Sport & Human Movement Research
World-leading sport science and human performance research, featuring internationally-recognised research staff, advanced lab facilities, and partnerships with high-performance sports teams and industry leaders.
The Centre for Innovation in Movement and Sport Research (iMove)
iMove is a leading research centre dedicated to advancing knowledge in movement science, sport research, exercise performance, physical activity, and wellbeing. Our researchers are committed to understanding the factors that influence participation, human performance, learning, and health across the lifespan.
What we do
iMove investigates how people engage in movement, develop skills, enhance human performance outcomes, and experience the benefits of physical activity. Our research addresses key challenges in sport, health, education, and wellbeing, generating evidence that supports individuals, communities, and organisations.
How we do it
Our transdisciplinary teams bring together expertise in psychology, sociology, coaching, biomechanics, physiology, Māori and Pacific studies, and physical education. Through collaboration with national and international partners, we combine diverse perspectives and research approaches to tackle complex challenges and create meaningful solutions.
Our Impact
iMove delivers research that informs policy, shapes professional practice, expands opportunities for participation in sport and physical activity, and seek to understand the mechanisms of human performance enhancements through exercise. By translating research into real-world outcomes, we help to develop healthier and physically and mentally enhanced individuals, as well as create more active, and more inclusive communities.
Research areas
From playground to podium, across the lifespan
iMove research is organised around four interconnected focus areas that reflect the most pressing challenges and opportunities in sport, physical activity, and human movement. Guided by the RESHAPE framework, these themes explore how people move, learn, adapt, and thrive across diverse environments, cultures, and stages of life.
Understanding and Enhancing Human Movement and Performance
We investigate how people move and excel across the lifespan. Our researchers integrate physiology, biomechanics, psychology, data science, and applied exercise science analysis to understand the limits and possibilities of human movement and performance, including how to prevent and rehabilitate injuries.
Skill, Expertise and Performance
We study how people acquire skill, develop expertise, and learn to move effectively across the lifespan. Using ecological, perceptual-cognitive and pedagogical approaches, we work to design environments that support safe, meaningful, lifelong movement.
Coach and Athlete Development
We explore how coaches learn, how athletes develop, and how sports shape performance, identity and well-being. Our work spans coach education, coaching practice, talent development and high-performance cultures, and athlete pathways. We partner with national and regional sports organisations to design and evaluate development systems that are ethical, evidence-based and sustainable.
Inclusion, Equity and Social Justice
We explore how social, cultural, environmental, and policy systems influence people’s opportunities to move and thrive. Our research includes disability, gender, indigeneity, climate and environmental change, blue/green spaces, and community‑led movement initiatives, all aimed at creating healthier, more equitable movement ecosystems.