Associate Professor Robert Crowther
- School of Science and Technology
Email: robert.crowther@une.edu.au
Biography
Robert is currently an Associate Professor at the School of Science and Technology at the University of New England (UNE) and adjunct Senior Lecturer at UniSA Allied Health and Human Performance at the University of South Australia.
Following a PhD in biomechanics and motor control in 2008 from James Cook University he has lectured in biomechanics, motor control, musculoskeletal rehabilitation, strength and conditioning, anatomy, and research methods for the past 15 years. He has worked at four universities in Australia (James Cook University, University of South Queensland, University of South Australia, and Australian Catholic University) before joining the University of New England in 2024. At the University of New England he is the discipline convenor and course coordinator for Bachelor of Exercise and Sports Science and Bachelor of Clinical Exercise Physiology.
He has also served as vice-president for the Council of Heads of Exercise and Movement Science and as a member of the Exercise and Sport Science Australia (ESSA) National University Course Accreditation Program. Additionally, Robert has been involved in the development of Exercise Science and Clinical Exercise Physiology accreditation standards for ESSA. Currently, he is a member on the ESSA research committee.
His research interests include movement variability; lower limb injury and rehabilitation; sport performance and human computer interaction. To date he has been involved in the authorship of 56 refereed research articles, achieved ~$500,000 in external funding and has successfully supervised 8 higher degrees by research students (PhD and MRes).
Robert has translated his teaching and research knowledge and skills to private consultation via his business Smart Movement. He has worked with a variety of clients from post operative surgery to professional athletes.
Qualifications
2012 — Graduate Certificate of Education (Tertiary Teaching) — James Cook University
2005-2008 — Doctor of Philosophy — James Cook University
2004-2005 — Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science with Honours — James Cook University
2000-2003 — Bachelor of Sport and Exercise Science — James Cook University
Teaching Areas
Clinical Exercise Physiology - Musculoskeletal assessment and prescription
Primary Research Area/s
Motor control/learning; Biomechanics; Strength and conditioning; Musculoskeletal rehabilitation
Research Interests
1. 2024: Crowther, R.G., Morris, B., Ferris, D., Brise, S. ($105,000). Optimising youth athletic performance and injury prevention. Industry-led PhD Top-up Funding, Presbyterian Ladies’ College Armidale.
2. 2024: Crowther, R.G., Brise, S., Creaby, M., Smith, A. ($126,000). StrideStrong: Foot Heath, Strength, Flexibility and Proprioception. Industry-led PhD Top-up Funding, Sole Distribution Pty Ltd.
3. 2024: Chalkley, D., Crowther, R.G., Connor, J., & Pepping, GJ. ($88,250). Enhancing talent detection: A comprehensive analysis of coaches’ intuition and standardised testing in Olympic Sport. Youfor2032 Talent Program Research Proposal, Queensland Academy of Sport.
4. 2020: Crowther, R.G. & Eston, R. ($108,000). Training load analysis for Basketball South Australia high performance players 2020-2022. Basketball South Australia.
Research Supervision Experience
Kossman, Brendan. (2024 – current – PT). Master of Research. School of Science and Technology, The University of New England. Co-supervisor.
Dries, James. (2024 – current – PT). Master of Research. How is rugby league tackling coached and can we do better?. School of Science and Technology, The University of New England. Principal supervisor
Winter, Lachlan. (2024 – current – FT). Doctor of Philosophy. The application of virtual reality and haptic feedback in baseball batting skill development. School of Exercise and Nutrition Science, Deakin University. Co-supervisor.
Li, Yi. (2021 – current – FT). Doctor of Philosophy. Fatigue evaluation in XR interaction. Immersive Analytics Lab Human-Centred Computing (HCC), Faculty of Information Technology, Monash University. Co-supervisor.
Winter, Lachlan. (2021 – 2023 - PT). Master of Research. The practicality of non-linear dynamic calculations for the analysis of cycling performance. UniSA Allied Health & Human Performance, University of South Australia. Principal supervisor.
Palmer, B. (2020 – 2023 - FT). Master of Research. The use of load monitoring in elite youth athletes. UniSA Allied Health & Human Performance, University of South Australia. Principal supervisor.
Hall, K. (2020 – 2022 - FT). Master of Research. Inertia flywheel resistance and its applications for post-activation performance enhancement. UniSA Allied Health & Human Performance, University of South Australia. Principal supervisor.
Jenner, B. (2020 – 2022 - FT). Master of Research. Reliability of lower limb strength assessment and the running vertical jump test in female team sport athletes. UniSA Allied Health & Human Performance, University of South Australia. Principal supervisor.
Honours
Paduch, A. (2023-current). The impact of hamstring muscle length during isometric strengthening exercise on adaptations to muscle structure and function. School of Behavioural and Health Sciences. Australian Catholic University. Co-supervisor.
Lee, R. (2021-2022). What gaps exist in biomechanics and motor control research in Paralympic sports? A scoping review focused on performance and injury risk. UniSA Allied Health & Human Performance. University of South Australia. Principal supervisor.
Walker-Roberts, A. (2019). A pilot study to compare the effect of varying levels of experience in exercise physiology has on visual fixations and verbal cues during the weighted back squat. School of Health Sciences. University of South Australia. Principal supervisor.
Publications
1. Jenner, B., Nottle, C., Walters, J.L., Saunders, S.W., Leicht, A.S., & Crowther, R.G. (2024). Reliability of lower limb strength assessment in female team sport athletes. Physical Therapy of Sport.
2. Li, Y., Tag, B., Dai, S., Crowther, R.G., Dwyer, T., Irani, P., & Ens, B. (2024). NICER: A new and improved consumed endurance and recovery metric to quantify muscle fatigue of mid-air interactions. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 43(4).
3. Winter, L., Grimshaw, P., Bellenger, C., & Crowther, R.G. (2024). The application of the Lyapunov Exponent to analyse human performance. A systematic review. Journal of Sports Science.
4. Hall, K.B., Immink, M.A. Martin, D.T., Bennett, H., & Crowther, R.G. (2024). Does-response effect of an inertia flywheel post-activation performance enhancement on countermovement jump performance. Journal of Applied Biomechanics.
5. Jenner, B., Nottle, C., Walters, J.L., Saunders, S.W., Leicht, A.S., & Crowther, R.G. (2024). The use of dynamometry for lower limb strength assessment in female team sport athletes. A scoping review. Journal of Science in Sport and Exercise.
6. Li, Y., Crowther, R.G., Smiley, J., Dwyer, T., Tag, B., Irani, P., & Ens, B. (2023). Revisiting consumed endurance: A NICE way to quantify shoulder fatigue in virtual reality. In 29th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VERT 2023), October 9-11, 2023, Christchurch, New Zealand.
7. Palmer. B.L., Van Der Ploeg, G.E., Bourdon, P.C., & Crowther, R.G. (2023). The reliability and validity of two different inertial measurement units in youth basketball players. Journal of Physical Education and Sport, 23(7), 1556-1560.
8. Winter, L., Bellenger, C., Grimshaw, P., & Crowther, R.G. (2023). Analysis of movement variability in cycling: An exploratory study. Sensors, 23(10), 4972-4987.
9. Sorby-Admas, A.J., Marian, O.C., Bilechki, I.M., Elms, L.E., Camargo, J., Hall, K., & Crowther, R.G., Leonard, A.V., Turner, R.J., Jones, C.F. (2023). Neurological scoring and gait kinematics to assess functional outcome in an ovine model of ischaemic stroke. Frontiers Neurology, 14:1071794, 1-20.
10. Palmer, B.L., Van Der Ploeg, G.E., Bourdon, P.C., Butler, S.R., & Crowther, R.G. (2023). Evaluation of athlete monitoring tools across 10 weeks of elite youth basketball training: An Explorative Study. Sports, 11(26).
11. Jenner, B., Nottle, C., Walters, J.L., Saunders, S.W., Leicht, A.S., & Crowther, R.G. (2023). Reliability of the running vertical jump test in female team sport athletes. Physical Therapy in Sport, 60, 47-53.
12. Badrinath, K., Crowther, R.G., & Lovell, G.A. (2022). Neuromuscular inhibition, hamstring strain injury and rehabilitation: A review. Journal of Postgraduate Medicine, Education and Research, 56(4), 179-184.
Clinical Skills and Experience
Musculoskeletal rehabilitation, Strength and Conditioning, Biomechanic, Skill Acquisition.
Memberships
- Exercise and Sports Science Australia
- International Society of Biomechanics in Sport
- Australian and New Zealand Society of Biomechanics
Consultancy Interests
Exercise and Sports Science & Clinical Exercise Physiology
