Assessing transferable skills in sport, education and employment settings

Career overview

Professor Jennifer Cumming is a community-based researcher with expertise in sport and exercise psychology. She holds a Ph.D. in Kinesiology, with an emphasis on Sport Psychology, from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, obtained in 2002. She also earned an M.A. in Sport Studies from the University of Ottawa in 1998 and a B.Ed. in Physical Education with a Specialization in Fitness Education from McGill University in 1996. Professor Cumming''s research focuses on community-based approaches to developing practical and culturally tailored interventions for athletes and individuals who are traditionally considered ''harder to reach''. Her interests include the effective regulation of thoughts, feelings, and behaviours through mental skills training, and the impact of self-regulation on performance, health, and well-being. She applies her knowledge of sport psychology to support social inclusion and mental health in communities that are challenging to engage, such as homeless adolescents and care leavers. Since 2013, she has collaborated with St Basils, a West Midlands-based housing service, to co-design and deliver the first sport psychology-informed intervention for young people experiencing homelessness or at risk, titled My Strengths For Life™ (MST4Life™). This programme addresses the emotional and psychological issues of homeless young people while recognising their resilience and strengths. Earlier in her career, Professor Cumming focused on the mental technique of imagery, developing theoretical models for use in research and applied settings. Her work has improved the measurement of imagery processes and increased the credibility of imagery interventions. She has served as a Guest Editor for a Special Issue on Imagery Ability for Imagination, Cognition and Personality and is a Founding Member of the Research in Imagery and Observation (RIO) Group. She has received several accolades, including nominations for the University of Birmingham’s Founders’ Award for Excellence in Policy Advancement in 2015 and Enterprising Birmingham’s Most Innovative Collaboration award in 2017. Her research has been funded by various organisations, including the ESRC and Public Health England, and has been recognised as good practice in informing interventions for preventing and reducing homelessness in the UK. Professor Cumming has published nearly 100 peer-reviewed papers and has presented keynotes and workshops at esteemed societies. In addition to her research, she is the module lead for Sport and Mental Health and supervises undergraduate students. She is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and has received awards for excellence in teaching. Professor Cumming has supervised 17 postgraduate research students to completion since 2002, with several former students now holding prominent positions in academia and research. Her ongoing research interests include imagery and observational learning in sport, mental skills training, and addressing performance issues such as competitive anxiety and motivation.

Research interests

Professor Cumming''s research focuses on community-based approaches to developing practical and culturally-tailored interventions for athletes and individuals who are traditionally considered ‘harder to reach’. She is interested in how individuals learn to effectively regulate their thoughts, feelings, and behaviours through mental skills training, and the impact of self-regulation on performance, health, and well-being. Her work supports social inclusion, mental health, and health-related quality of life in communities that are challenging to engage, such as homeless adolescents or care leavers. Since 2013, she has collaborated with St Basils to co-design and deliver the My Strengths For Life™ programme, aimed at addressing the emotional and psychological issues of homeless young people. Earlier, her research concentrated on the mental technique of imagery, developing theoretical models for its application in sport, exercise, and dance, leading to improved measurement of imagery processes and the credibility of imagery interventions. She has published nearly 100 peer-reviewed papers and has been involved in keynotes and workshops at various esteemed conferences. Her research has been funded by several organisations, including the ESRC and Public Health England, and has been recognised as good practice for informing interventions to prevent and reduce homelessness in the UK.

Dr V Burns's profile is coming soon