Andrew Townshend

Dr Andrew Townshend is a Senior Lecturer and Head of Discipline (Exercise Science) at the School of Behavioural and Health Sciences, Australian Catholic University (ACU). He holds expertise in distance running, pacing strategies, interval training, and gait retraining. His research focuses on optimizing athletic performance through physiological and biomechanical analysis, with recent work on energy cost in runners, interval training variability, and elite adolescent athlete development.

Education: Completed a Bachelor of Applied Science (Human Movement) at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in 2006, followed by a PhD in 2010 examining hill-running pacing strategies. Professional roles include Head of Discipline since 2020 and Senior Lecturer since 2018.

Research Interests: Combines field-based and laboratory studies to explore pacing strategies, gait mechanics, and training methodologies. Key areas include the impact of gait retraining on energy efficiency, individual responses to interval training, and seasonal adaptations in elite athletes.

Awards: Recognized with the Australian Postgraduate Industry Award (2006), Australian Postgraduate Award (2008), and QUT’s Vice-Chancellor’s Performance Award (2011).

Advising & Grants: Supervised seven postgraduate students to completion, focusing on high-performance sport topics. Active in grant applications related to sports performance research.

Labs/Teams: Leads research within ACU’s Sports Performance, Recovery, Injury and New Technologies (SPRINT) Research Centre, collaborating on projects related to athlete development and performance optimization.