Safety in combat sports

Sally Bromley
Australian Collaboration for Research into Injury in Sport and its Prevention
School of Health Sciences and Psychology, Faculty of Health

Sally has a background in strength and conditioning, both as a combat sports athlete herself and a coach and jumped at the opportunity to combine her sporting passion with scientific investigation through an industry-sponsored PhD scholarship offered jointly by Federation University and the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) in Canberra.

Sally says "The popularity of combat sport in general is on the rise. Currently there is a range of ways that practitioners and researchers are classifying and collecting injury data across these sports. My aim is to set a foundation for practitioners and researchers alike, so that they are able to collect high-quality data that can be not only compared across the combat sports but also with other contact sports."

Sally’s industry links with the AIS means she works with Australia’s Olympic athletes involved in judo, boxing and taekwondo.

Sally met her PhD supervisor at the leading national sports medicine conference and they connected straight away. “I had heard good things about FedUni. Since enrolling, I have found the FedUni team to be proactive and supportive, which has made a profoundly positive impact on my off-site research.”

Sally has always been drawn to research. “I love finding out and trying new things. Science research was a happy marriage between my curiosity about the world and my love of sport.” She would encourage a career in science to all girls and women with a thirst for learning.