Marie Curie Doctoral Fellow – Sports equity and environmental footprint scientist

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An exciting and rare opportunity to join a prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Doctoral Training Network programme.

We are looking for an ambitious and talented early-stage researcher, who is passionate about health, climate change, sports and physical activity and data science. The researcher will join a cohort of 17 fellows from the SUPER (SUstainable sports and Physical activity for Equity and Resilience in the Anthropocene) Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Doctoral Training Network programme (www.thisissuper.eu)  The SUPER network aims to radically rethink how we promote and practice sport and physical activity in the fight against climate change. Alongside leading researchers, policy and industry partners, the 17 fellows will conduct cutting edge research and design and implement radically new, low-impact physical activity and sports practices, infrastructure and equipment that foster equity, climate change resilience, and a deeper understanding of the relationship between human and planetary health.

The successful candidate will be registered as a Marie Curie PhD student with the topic: “Equitable and sustainable PA and sports compendium”. This project will make extensive use of data science and AI (Natural Language Processing) to develop a new compendium of physical activity that ties human and planetary health. This will guide sustainable physical activity and sports promotion for human and planetary health simultaneously.

The main objectives are  

1) Systematically collect and cross-validate data on intersectional (socio-economic, gender, ethnicity) distribution of participation indifferent sports and PA (web scrapping, natural language processing, field interviews).

2) Systematically collect and cross validate data on the footprint of different sports and PA (web scrapping, natural language processing, field interviews).

3) Combined these into a novel compendium of PA and develop as a digital resource.

The fellow may undertake periods of secondments with Decathlon in France and at the European University of Madrid.

SUPER:  is the Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Doctoral Training Network programme dedicated to training the next generation of leaders in transformative research in physical activity and sports science in the era of the Anthropocene. The fellowships will combine expertise from anthropology and architecture, economics and education, human and planetary health, sustainable development, and behavioural, data, environmental and social sciences. 

SUPER is an ambitious new research and development project that will:

Objective 1: Establish the theoretical and evidence base as well as a research roadmap on the impact of sports and PA on planetary health, resources and climate and, conversely, the impact of climate change on sports and PA. This, to support policy, practice and novel solutions.

Objective 2: Develop novel solutions for sports and PA policy, infrastructures, equipment, practices and promotion that bring co-benefits by simultaneously increasing population resilience to climate change equitably and lowering the impact on the planet and planetary limits.

Objective 3: Test and demonstrate these novel solutions in key sectors through living labs: Health Care, Professional and grassroot Sports, School/Education, Urban Design, Workplace/Occupational Health.

Objective 4: Provide evidence-based guidance and scientific support to future generations and all stakeholders who promote, manage, or use sports and PA: industry, practitioners, organisations, policymakers, funders, and the public, on making sports and PA sustainable and equitable.

Objective 5: Build capacity for future generations and among the sports and PA industry, organisations and practitioners for developing innovative, sustainable and circular solutions and practices and become planetary health, climate and equity advocate, educators and actors through an integrated open cascade training programme.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Doctoral Network (MSCA)

A place on this MSCA network is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for research students who want to help shape new, transformative and mission-driven science that integrates the health benefits of physical activity with the environmental crisis facing our planet.

The MSCA programme offers competitive and attractive working conditions. You will have an employment contract from the recruiting beneficiary. You will benefit from a competitive salary, annual leave, social security coverage. The gross salary will be composed of: 

• Monthly living allowance of 4010 Euro  which is adjusted by applying a country correction coefficient
• Monthly mobility allowance: 710 euro/month 
• Monthly family allowance, if applicable and depending on the family situation: 660 euro/month 

(Salary is paid in £, the precise figure is dependent on £/Euro conversion rate. The University receives the gross award/salaries from the funder, from which all deductions, both employer and employee, are made.  These deductions include employee & employer national insurance deductions, employee and employer pension contributions and employee tax.  Hence the net salary received after deductions will be less than the advertised gross salary.)

For additional information see EU MSCA website. The research project should result in a PhD thesis. 

The Project

The aim of the project is to understand the impact of Physical Activity and sports on planetary health and equity and produce a novel compendium of physical activity for planetary health

Fellow 1 will examine the planetary footprint of sports and physical activity (PA) and

create a comprehensive compendium of sustainable and equitable PA. This resource

will include data on planetary boundaries (e.g., CO2 emissions, water and land use,

biodiversity, resource depletion) and address intersectional, socio-economic, gender, and

ethnic equity in participation. Unlike existing compendium that focus solely on

the physiological impact of activities, will offer a more holistic basis for prioritizing PA and sports. For example, while 30 minutes/day of golf and walking have the same beneficial health effects, their planetary footprints and intersectoral participation are different Fellow 1 will conduct systematic reviews and meta-analyses using Cochrane PRISMA guidelines and review grey literature, employing AI-enhanced collective intelligence and use web-scrapping and Natural Language Processing to extract data from policies, reports, and observatories. This will be complemented by interviews with sustainability officers in sports and PA organisations. The compendium will be available in digital format.

The Doctoral Candidate will be expected to: 

• Report on findings by publishing scientific articles, resulting in a PhD dissertation; 
• Present findings at (inter)national meetings/conferences; 
• Contribute to the wider work of the SUPER project 
• Contribute to educational activities of the department and within the consortium. 

Further details on this post and more details of the project are available by contacting Prof Sebastien Chastin at sebastien.chastin@gcu.ac.uk.

The Candidate

We are looking for an individual with a passion physical activity, planetary health, data science and AI for the common good.  We are particularly interested in ambitious individuals looking to become leaders in a new field of research and to shape the future of physical activity and sports for planetary health. The candidate will need good organisational skills and the ability to communicate clearly with a variety of audiences.

Requirements  

Essential:  

E1 - Educated to equivalent of UK honours degree (2:1) in sports science, health science, planetary health, physical activity promotion, behavioural science, computer science, artificial intelligence, data science, ICT engineering, digital humanities, cognitive science, cybernetics, or related discipline.

E2 - Must possess or be finalising a Master’s degree or an equivalent degree in a relevant discipline for SUPER. Possible disciplines include e.g., sports science, health science, physical activity promotion, behavioural science, computer science, artificial intelligence, data science, ICT engineering, digital humanities, cognitive science, cybernetics, social innovation

E3 - A minimum English language level of IELTS score of 6.5 (or equivalent) with no element below 6.0.

E4 – Must not yet have been awarded a doctoral degree.

E5 - At the time of recruitment the candidate must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the UK for more than 12 months in the three years immediately prior to the recruitment date. Compulsory national service and/or short stays such as holidays are not taken into account.

E6 – Excellent skills and demonstrable experience in theoretical thinking and data collection.

E7 - Ability to work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team, including with third sector organisations.

E8 - Strong written and oral communication and presentation skills, with ability to adapt style to suit different individuals and situations.

E9 - Strong organisational skills with an interest in supporting others to meet their deliverables.

E10 - Excellent IT skills with a strong working knowledge of Microsoft Office packages.

E11 - Effective team working skills, plus the flexibility and ability to work independently and to use own initiative

E12 –Experience in Coding (Python/R), web scrapping and/or AI development

Competencies: Open-minded, collaborative, critical thinker, team player, strong communicator, self-motivated, self-driven, great communication skills and ability to work in multidisciplinary environment. 

Applicants must be available full-time to start the program in October 2026. 

Desirable: 

D1 – Knowledge of concepts of intersectionality

D2 – Ability to communicate in other European languages, in particular Spanish.

D3 - Experience of writing for peer-reviewed publications.

D4 - Knowledge of the literature on participatory health research.

D5 – Knowledge of the literature in methodological research in health.

D6 - Experience of translating findings into the world beyond academia and impact planning and assessment.

D7 - Ability to develop AI tools 

D8 - Knowledge of data science pipeline and tools 

D9 - Ability to synthesise complex information.  

D10 - Familiarity with qualitative and quantitative research methods, including interviews, surveys, and case study analysis.  

Eligibility Conditions: 

• Applicants do not already hold a doctoral degree. 
• Applicants must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the UK for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the recruitment date. Compulsory national service, short stays such as holidays, and time spent as part of a procedure for obtaining refugee status under the Geneva Convention are not taken into account. 
• Applicant must be eligible for a working visa in the UK 

The University

As the University for the Common Good, we are committed to embedding equality, diversity and inclusion, as well as our values in everything that we do.  As such, we welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates who demonstrate the GCU Values.

Glasgow Caledonian University is committed to a fair and transparent recruitment process that is free from bias so that we can attract and retain a high performing workforce which makes a critical contribution to our success​.

The University holds the prestigious Athena Swan Silver institution award, which recognises our significant record of activity and achievement in promoting gender equality across different disciplines.

The University holds the Race Equality Charter Bronze award, in recognition of our work to combat racism and support race equality.

As a Disability Confident 'Committed' employer, we are striving to ensure that our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to disabled people. Although the Disability Confident 'Committed' level does not guarantee an interview for disabled applicants, we will make reasonable adjustments for disabled applicants during the recruitment process.

The University also holds the ‘Carer Positive Established’ employer award, which recognises our commitment to supporting staff with caring responsibilities.

Glasgow Caledonian University are committed signatories to the Armed Forces Covenant. 

The University offers a range of benefits including opportunities for professional development, family friendly policies, cycle to work scheme and onsite childcare facilities.