RAYSD Lab
Our vision
The BCU Research for Athlete and Youth Sport Development (RAYSD) Lab aims to collaborate with industry partners, in order to help create evidence-informed organisational structures and more equitable youth sport settings so every young person can achieve their potential.
Research roadmap
Birmingham City University’s Research for Athlete and Youth Sport Development (RAYSD) Lab aims to learn together with partners through living our guiding values and principles.
Power our mission
-
Developing equitable approaches:
Design, implement, and evaluate equitable approaches to create more effective and efficient youth sport settings
-
Advancing knowledge:
Help better understand the various underpinning mechanisms of athlete development across the lifespan
-
Working with key partners and informing policy making:
Collaborate and co-create with key partners to facilitate evidence-informed policy making and practical applicability
-
Being international change makers:
Focus on positively impacting the performance, participation, and personal development of young athletes
Project spotlight
BESTA Project
Investigating the most effective ways of integrating diverse talent into the current pathway structures by evaluating the procedures of two mono-ethnic academies working with elite players.
Find out moreFIFA Project
Designing, implementing, and evaluating best practice guidelines across the six dimensions of the FIFA Talent Development Scheme’s knowledge framework.
Find out moreThe Football Gene Project
Investigating the association of genetic polymorphisms with football phenotypes.
Find out moreThe Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB) Relative Age Solutions Project
Piloting strategies that reduce the birth-month bias in youth football selection and development.
Find out moreEstimating High Potential in Olympique Lyonnais Academy
Moving beyond traditional selection biases to propose a more equitable approach to talent identification and development.
Find out moreBirthday-Banding and Talent Development in England Squash
Gaining insights into the perceived benefits and limitations of birthday-banding.
Find out moreRelative Age Effects in England Rugby
Exploring the presence of RAEs in English age-grade rugby union.
Find out moreThe Talent Development Ecosystem in Italian Football
Exploring the cultural and contextual characteristics of the Italian football environment and how these factors shape development of Italian players
Find out moreTalent Identification and Development in an English Professional Rugby Union Club
Investigating talent identification and talent development in rugby union through a mixed methods approach.
Find out moreThe Lone Woman in Men’s Football Settings
Researching the experiences and opportunities of lone women coaches in men’s professional football.
Find out moreSports Science and Medicine Practice in Non-League Professional Football
Investigating players’ physical capacities and workloads to inform injury risk reduction and match performance strategies in NLF.
Find out moreMeet the lab lead
Adam's research interests explore organisational structures in youth sport to better understand the athlete development process and create more appropriate settings.
He has generated over £1m in research funding and presented at over 50 international conferences, and is the author of more than 100 scientific articles and book chapters as well as three journal editorials, and two edited books, including the recent release of Talent Identification and Development in Youth Soccer: A Guide for Researchers and Practitioners.
Meet the RAYSD lab team
Working within RAYSD lab across the BESTA and FIFA research projects are four BCU postgraduate researchers. Find out more about them and their journeys to PhD study here.
Hina Shafi
Hina is using her research to transform talent identification and development for British South Asian women and girls in cricket.
Meet HinaOmar Green
Omar's PhD aims to make cricket and education more inclusive, reflecting his passion for sport, coaching, and community impact.
Meet OmarAchuthan Shanmugaratnam
Achuthan is researching global talent identification and development in football with FIFA’s Talent Development scheme programme.
Meet AchuthanJohann Lux
Johann is exploring how the FIFA Talent Development Scheme can improve talent development ecosystems globally.
Meet Johann