People

Dr Alice Harkness-Armstrong

Lecturer
School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences
Dr Alice Harkness-Armstrong

Profile

Biography

Alice Harkness-Armstrong is a lecturer in Performance Analysis within the School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences at the University of Essex. Alice is currently the Inclusivity Lead and Departmental Study Abroad Officer for the School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences. Prior to joining the University, Alice worked at University Academy 92 as an Associate Tutor, delivering across the BSc Sport and Exercise Science and BA Physical Education degrees, and Leeds Beckett University as an Associate Lecturer, delivering on the BSc Sports Coaching programme. Alice received her BSc in Applied Sport Science with Coaching and MRes in Exercise Science from Northumbria University, and PhD in Sports Coaching from Leeds Beckett University. Alice's research interests are within sports performance, and in particular female football. Alongside her current role as a lecturer, Alice is currently working as a Para Football Performance Analyst at The Football Association, supporting the England Partially Sighted and Deaf Women's futsal teams. Alice has previously held applied performance analysis roles across a range of sports and contexts, including Huddersfield Town AFC, Sunderland AFC Ladies Centre of Excellence, and Northern Ireland Volleyball senior women's team. Beyond her experience as an academic, researcher and practitioner, Alice has previously represented Northern Ireland in football and volleyball, and is currently captain of the Northern Ireland Women's Futsal team.

Qualifications

  • PGCert Higher Education Practice University of Essex, (2024)

  • PhD Sports Coaching Leeds Beckett University, (2022)

  • MRes Exercise Science Northumbria University, (2016)

  • BSc Applied Sport Science with Coaching Northumbria University, (2015)

Appointments

University of Essex

  • Lecturer in Performance Analysis, School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences, University of Essex (1/6/2022 - present)

Other academic

  • External Examiner (MSc Sport Data Analytics), University of Strathclyde (1/10/2023 - present)

  • External Examiner (Fd Sports Coaching and Performance Analysis, validated by The Open University), Belfast Metropolitan College (1/9/2024 - present)

  • Associate Tutor in Sport, University Academy 92 (13/9/2021 - 28/1/2022)

  • Associate Lecturer, Carnegie School of Sport, Leeds Beckett University (23/9/2019 - 30/7/2021)

Research and professional activities

Conferences and presentations

Understanding and application within women's football: Opportunities and challenges (Invited Topic Session: 'Data driven perspectives on football')

Invited presentation, Royal Statistical Society (RSS) International Conference 2024, Brighton, United Kingdom, 5/9/2024

A holistic approach to understanding match demands in women's soccer (Invited Symposium: 'Searching for the holy grail: understanding women's soccer for performance and injury prevention')

Invited presentation, European College of Sport Science (ECSS) Glasgow 2024, 4/7/2024

Teaching and supervision

Current teaching responsibilities

  • Professional Skills and Development 1 (SE101)

  • Sport and Exercise Psychology (SE104)

  • Professional Skills 2 (SE201)

  • Applied Performance Analysis (SE236)

  • Research Project (SE309)

  • Research Project (SE318)

  • Sports Analytics (SE323)

  • Contemporary Issues and Perspectives in the Sport Pedagogy Landscape (SE333)

  • Further Research Methods in Sport, Exercise and Health (SE738)

  • Research Project (SE740)

Previous supervision

Georgina Emily Morton
Georgina Emily Morton
Degree subject: Sport and Exercise Psychology
Degree type: Master of Science (by Dissertation)
Awarded date: 16/10/2023

Publications

Journal articles (8)

Harkness-Armstrong, A., Seth, L., Lowry, R. and Datson, N., Applied performance analysis practices in women's football. International Journal of Sports Science and Coaching

Feist, J., Datson, N., Runswick, O., Harkness-Armstrong, A. and Pocock, C., (2024). Visual exploratory activity in elite women’s soccer: An analysis of the UEFA Women’s European Championship 2022. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology

Harkness-Armstrong, A., Till, K., Datson, N. and Emmonds, S., (2023). Influence of match status and possession status on the physical and technical characteristics of elite youth female soccer match-play. Journal of Sports Sciences. 41 (15), 1437-1449

Harkness-Armstrong, A., Till, K., Datson, N. and Emmonds, S., (2022). Determining age-specific velocity thresholds for elite youth female soccer players. Science and Medicine in Football. 6 (5), 581-588

Harkness-Armstrong, A., Till, K., Datson, N., Myhill, N. and Emmonds, S., (2022). A systematic review of match-play characteristics in women's soccer. PLoS One. 17 (6), e0268334-e0268334

Harkness-Armstrong, A., Till, K., Datson, N. and Emmonds, S., (2021). Whole and peak physical characteristics of elite youth female soccer match-play. Journal of Sports Sciences. 39 (12), 1320-1329

Harkness-Armstrong, A., Till, K., Datson, N. and Emmonds, S., (2020). Technical characteristics of elite youth female soccer match-play: position and age group comparisons between under 14 and under 16 age groups. International Journal of Performance Analysis in Sport. 20 (6), 942-959

Vickery, W. and Harkness, A., (2017). Physical, Physiological and Perceptual Match Demands of Amateur Mixed Gender Touch Players. JOURNAL OF SPORTS SCIENCE AND MEDICINE. 16 (4), 589-594

Conferences (6)

Harkness-Armstrong, A., Till, K., Datson, N. and Emmonds, S., Establishing appropriate velocity thresholds for quantifying and interpreting physical performance of elite youth female soccer players

Harkness-Armstrong, A., Till, K., Datson, N. and Emmonds, S., Understanding how match status and possession status influences the match-play characteristics of youth female football players

Harkness-Armstrong, A., Seth, L., Lowry, R. and Datson, N., An investigation into applied performance analysis practices in women's football

Taylor, J., Quick, S., Morgan, C. and Harkness-Armstrong, A., An investigation of coach behaviours and practice structures during male academy football training sessions

Adams, T., Waterworth, S., Lowry, R., Lewis, T., Datson, N. and Harkness-Armstrong, A., Physical characteristics of youth female football players during training

Feist, J., Datson, N., Runswick, O., Harkness-Armstrong, A. and Pocock, C., (2024). Visual exploratory activity in elite women's soccer: An analysis of the UEFA Women's European Championships 2022

Other (1)

Harkness-Armstrong, A., (2022).Diving into the stats behind youth games. Women's Soccer Coaching(21)

Contact

a.harkness-armstrong@essex.ac.uk
+44 (0) 1206 873565

Location:

ESA.3.32, Colchester Campus