Talent Identification and Development

Recently IPEP has developed a machine learning approach to extract key features from the makeup of world-leading athletes and to help identify world-leading performers from regular professional competitors. Our work, focusing on demographic, psychosocial, practice and instruction factors not only helps organizations to identify talent within their performance pathways, but it is also being used to help develop young talent and enhance their chances of achieving performance excellence. This research has received funding from UK Sport and the England and Wales Cricket Board and is beginning to impact practice and selection policy. 

Example publications:

Jones, B., Hardy, L., Lawrence, G., Kuncheva, L., Brandon, R., Bobat, M., & Thorpe, G. (2020). It Ain’t What You Do—It’s the Way That You Do It: Is Optimizing Challenge Key in the Development of Super-Elite Batsmen? Journal of Expertise, 3(2), 144-168. https://www.journalofexpertise.org/articles/volume3_issue2/JoE_3_2_Jones_etal.html

Güllich, A., Hardy, L., Kuncheva, L., Woodman, T., Laing, S., Barlow, M., Lynne, E., Tim, R., Abernethy, B., Côté, J., Chelsea, W., & Wraith, E. (2019). Developmental Biographies of Olympic Super-Elite and Elite Athletes: A Multidisciplinary Pattern Recognition Analysis. Journal of Expertise, 2(1), 23-46. https://www.journalofexpertise.org/articles/volume2_issue1/JoE_2019_2_1_Gullich.html

Jones, B., Hardy, L., Lawrence, G., Kuncheva, L., Brandon, R., Such, P., & Bobat, M. (2019). The Identification of ‘Game Changers’ in England Cricket’s Developmental Pathway for 3 Elite Spin Bowling: A Machine Learning Approach. Journal of Expertise, 2(2), 92-120. https://www.journalofexpertise.org/articles/volume2_issue2/JoE_2019_2_2_Jones.html

Hardy, L., Barlow, M., Evans, L., Rees, T., Woodman, T., & Warr, C. (2017). Great British medallists: Response to the commentaries. Progress in Brain Research, 232, 207-216. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2017.03.005

Hardy, L., Barlow, M., Evans, L., Rees, T., Woodman, T., & Warr, C. (2017). Great British medallists: Psychosocial biographies of Super-Elite and Elite athletes from Olympic sports. In M. Wilson, V. Walsh, & B. Parkin (Eds.), Sport and the Brain: The Science of Preparing, Enduring and Winning (Progress in Brain Research). Academic Press.