - and the knees felt great! I am interested in optimising people’s ability to function effectively in a variety of contexts including education, work, cycling, driving and sport. The same rigorous scientific principles can be applied across all these domains and more. My research is centred on Bikeology, the application of scientific research to improve people’s ability to cycle competently, confidently and safely, in which I have drawn on my considerable research and real-world expertise: As an experienced commuter cyclist, an applied psychologist, and a devoted dad, I decided to combine my passions - and Bikeology was born. I am drawing on more than two decades of cycle commuting experience, my extensive knowledge of attentional, perceptual and cognitive markers of expertise, and the knowledge that one day my children will cycle on busy roads without me. Much of my research has been conducted within the LEAP Lab, which I set up in 2016. My multinational colleagues and I have systematically explored factors that contribute to learning and performance of motor skills, the development of expertise, and multisensory perception in dynamic environments - such as cycling. I hold a City and Guilds 7407 Certificate (Stage 1) in Further Education. I was the first member of academic staff to complete the Professional Development in Academic Practice here at Brunel; I am also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. I have conducted research to examine the quality of visually impaired students’ experience at the University, attracting HEFCE-allocated funding (£19.3K) in doing so. Accordingly, I completed a project funded by the Brunel Educational Excellence Centre, which illustrates the benefit of visual guidance for learning from short vodcasts; this complements my ongoing research (see Research) and is the epitome of research-led teaching that we continually strive to deliver at Brunel. I lead SP5521 Individual Differences in Sport and Exercise, a compulsory module for students on our flagship Sport and Exercise Psychology MSc programme, and a popular option for those on our Sport, Health and Exercise Sciences MSc. I have also made significant contributions to delivery of these masters modules in recent years: SP5530: Dissertation SP5535: Social Processes in Sport and Exercise SP5601: Physical Activity and Health PY5619: Cognitive Rehabilitation and Neuroplasticity I lead the undergraduate module SP2606 The Psychology of Sport, Exercise and Physical Activity: Theory and Application and have delivered on many undergraduate modules in the same period: SP1600: Introduction to the Psychology of Sport and Exercise SP2555: Placement Module SP3602: Applied Sport and Exercise Psychology SP3603: Advanced Research Methods and Data Analysis: Final Year Project

A selection of our past and present PhD projects

Title of thesis

Student name 

Supervision 

 

Anticipating others’ intensions: The role of probabilistic information in soccer

 

Viktor Gredin

Primary Supervisor: Dr Daniel Bishop
Secondary Supervisor: Dr David Broadbent
External collaborators: Prof. Mark Williams (University of Utah)

Decision Making in Gaelic Football: From Testing to Training

Emma McLoughlin

Primary Supervisor: Dr David Broadbent
Secondary Supervisor: Dr Dan Bishop
External Collaborators: Dr Noel Kinrade (Nottingham Trent University) Dr Ed Coughlan (Cork Institute of Technology)

The effects of sonification on motor imagery ability

Fabio Castro

Primary Supervisor: Dr Dan Bishop
Secondary Supervisor: Dr Alex Nowicky

Contextual and dispositional influences on netball umpires’ decision making

Adele Burnett

Primary Supervisor: Dr Dan Bishop 
External Collaborators: Dr Noel Kinrade (Nottingham Trent University)

The relationship between gaze and information pickup during action observation

Giorgia D’Innocenzo

Primary Supervisor: Dr Dan Bishop 
Secondary Supervisor: Dr Alex Nowicky

Contact us

We welcome enquiries and requests for collaborations. Please get in touch with our team using the links in each profile above.

Our address

Brunel University London
Kingston Lane
Uxbridge
Middlesex
UB8 3PH

Sat Nav users: Please enter the road address (Kingston Lane) and the postcode (UB8 3PN). You will be directed to Kingston Lane, which is very close to our main entrance. From there, please follow the signs.