Professor Adam Nicholls

Professor Adam Nicholls

Professor of Psychology/ Leader of the Sport Psychology and Coaching Group

Faculty and Department

  • Faculty of Health Sciences
  • School of Sport Exercise and Rehabilitation Sciences

Qualifications

  • BA (University of Leeds)
  • MSc (Leeds Beckett University)
  • PhD / DPhil (University of Hull)

Summary

Adam is a professor of psychology. The main focus of his research relates to the psycho-social factors that predict doping among adolescent athletes, along with coping and emotions among athletes. He is also interested in whistleblowing, and is currently leading an international consortium that is examining factors that influence whether individuals will report wrongdoing.

His research is supported by more than £1.1 million as a principal investigator and £1.5 million including all projects. He has published more than 85 journal articles and written three books. His book, Psychology for Coaches: Theory and Practice has also been translated into Arabic and Hungarian.

In addition to pursuing his own research interests, Adam is the leader of the Sport Psychology and Coaching group. This role involves him developing a research strategy and impact case studies for the next Research Excellence Framework (REF), in addition to mentoring individuals in terms of developing a research profile and writing grant applications. Adam is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

FUNDED PROJECTS

•$4, 643.73: Which instruments are best? Helping the anti-doping community choose valid and reliable measures of psychological factors related to doping. (January 2021 – May 2021; Funding Body = World Anti-Doping Agency; Role: Co-Author).

•€473,406.00: Understanding and promoting WhIstle-blowiNg on DOPing irregularities in the EU (Win-Dop). (January 2020- December, 2021; Funding Body = European Commission: Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency [Unit A.6, Erasmus +: Sport, Youth and EU Aid Volunteers]. Role: Principal Author).

•£217,174. 64: High Intensity Interval Training In pATiEnts with intermittent claudication (INITIATE): a proof-of-concept prospective cohort study to assess acceptability and clinical efficacy. (July 2019 – October 2022; National Institute for Health Research; Role: Co-Author).

•€487, 529.75: Anti-Doping Values in Coach Education (ADVICE). (January 2017- December, 2019; Funding Body = European Commission: Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency [Unit A.6, Erasmus +: Sport, Youth and EU Aid Volunteers]. Role: Principal Author).

•$188, 719: The Effectiveness of the Play Clean Group Based and the Mobile Application (iPlayClean) Anti-Doping Education Programs for High-Level Adolescent Athletes and their Entourage: A Randomized Control Trial. (July 2016- June 2019; Funding Body = International Olympic Committee. Role: Principal Author).

•$22, 606 (USD): Enhancing attention and recall of doping prevention messages by testing the influence of adolescent athletes’ perceived vulnerability to doping. (January 2019 – November 2019; World Anti-Doping Agency Social Science. Role: Co-Author).

•£1, 920: An introduction to Total Sweet Xylitol. (January 2019 – August 2019; Healthy by Nature Ltd: Role: Co-Author).

•£20, 000: A season long investigation into the practice and competition behaviours of academy football coaches and an exploration of players’ perspectives of the use of performance analysis provision (April 2016 – December 2017; Funding Body = Hull Tigers Ltd, Role: Co-investigator).

•$61, 193.09: Development and validation of the Adolescent Sport Doping Inventory (September 2014- December 2017; Funding Body = World Anti-Doping Agency. Role: Principal Author).

•£52, 969.98: Psychological well-being for ileostomists (June 2014-December 2015; Funding Body = Ileostomy Association. Role: Principal Author).

•£51, 188: Move to improve: A global movement programme (2014 – 2017; Funding Body = Youth Sport Trust. Role: Co-author).

•$2,000: Exploration of psychosocial factors in the skill refinement process among tennis players (March 2015 – May 2015; Funding Body = International Tennis Federation. Role: Co-author).

•Undisclosed: An evaluation of the Embed the Pathway national talent development project at ‘Proof of concept’ phase (2012; Funding Body = Rugby Football League; Role: Co-investigator).

•£42 000: Psychomotor health across the lifespan: Consequences for active, happy, and healthy ageing (2009; Funding Body = Medical Research Council; Role: Co-Investigator).

Recent outputs

View more outputs

Journal Article

High INtensity Interval Training In pATiEnts with intermittent claudication (INITIATE): a qualitative acceptability study

Pymer, S., Harwood, A., Ibeggazene, S., McGregor, G., Huang, C., Nicholls, A., …Twiddy, M. (2024). High INtensity Interval Training In pATiEnts with intermittent claudication (INITIATE): a qualitative acceptability study. Annals of vascular surgery, 102, Article 17-24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avsg.2023.11.043

"Time may change me, but you can't trace time": the (In)stability of psycho-social doping profiles among adolescent athletes

Nicholls, A. R., & Perry, J. L. (in press). “Time may change me, but you can’t trace time”: the (In)stability of psycho-social doping profiles among adolescent athletes. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2023.2274414

High-intensity interval training in patients with intermittent claudication

Pymer, S., Harwood, A. E., Prosser, J., Waddell, A., Rhavindhran, B., McGregor, G., …Chetter, I. C. (2023). High-intensity interval training in patients with intermittent claudication. Journal of vascular surgery, 78(4), 1048-1056.e4. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvs.2023.05.045

Multi-wave analyses of coping, athlete burnout, and well-being among F. A. Premier League academy players

Nicholls, A. R., Madigan, D. J., & Earle, K. (2022). Multi-wave analyses of coping, athlete burnout, and well-being among F. A. Premier League academy players. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 979486. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.979486

Snitches get Stitches and End up in Ditches: A Systematic Review of the Factors Associated with Whistleblowing Intentions

Nicholls, A. R., Fairs, L. R., Toner, J., Jones, L., Mantis, C., Barkoukis, V., …Schomöller, A. (2021). Snitches get Stitches and End up in Ditches: A Systematic Review of the Factors Associated with Whistleblowing Intentions. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 631538. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.631538

Research interests

I am in interested in the following topics:

*Anti-doping prevention among athletes and exercisers

*Psychological well-being

*Stress, coping, and emotions

*Mental health among athletes

Lead investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

The Effectiveness of the Play Clean Group Based and the Mobile Applications (iPlayClean) Anti-Doping Education Programs for Adolescent Athletes and their Entourage: A Randomized Control Trial

Funder

IOC International Olympic Committee

Grant

£142,289.00

Started

1 November 2016

Status

Ongoing

Project

Understanding and promoting WhIslteblowing oN DOPing irregularities in the EU

Funder

EC European Commission

Grant

£118,101.00

Started

1 January 2020

Status

Complete

Project

Anti-Doping Values in Coach Education - Erasmus Sport

Funder

EC European Commission

Grant

£181,728.00

Started

1 January 2017

Status

Complete

Project

Development and Validation of the Adolescent Sport Drug Inventory (ASDI) and Factors that Influence Attitudes among Adolescents

Funder

WADA World Anti-Doping Agency

Grant

£36,950.00

Started

1 January 2014

Status

Complete

Co-investigator

Project

Funder

Grant

Started

Status

Project

An introduction to Total Sweet Xylitol

Funder

Healthy by Nature Ltd

Grant

£1,600.00

Started

1 September 2019

Status

Complete

Postgraduate supervision

Prof Nicholls welcomes applications in the areas of doping or coping.

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