A day in the life of Adam Hawkey

Adam Hawkey is Senior Lecturer in Biomechanics in the School of Sport, Performing Arts and Leisure, based at the Walsall Campus. He has worked for the University for eight years, and is also Course Leader for Sport and Exercise Science and Chair of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science’s (BASES) Biomechanics Interest Group (BIG).

10am: Organise BIG2013

I don’t have a typical day, as it depends if I am teaching or not. My role has three main areas – teaching, research and consultancy, and today I’m doing a bit of all three!

I start off with some work for BIG2013, which is the annual meeting for the Biomechanics Interest Group of BASES of which I am Chair. As the event is at Walsall Campus on Thursday, 4 April, there is lots to do. I liaise with some of the exhibitors and sponsors about trade stands they are bringing or workshops they are involved in organising.

I have to check we have everything in place they need, for example some are bringing treadmills so I check that we have appropriate electricity points in the labs and that there is provision for them in the Sports Centre, where the conference is being held.

I also do a monthly update for BASES members, but as the meeting is drawing close this is going out weekly at the moment so I send out the latest news about who is attending, how to register, and the programme of events. I also call the local hotels who are hosting delegates to confirm room bookings.

The next thing I do is sort out the delegate list, as we have 150 people attending. They are people like me who work in biomechanics (the application of physics and mechanics to the study of movement of organisms). We also have physiotherapists, sports therapists, podiatrists, sports technologists and engineers attending.

I also go through some of the abstracts we have, as a big part of the meeting is about disseminating research and discussing current issues.

2pm: Teach practical session in Biomechanics lab

Today I’m teaching level 5 (year two) students from the Sport and Exercise Science, Sports Coaching and Physical Activity, Exercise and Health degrees. This is a core module for Sport and Exercise Science but a lot of students from the other courses choose to do it as well.

We do a practical session on jumping and landing technique using a force platform, which measures the amount of force generated and also how long an athlete spends in the air; this can be useful for monitoring performance, but also injury risk.

I also work with the students on motion analysis which is about body positioning and measuring the “Q angle”. This is the angle from hips to knee, and the higher the angle on landing, the more likely you are to damage ankles, knees and hips.

At the end of the session, a couple of students approach me with queries about the class and so I spend a bit of time with them going through aspects of what we’ve learnt and helping them to understand the theory.

4pm: Catch up on emails and grab some food

I have a break in teaching so I grab something healthy to eat. I’m a vegetarian so I’ll have a sandwich and some fruit. I also check through emails.

5pm: Teach bone density scanner session with elite athletes

We have a new, state-of-the-art DualEnergy X-Ray Absorptiometry (DXA) bone density scanner in the WD Building at Walsall Campus. We use this to measure body fat, body muscle and bone and it’s useful for working with elite athletes.

Today we’ve got six elite athletes, including our own student and 400m competitor Jarryd Dunn, from Birchfield Harriers coming in to be assessed on the scanner so I’m combining this with a lecture for our students.

The students are able to monitor body composition and the high level information is useful for both the athlete and their coach. It provides areas for them to work on in the future, and is also great experience for our students.

We also use some other techniques in the class such as skinfold calipers to measure body fat and bioelectrical impedance machines, one of which I’m trialling at the moment, which quantifies fat and muscle levels in the body as well as hydration (fluid) levels.

9pm: Head home

The lecture finishes at 9pm, and I head off about 10pm after a long, but varied and interesting day.