Three major sports governing bodies now partnered with Insight for evidence-informed research.

Insight is working in partnership with three leading sports governing bodies, in a research format that is a world first. Ireland’s largest sporting body, the GAA, has taken Insight on as a strategic data partner and the move has attracted two further major sports bodies into Insight’s research orbit – Premiership Rugby and the Premier League in the UK.

What is Insight doing for these organisations that puts the Centre at the global forefront of sports analytics? Dr Stephen Behan explains.

‘These organisations want to make sense of their data to help make informed decisions, i.e. to inform; policy, playing/coaching/player development, supporter management and a range of other areas critical to their success. Insight and the DCU School of Health and Human Performance develop research programmes that are embedded in these organisations to provide impact. We do not take the funding and ‘do research’ remotely. We work within the organisations alongside their own personnel to conduct research for sport that improves practice, improves play, supports coaching and helps management to make better decisions around resource allocation in real time.’

Dr Behan works with Dr Áine MacNamara and Dr Jamie Taylor across a range of research projects for the GAA, Premiership Rugby and the Premier League, that includes tracking player journeys throughout their career, collecting coaching data to identify optimal training strategies, and examining large datasets around age bands and other classifiers to ensure smart selection policies and investment decisions.

The DCU School of Health and Human Performance also offers the Professional Doctorate in Elite Performance (Sport), which attracts sports practitioners into the research field. This creates a synergistic exchange between sports professionals and researchers that is seeding further collaborative data projects with professional organisations, and Insight@DCU is ideally placed to contribute to these projects.

‘I’m not aware of an organisation that’s able to provide research-informed solutions to so many governing bodies like this anywhere else in the world,’ says Dr Behan. ‘Insight at DCU is coming to be recognised as a global leader in this field.’

Pictured: Dr Jamie Taylor, Dr Stephen Behan of DCU and Dr Áine MacNamara, all of DCU with Danny Newcombe, Coach Development Manager, Premier League.