Dr Owen Spendiff

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Owen Spendiff
About
Teaching and learning
Research
Leadership and management

About

Owen is Head of the Department of Applied and Human Sciences, previously the Field Leader to Sport and Exercise Sciences. Under his tenure for Sport and Exercise, the Sport Degree Courses at Kingston were ranked as high as first in England in the Guardian league tables (2nd in the UK) and the students consistently provided the highest satisfaction rates in the National Student Survey for teaching /learning/assessment & feedback. The Department of Applied and Human Sciences offers a diverse range of courses including Forensic Science, Biological Sciences, Sport and Exercise Science and Nutrition. The Department also have numerous Partner Colleges offering an array of courses such as Animal and Equine Management.  

Owen's research is very much focussed on Sport Nutrition with recent PhD student projects focused on High Flavanol Dark Chocolate and also different algae such as Spirulina and Chlorella analysing their effects on oxygen consumption and performance. Owen is also very active in researching diets for health and exercise with recent PhD projects analysing the effects that Ketogenic diets (High Fat-Low Carbohydrate) have on exercise and performance.  

Academic responsibilities

Head of Department of Applied and Human Sciences & Associate Professor

Qualifications

  • PhD Sport Nutrition
  • MSc Sport and Exercise
  • BSc (Hons) Sport and Leisure
  • Cert Ed Higher and Further Education
  • Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy

Teaching and learning

Owen's teaching expertise centres on Exercise Physiology, Sport Nutrition and Research Methods and his teaching philosophy is centred on the continued development in strategies to engage students and inspire curiosity within our disciplines.  The goal of any HE provision is for a team to deliver contemporary student centred (inclusive) curricula which is vocationally relevant and research-informed for every session, module and course.  Over the twenty years teaching experience, Owen has been responsible for developing teaching and learning within the teams he has led and addressed aspects such as learner engagements strategies, novel use of VLE, inclusive and applied assessments and vocational centred approaches to teaching.   As a result of his leadership, Owen is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.  

Since 2004, Owen has been responsible for the design, vision and validation of degree programmes listed below.

DEGREE VALIDATIONS: 

MSc Sport & Exercise (Performance) (重口味SM, 2017)

MSc Sport and Exercise (Health) (重口味SM, 2017)

FdSc Sport Coaching (Kingston Universityin collaboration with Nescot, 2016)

BSc (hons) Sport Science (Coaching) (重口味SM, 2016)

BSc (hons) Sport Science with Business (重口味SM, 2012)

BSc (hons) Sport Science (BASES ENDORSED) (重口味SM, 2012)

BSc (hons) Exercise, Nutrition & Health (重口味SM, 2012)

BSc (hons) Sport Analysis & Coaching (重口味SM, 2012)

FdA in Early Years (SECTOR ENDORSED) (UniS, 2008).

BA (hons) Childhood Studies (UniS, 2007). 

FdA in Early Years (Unis,2007). 

FdSc Personal Training and Sport Performance (REPS Accredited) (UniS, 2005 & 2008). 

FdA in Health and Social Care (UniS, 2006) 

FdSc in Holistic Therapies (UniS, 2004/2006/2008), 

BSc (hons) in Sport Science and Management (UniS, 2004 & 2008). 

Undergraduate courses taught

Research

My research interests are very much focussed on diet and supplements for exercise and health.   Recent Phd projects include the effects of Nitrate, High Flavanol Dark Chocolate and also different algae such as Spirulina and Chlorella and analysing their effects on oxygen consumption and performance. I am also leading projects on Ketogenic diets (High Fat-Low Carbohydrate) while supplementing with glucose and how this might benefit exercise and performance.  The whole high fat or low fat diet argument is fascinating to me and I am dedicated to unravelling some of the mysteries and myths related to our dietary understanding of what it is to be a healthy eater.   

Areas of specialism

  • Sport Nutrition
  • Exercise Physiology
  • Exercise Science
  • Sport Performance Analysis
  • Statistics

Research student supervision

Main supervision

Other supervision

Publications

Jump to: Article | Book Section | Conference or Workshop Item
Number of items: 25.

Article

, and (2023) Journal of Dietary Supplements, ISSN (print) 1939-0211 (Epub Ahead of Print)

and (2022) Frontiers in Nutrition, ISSN (online) 2296-861X (Epub Ahead of Print)

, and (2022) Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 47(1), pp. 18-26. ISSN (print) 1715-5312

, , , Kosciuk, Anna, and (2021) European Journal of Applied Physiology, 121, pp. 1759-1771. ISSN (print) 1439-6319

Sagoe, Dominic, Cruyff, Maarten, , Chegeni, Razieh, De Hon, Olivier, Van Der Heijden, Peter, Saugy, Martial and (2021) Frontiers in Psychology, 12, p. 655592. ISSN (online) 1664-1078

and (2021) European Journal of Applied Physiology, 121, pp. 1515-1516. ISSN (print) 1439-6319

and (2020) European Journal of Applied Physiology, 120, pp. 2657-2664. ISSN (print) 1439-6319

Patel, Rishikesh K., , and (2020) European Journal of Applied Physiology, 120, pp. 2075-2082. ISSN (print) 1439-6319

, and (2020) Translational Sports Medicine, 3(2), pp. 164-170. ISSN (online) 2573-8488

, , Allen, Matt and (2020) Journal of Sports Sciences, 38(11-12), pp. 1423-1431. ISSN (print) 0264-0414

, , Folkerts, Dirk, , Pavlidis, Cristina and (2019) Journal of Sports Science & Medicine, 18, pp. 559-568. ISSN (print) 1303-2968

, , Pang, Susan, and (2019) Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 22(7), pp. 763-768. ISSN (print) 1440-2440

, Al-Tannak, Naser F., Alzharani, Mansour, , Stensel, David J., Thackray, Alice E., , , , , Watson, David G. and (2019) Metabolites, 9(4), p. 71. ISSN (online) 2218-1989

, Alshehri, Ahmed, Muggeridge, David, Mullen, Alexander, Boyd, Marie, , and Watson, David (2018) Metabolites, 8(1), p. 14. ISSN (online) 2218-1989

, , Allen, Matt and (2017) BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 3(1), e000202. ISSN (online) 2055-7647

, and (2015) Journal Of The International Society Of Sports Nutrition, 12(47), ISSN (online) 1550-2783

, , , Pedlar, Charles, James, Philip E. and (2014) Medicine And Science In Sports And Exercise, 46(1), pp. 143-150. ISSN (print) 0195-9131

, Howe, Christopher C. F., , Pedlar, Charles, James, Philip E. and (2013) International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism, 23(5), pp. 498-506. ISSN (print) 1543-2742

Book Section

, and (2023) In: Dominguez, Herminia , Pereira, Leonel and Kraan, Stefan, (eds.) Functional ingredients from algae for foods and nutraceuticals. 2nd ed. Oxford, U.K. : Woodhead Publishing. pp. 565-592. (Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition) ISBN 9780323988193

Ali, B., and (2016) In: Favero, Terence , Drust, Barry and Dawson, Brian, (eds.) International research in science and soccer II. London, U.K. : Routledge. pp. 294-301. ISBN 9781138920897

Conference or Workshop Item

, , Pang, S., and (2018) In: 23rd Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science; 04 - 07 Jul 2018, Dublin Ireland. (Unpublished)

, , Alsheheri, A., Muggeridge, D., Mullen, A.B., Boyd, M., and Watson, D.G. (2018) In: 23rd Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science; 04 - 07 Jul 2018, Dublin Ireland. (Unpublished)

Alshehri, Ahmed, , , Mullen, Alexander B., Boyd, Marie, , , and Watson, David G. (2017) In: MetaboMeeting 2017; 11-13 Dec 2017, Birmingham, U.K.. (Unpublished)

, and (2017) In: 8th Asia-Pacific Congress on Sports Technology; 15th-19th October 2017, Tel Aviv. (Unpublished)

, Allen, Matt, and (2016) In: European College of Sport Science (ECSS) 21st Annual Congress; 6 - 9 Jul 2016, Vienna, Austria.

This list was generated on Sun May 19 06:41:20 2024 BST.

Leadership and management

Owen has more than thirty years experience of leadership and management.  First as  Manager in the Leisure Industry (1990-94), then as a Deputy Head of the School of Applied and Health Sciences at Farnborough College (FCoT/UNiS).  These roles were followed by a longstanding employment as a Field Leader in Sport and Exercise Science and now the current Head of the Department for Applied and Human Sciences at KU.   At the heart of his leadership is his dedication to the Institute goals and more importantly to the staff experience so they can work effectively towards excellence across academic domains. Owen's leadership philosophy is to carefully craft roles and responsibilities of individuals that best suit their skills and the needs of the team.  The ultimate goal is to bring together a sense of identity and pride while vastly improving academic rigour. At Kingston, Owen led and coordinated the Kingston Sport team over the complete reframing and strategy of the three undergraduate Sport and Exercise Science courses under KU-RAF in 2012, the development of MSc taught and research degrees.  Moreover, he also contributed to the development of partnerships with Nescot in Sport with the Fulham Foundation and also helped in the design of Sport and Exercise at Richmond College.

University responsibilities

  • Head, Department of Applied and Human Sciences