Celebrating the University of Essex and The Royal Ballet School’s award-winning research

Congratulations to our colleagues at The University of Essex who recently won the Best Research Impact Award at the University’s Celebrating Excellence in Research and Impact Awards 2024.

Dr Louis Howe and Dr Jamie Tallent received the award for their cutting-edge research conducted in collaboration with The Royal Ballet School.

Scientists from the University have been studying students at the School to investigate the effects of training frequency on elite adolescent ballet dancers.

The ongoing study, led by Jamie Harding, The Royal Ballet School’s Strength and Conditioning Coach and PhD candidate, aims to identify optimal training techniques to reduce injury risk and maximise performance in young dancers.

The special award ceremony celebrated the commitment of academics, researchers, doctoral students and collaborations with organisations like The Royal Ballet School, which strive to produce impactful world-class research.

As a world-leading organisation, research plays a crucial role in enhancing our understanding of young dancers and the unique demands of full-time vocational training. This commitment to research not only benefits our dancers’ training but also contributes to bringing ballet to the forefront of sports science.

Karen Sheriff, Head of Healthcare at The Royal Ballet School, said:

I am so proud that the PhD work we are undertaking with the University of Essex has been recognised with this Impact Award. Our Healthcare team aims for excellence in research to better understand and support elite classical ballet training, and this work on microdosing strength & conditioning training is an important example of this approach.

Dr Louis Howe, Karen Sheriff and Dr Jamie Tallent with their Best Research Impact Award.

Congratulations to all involved on this outstanding recognition. We look forward to continuing our work with the University of Essex to unlock further advances in performance science.

Read more about the award-winning research here.