Dr Gary Brickley

Gary is an exercise physiologist who speciailises in endurance sport as well as sport and exercise cardiology. He teaches on a range of physiology subjects including sports nutrition. He has worked at the University since 2000. Gary has coached a number of athletes to gold medals in Paralympic cycling over five Paralympic cycles. In 2016, he swam the English Channel solo in under 12 hours. Gary is a British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) fellow and recipient of the Musabini Medal for Coaching. He also provides coaching/physiology support for triathletes. He has research interests in optimising sports perfornance through effective training, paralympic sports and cardiology.

Gary-Brickley

How I like to teach

I am a Senior Lecturer in Exercise Physiology. I teach on a number of different undergraduate modules including; Physiology of Exercise, Health and Nutrition; Sports Nutrition; Applied and Integrated Studies, Advanced Swimming, Outdoor and Adventerous Activities as well as MSc modules.

I engage students by drawing upon applied examples from my personal experience of working with athletes and patients. I encourage students to take a hands-on approach to learning in the lab or on the sports field.

My students learn through experiential learning and guided discovery whilst considering the assessment task within the learning environment.

I expect my students to be challenged, to engage, turn up on time, attend every session, to be polite, ask good questions and to do extra work beyond the lecture or laboratory session.

Students will use a range of resources. For example in Sports Nutrition they will test out products, in Exercise and Health they will do a combination of lab and lecture based sessions. We run a cooking session for Sports Nutrition and will surf, climb, kayak and windsurf in Outdoor Education.

I have over 20 years of experience of teaching in higher education. Having worked as a coach and scientist in elite Paralympic sport and with a strong research profile, I have a wide range of experiences in teaching and learning.

My research interests

My research interests include the following: physiology of endurance performance; exercise with cardiac complications; Paralympic sports performance; ergogenic aids and performance and the physiology of triathlon, cycling and swimming.

Research activity

Current research projects

  • Cardiopulmonary and echocardiography assessment in cardiac patients (With Jet van Zalen – postgraduate student)
  • Detraining and blood flow restriction (with Marina Garcia Hortal – postgraduate student)
  • Analysis using global poistioning systems in elite football (with Will Abbott – postgraduate student)

Previous research projects

  • Exercise with Cysitc Fibrosis patients
  • Critical power concept
  • Diabetes and exercise in hypoxia

Research centres and groups

Social media

Contact me

Sport and Service Management
Gaudick Road
Eastbourne
BN20 7SR

Telephone: +44 (0)1273 643760

Email: G.Brickley@brighton.ac.uk

Biography

Having spent nine years in the Royal Navy as an electronics technician, working on Seawolf missile systems, in 1991 I made a complete career change and embarked on a Sport Science degree at the 91¶¶Òõ. I followed this with a PhD in exercise physiology looking at muscle metabolism during high intensity exercise. I spent a year in Queensland, Australia at the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology carrying out my final study.

In 1999, I was appointed exercise physiologist for British Cycling based in Manchester. I then returned to the University to lecture in 2000. In 2003, I completed a MSc in Cardiology with the PGMS and have since developed research in this area through PhD students.

I have been coach/physiologist with the Great Britain Cycling team in preparation for five Paralympic Games and I have coached multiple gold medal winning Paracyclists at each of the Games. I currently coach in cycling, swimming and triathlon.

Research output

 

PhD students

 
NameThesis
Hannah Ray (current) High intensity interval training for mental health

Will Abbott (current)

Using global positioning systems to accurately assess and affect traiing load within elite soccer- the need for an individualised approach

Marina Garica Hortal (current)

The identification of skeletal muscle markers associated with short-term detraining in a young healthy population.

Jet van Zalen (current)

Combining cardiopulmonary exercise testing and echocardiography for the assessment and management of patients with heart disease

Previous PhD students

Kerry McGawley (2010)

The application of the critical power construct to endurance exercise

Louisa Beale (2010)

High intensity intermittent exercise training in patients with chronic heart failure

Richard Mackenzie (2009 )

Glucose metabolism during and following acute hypoxia and exercise in individuals with type 2 Diabetes

Roles

  • British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES) supervisor and reviewer for accreditation (currently working on the BASES guidelines for exercise testing)
  • Trustee for the Eastbourne Leisure Trust
  • Coach: cycling, swimming and triathlon for Great Britain Paralympic team

Awards

  • British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences Fellowship
  • Musabini Medal for coaching
  • Alumnus of the Year Award 91¶¶Òõ