Nutrition plays a key role in athletic health and performance. Evidence suggests that Gaelic players, are not meeting their nutritional requirements, particularly in relation to energy, carbohydrate and key micronutrients e.g. vitamin D and iron and this may lead to impaired performance and recovery, increased risk of injury and detrimental effects on health (including immune health). Inadequate dietary intakes may be due to a lack of sports nutrition knowledge; poor knowledge has been observed in Gaelic players albeit there is a lack of research in this area using validated assessment tools.

Knowledge in relation to dietary supplements is particularly low. There is thus a clear need to educate players in order to improve their sports nutrition knowledge and ultimately have a better understanding of their nutritional requirements for optimal health and performance.

The aim of this PhD project is to investigate the dietary intake, nutritional knowledge and immune health of Gaelic players using validated methodologies. Dietary intakes will be compared to current dietary reference values and sports nutrition recommendations where relevant. An educational intervention will be conducted focusing on those areas where players demonstrate a lack of knowledge (and where dietary intakes are lacking) with a view to improving nutrition knowledge and subsequently enhancing dietary intake for optimal health and performance.

Important Information: Applications for more than one PhD studentship are welcome, however if you apply for more than one PhD project within Biomedical Sciences, your first application on the system will be deemed your first-choice preference and further applications will be ordered based on the sequential time of submission. If you are successfully shortlisted, you will be interviewed only on your first-choice application and ranked accordingly. Those ranked highest will be offered a PhD studentship. In the situation where you are ranked highly and your first-choice project is already allocated to someone who was ranked higher than you, you may be offered your 2nd or 3rd choice project depending on the availability of this project.