Keynote Speakers

2018 SESNZ Annual Conference Keynote Speakers

Professor John Hawley

is a world renowned researcher with a primary research focus on the interaction of exercise and diet on the regulation of fat and carbohydrate metabolism, particularly within skeletal muscle, the molecular basis of exercise training adaptation and the cellular bases underlying exercise-induced improvements in insulin action. John has published over 220 scientific manuscripts, written over 100 articles for technical journals and has authored numerous book chapters for exercise biochemistry and sports medicine texts. He also serves on many editorial boards for top journals in his field.

Professor Kathryn Schmitz

is the President of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM). Kathryn is also a Professor in Epidemiology at Penn State University. She is the author of more than 180 articles in scientific literature on the topics of cancer, behavioral research, rehabilitation, exercise science, obesity prevention, and other areas of medicine and public health.

Dr Shona Halson

is an Associate Professor in the School of Behavioural and Health Sciences at Australian Catholic University. Prior to this she was a Senior Physiologist at the Australian Institute of Sport for 15 years. She has a PhD in Exercise Physiology and has been involved in conducting research into the areas of recovery, fatigue, sleep and travel. She is an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance. Shona was selected as the Director of the Australian Olympic Committee Recovery Centre for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 2012 London Olympic Games and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. She has published numerous peer-reviewed articles and has authored several book chapters on sleep, fatigue and recovery.

Associate Professor Debra Waters

is the Director of Gerontology Research at Otago University and the Deputy Director of the Ageing Well National Science Challenge. Her area of expertise is in body composition and physical function during ageing and communitybased exercise interventions in older individuals.

Dr Keith Tolfrey

is the Chair of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Sciences (BASES). Keith’s research has focused on the physiological determinants of endurance performance such as maximal lactate steady state, economy, and peak oxygen uptake in young people. His current research interests include fat metabolism, postprandial lipaemia, and estimation ofenergy expenditure in physical activity in young people.

Professor Glenn McConell

is Professor of Exercise Metabolism & ISEAL Research Group Leader, Institute of Sport, Exercise & Active Living (ISEAL) at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia. His area of expertise is regulation of skeletal muscle glucose uptake during exercise and the factors regulating the increase in insulin sensitivity following exercise.

Manchester Metropolitan University in 2000 and then worked at Edinburgh University for 3 years before moving to New Zealand. Chris’ research interests concern an ecological dynamics approach to motor skill learning. In recent work he is applying these theoretical ideas to the acquisition of swimming survival skills in children. Dr Button has published research on a broad range of topics including individual differences, movement variability, perceptual skill, and interpersonal coordination