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Professor Ben Jones

Professor

Ben is a Professor of Sports Science. He completed his BSc(hons), MSc and PhD at Leeds Beckett University, prior to becoming a Senior Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Physiology, then receiving his Professorship in 2017, at the age of 31.

Ben’s PhD focused on the physiology and biochemistry of rugby, investigating the fluid and electrolyte balance of players. Since his PhD, his research has focused on aspects of sports performance, talent identification and development, sports medicine and injury prevention, which have had direct impact on policy and practice in numerous sports.

Ben holds consultancy roles with Premiership Rugby as their Sports Science and Medicine Research lead, and the Rugby Football League as their Strategic Lead for Performance Science and Research. He leads the overall research strategy for both organisations, which aims to improve player welfare and performance. Both research strategies involve applying the latest technology and analysis techniques to sport.

Ben also holds Visiting Professor positions at Australian Catholic University in Australia, University of New England in Australia and University of Cape Town in South Africa. He is an active member of the UK Concussion Network, DCMS Concussion Innovation and Technology Panel, and UK Concussion Prevention Network. He is a member of various RFL board sub-committees, and English Rugby Union Advisory Groups, and has engaged in a number of parliamentary discussions.

Since completing his PhD in 2013, Ben has published >250 peer-review publications, editing numerous books, and secured research and consultancy income exceeding £6 million. He has also supervised over 30 PhD students and examined over 30 PhD students internationally. He is frequently invited to deliver keynote presentations at Scientific Conferences globally, with the main focus on how research can positively impact sport from a player welfare and performance perspective. He has appeared numerous times on main stream media, including BBC breakfast to discuss concussion in sport.

In a charitable capacity, Ben has supported the Kevin Sinfield OBE challenges for MND, during which the team have raised over £8million. He worked closely with both Kevin Sinfield and Rob Burrow at Leeds Rhinos, where he worked in a consultancy capacity for 15 years.

Current Teaching

Delivers lectures on the Sport and Exercise Science undergraduate and postgraduate taught provisions

Module leader; The Physiology of Sports Conditioning (MSc Strength and Conditioning)

PhD and Postgraduate Research Supervision

Research Interests

Ben's main research interests are within applied sports science and medicine, with direct translation into policy or practice.

For example during COVID-19, Ben led numerous seminal SARS-CoV-2 transmission papers in sport. This includes the Team Sports Risk Exposure Frameworks, which were adopted by UK Government to risk assess the SARS-CoV-2 transmission risk within sports, and also to identify increased risk contacts who were required to insolate, should an infectious individual participate in the same sports activity. This framework was also adopted by other sports organisations globally. He also led the first study in the world to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 transmission between athletes during sport, which informed contact tracing and the return of community and recreational sport during the pandemic.

Since then, Ben has undertaken a number of studies, aimed at reducing concussion and sub-concussion in sport. These studies include evaluating law changes, coaching and player interventions, and equipment trials. He is leading on numerous instrumented mouthguard projects globally. The instrumented mouthguard are used to measure head accelerations, which can lead to precise prevention intervention. He is also leading the ongoing validation of instrumented mouthguards, to meet industry defined minimum performance standards. He is also leading other league-wide projects in both codes of rugby, including player tracking, player profiling and fitness testing, and injury surveillance projects.