The centre is a world leader in the application of complexity and systems science in sport and outdoor recreation. We have strong collaborations in global sport and have worked and conducted research with multiple national and international sporting organisation including, the World Anti-Doping Agency, International Olympic Committee , Sport Integrity Australia , the Australian Institute of Sport , Athletics Australia, Cycling Australia , the French Anti-Doping Agency , Sport and Recreation Victoria , the English Institute of Sport , Scottish Rugby Union , West Bromwich Albion FC , and various elite level clubs across several sports (Football, Netball, Para Sport).
We recently published ‘Systems Thinking Methods in Sport’, which is the first book to provide practical guidance and case study applications on systems thinking methods in sport.
Current projects
Sports Integrity
o Doping in sport
o Child safeguarding
o Competition manipulation
Artificial intelligence in sport
Talent development in athletics
Performance analysis
A systems approach to injury in sport
Sports management and governance
Sports system design and redesign
UPLOADS
The Cyclist Reporting of Incidents Tool (CRIT)
Key researchers
Theme PhD students
Karl Dodd- Child safeguarding
Isaiah Elstak- AI in football
Tania Stevenson- Talent identification and development in athletics
Recent publication s
Scott Mclean, Paul M Salmon, Mitch Naughton, Tom Page, Barry Drust, Michael Brownlow. Football clubs and their ‘hive mind’: distributed situation awareness (DSA) and its role in injury management. BNJ Group.
Chiang, C. Y., Chiang, Y. C., Chang, C. C., Morrison, M., & Weakley, J. Annual Training Load and Jumping-and Sprinting-Characteristic Changes During a Periodized Training Plan in a Division I Male Championship Basketball Team. International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance , 1(aop), 1-7.
Kade Silverthorne , Matthew Morrison Nicholas Cowley, Gabriella Munteanu, Mark W. CreabySports Med (2025)
Morrison, M., Mann, J. B., Read, D. B., Thurlow, F., Cowley, N., Silverthorne, K., McMahon, E., & Weakley, J. Longitudinal changes in strength, power, speed, and body mass in American football players: Diminishing returns as training age increases. International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching .
Clare Dallat, Denise Mitten, Stuart Slay, Virginia Mitchell, Deb Ajango. The Silence Is Deafening: Exploring the Impacts of Serious Incidents on Practitioners Across the Outdoor and Adventure Programs Work System. Human Factors and Ergonomics in Manufacturing & Service Industries .
Matthew Morrison,Jonathon Weakley, Gregory D. Roache, Charli Sargent, Dean J. Miller, Carissa Gardiner, Shona L. Halson. Quantifying the effect of afternoon moderate-intensity exercise on sleep quality and quantity in healthy adult males using polysomnography. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport.
Karl Dodd, Paul M. Salmon, Colin Solomon, Scott McLean. Applying a systems thinking lens to child sexual abuse in sport: an analysis of investigative report findings and recommendations. Child Abuse and Neglect .
Sharief Hendricks , Mitch Naughton, Paul M Salmon, Stephen W West , Lara Paul , Ben Jones ,James Craig Brown , Marelise Badenhorst, Kathryn Dane , Isla Jordan Shill , Carolyn A Emery ,Scott McLean. ‘Tackling’ safety through a systems thinking approach: building safety culture within sport. British Journal of Sports Medicine.
McLean, S., Morrison, M., Naughton, M., & Salmon, P. M. (2024). Decoding unintentional doping: A complex systems analysis of supplement use in sport. Performance Enhancement & Health , 100317.
S. McLean, S. Robertson & P.M. Salmon. Complexity and systems thinking in sport. Journal of Sports Sciences .
Mitchell Naughton, Tannath Scott, Scott McLean, Colin Solomon, Jack Walsh and Dan Weaving. “The influence of external loads on post-match neuromuscular fatigue in international rugby union: A partial least squares correlational analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences.
Artificial intelligence applications in the football codes: A systematic review. I. Elstak, P. Salmon, McLean. S. Journal of Sports Sciences.
Where do we intervene to optimize sports systems? Leverage Points the way. Mitchell Naughton, Paul M. Salmon & Scott McLean. Journal of Sports Sciences.
Challenges and opportunities of artificial intelligence implementation within sports science and sports medicine teams. Mitchell Naughton, Paul M. Salmon, Heidi R. Compton and Scott McLean. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living
Gender differences in adolescents’ help-seeking behaviours and intentions for psychosocial problems in led outdoor activities. Cox, J. A., Trapp, M. M., & McLean, S. Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning.
Determining the Barriers to the Use of Post-match Fatigue Monitoring in theTopics in Exercise science and Kinesiology .
Mitchell Naughton, Paul M. Salmon, Hugo A. Kerhervé & Scott McLean.Applying a systems thinking lens to anti-doping:A systematic review identifying the contributory factors to doping in sport. Journal of Sports Sciences .
Jolene A. Cox , Scott McLean, Adam Hulme, Gemma J.M. Read, Paul M. Salmon. An incident reporting and learning system to understand cycling incident causation in Australia: A 12-month implementation of CRIT. Safety Science
S. McLean , M. Naughton , H. Kerhervé , PM Salmon. From Anti-doping-I to Anti-doping-II: Toward a paradigm shift for doping prevention in sport. International Journal of Drug Policy.
Naughton,M. Scott,T. Weaving,D. Solomon,C. McLean,S. Defining and quantifying fatigue in the rugby codes. Plos One.
McLean,S. Desmond.D. Salmon,P. An analysis of the sports performance enhancing substances available on the darknet. Science Direct
Koorts,H. Salmon,P. Swain,C. Cassar, S. Strickland,D. Salmon,J. A systems thinking approach to understanding youth active recreation. International Journal of Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity.
L. Fortington, N. Goode, C. Finch, P. Salmon. Heat and sun related medical concerns in Australian led outdoor activities: a three-year prospective study. Journal of Outdoor and Environmental Education.
Scott McLean, Lauren Coventon, Caroline F. Finch & Paul M. Salmon. Incident reporting in the outdoors: a systemsbased analysis of injury, illness, and psychosocial incidents in led outdoor activities in Australia. Ergonomics . DOI: 10.1080/00140139.2022.2041733
L, Paul. M, Naughton. B, Jones, D, Davidow. A, Patel. M, Lambert. S, Hendricks. Quantifying Collision Frequency and Intensity in Rugby Union and Rugby Sevens: A Systematic Review. 2022, Sports Medicine 8:12.
McLean,S. Coventon,L. Finch,C. Dallat,C. Carden,T. Salmon,P. Evaluation of a systems ergonomics-based incident reporting system. Applied Ergonomics.
Salmon,P. Naughton, M. Hulme,A. McLean,S. (2021) Bicycle crash contributory factors: A systematic review. Safety Science.
Hulme, A., McLean, S., Dallat, C. Walker, G. H., Waterson, P., Stanton, N. A., Salmon, P. M. (2021). Systems thinking-based risk assessment methods applied to sports performance: A comparison of STPA, EAST-BL, and Net-HARMS in the context of elite women’s road cycling. Applied Ergonomics , 91, 103297
Naughton,M. McLean,S. Scott,T. Weaving,D. Solomon,C. (2021) Quantifying Fatigue in the Rugby Codes: The Interplay Between Collision Characteristics and Neuromuscular Performance, Biochemical Measures, and Self-Reported Assessments of Fatigue. Frontiers in Physiology.10.3389
McLean,S. Kerherv’e H. Stevens,N. Salmon,P. (2021) A Systems Analysis Critique of Sport-Science Research. Experimental & Theoretical Artificial Intelligence .
McLean, S., Salmon, P. M., Gorman, A., Solomon, C., Dodd, K. (2021). The communication and passing contributions of playing positions in a professional football team. Human Movement .
McLean, S., Rath, D., Lethlean, S., Hornsby, M., Gallagher, J., Anderson, D., Salmon, P. M. (2021). With crisis comes opportunity: Redesigning elite sports clubs for life after a global pandemic. Frontiers, 20 January 2021, doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.588959
McLean, S. Read,G. Ramsay, K. Hogarth,L. Kean, B. Designing success: Applying cognitive work analysis to optimise a para sport system. Applied Ergonomics.
McLean, S., Goode, N., Coventon, L., Finch, C., Clacy, A. Salmon, P. M. (2021). Applying a systems thinking lens to injury causation in the outdoors: Evidence collected during 3 years of the Understanding and Preventing Led Outdoor Accidents Data System Injury Prevention , 27:48-54.
McLean,S. Read,G. Thompson,J. Hancock,P,A. Salmon,P. (2021) Who is in control? Managerial artificial general intelligence (MAGI) for Football. Soccer and Society. ,
Carden, T., Goode, N., Salmon, P. M. (In Press) . Not as simple as it looks: led outdoor activities are complex sociotechnical systems Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science .
Mclean, S., Soloman, C., Gorman, A., Salmon, P. M. (In Press ) Do inter-continental playing styles exist? Using social network analysis to compare goals from the 2016 EURO and COPA football tournaments knockout stages. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science . Accepted for publication 31st January.
Hulme, A. Salmon, P.M, Nielsen, R.O, Read, G. J. M, Finch, C.F. (In Press). Closing Pandora’s Box: Adapting a systems ergonomics methodology for better understanding the ecological complexity underpinning the development and prevention of running-related injury. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science .
Carden, T., Read, G., Goode, N., Salmon, P. M. (In Press). Sociotechnical systems as a framework for regulatory system design and evaluation: using work domain analysis to examine a new regulatory system. Applied Ergonomics , Accepted for publication December 2016.
Clacy, A., Goode, N., Sharman, A., Lovell, G., Salmon, P. M. (In press). A knock to the system: a new sociotechnical systems approach to sport-related concussion. Journal of Sports Sciences, accepted for publication 29th November 2016
Neville, T., Salmon, P. M., Read, G. J. M. (2017). Analysis of In-Game Communication as an Indicator of Recognition Primed Decision Making in Elite Australian Rules Football Umpires. Journal of Cognitive Engineering and Decision Making, 11:1, 81-96
Mclean, S., Soloman, C., Gorman, A., Salmon, P. M. (2017). What’s in a game? A systems approach to enhancing performance analysis in football. Plos One , 1-15.
Neville, T. J., Salmon, P. M., Read, G. J. M., Kalloniatis, A., C. (2017). Play on or call a foul: testing and extending distributed situation awareness theory through sports officiating. Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science, 17:1, 80-103.
Salmon, P. M., Goode, N., Taylor, N., Dallat, C., Finch, C., Lenne, M. G. (2017). Rasmussen’s legacy in the great outdoors: a new incident reporting and learning system for led outdoor activities. Applied Ergonomics, 59:B, 637-648
For inquiries regarding the Sport and Outdoor Recreation theme please contact Dr Scott McLean
Centre for Human Factors and Systems Science 
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