Dr Shelley Duncan
PhD
Senior Research Fellow
Department of Sport and Health
Biography
Shelley is a senior research fellow in the Department of Sport and Health and Associate Head of the Department of Sport and Health. Her area of expertise is within the field of cognitive and behavioural neuroscience, specifically in the use of electroencephalography to evaluate the relationship between electrical activity of the brain and behaviour. Shelley’s PhD was completed at Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia, which involved the evaluation of the influence of acute bouts of exercise (aerobic and resistance) on cognitive function, including both behavioural (task completion time) and electro-cortical patterns of activity during the performance of a locomotive dual-task paradigm.
Shelley’s background also includes completion of a Bachelor of Physical Education and Health, Postgraduate Diploma in Exercise Rehabilitation, and an MSc (first-class honours) which evaluated the influence of glycogen depletion and fatigue on visual performance, at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.
Shelley’s key areas of interest are the development of research paradigms that enable the evaluation of cognitive and physical function. Specifically within the areas of ageing and neurological disease, and the assessment of the influence of exercise interventions upon cognitive and physical function.
Further information
- Using technology to develop representative research paradigms that are more closely aligned with every day function and behaviour eg, whole body movement and behaviour.
- Understanding the relationship between what we see in behavioural changes associated with ageing, neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease, and the influence of exercise on electro-cortical activity within the brain.
