Staff Profile

Qualifications

PhD, University of South Wales

BSc Sport Psychology, University of South Wales

Membership

British Psychological Society - Chartered Psychologist (CPsychol)

British Association of Sport and Exercise Science - Professional Member

Higher Education Academy - Fellow (FHEA)

School Roles

Deputy DPD MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology

Senior Tutor (PGT)

Admissions Tutor (UG)

I am a pragmatic researcher interested in multiple areas of applied sports psychology. My main research interests surround the psychology of pre-competition training environments, such as tapering and warm-ups. I am also more broadly interested in the use of heart-rate variability biofeedback to enhance athlete and coach performance.

Current Supervision

Iwan Rowlands - PhD (secondary supervisor) - The relationship between heart-rate variability biofeedback and psychophysiological recovery in athletes

Blake Westwood - PhD (secondary supervisor) - Perfectionism, self-compassion, and disordered eating in athletes

Fiayo Okunribido - DClin (secondary supervisor) - The use of immersive virtual reality in the treatment of depressive symptoms

Module leader

PSY3046 Psychology for Sport Performance

PSY8075 Social and Interpersonal Processes in Sport and Exercise Psychology

PSY8078 Sport and Exercise Psychology Project

Contributor

PSY3097 Undergraduate Empirical Project

PSY3039 Clinical Sport and Exercise Psychology

PSY8062 Advanced Research Methods for Applied Psychology B 

PSY8076 Applied Sport and Performance Psychology

PSY8077 Psychological Techniques in Sport and Exercise

Supervision

PSY3097 Undergraduate Empirical Project

PSY8078 Sport and Exercise Psychology Project

• Articles

  • Mitchell S, Stone M. 'It was a fair fight' v. 'Let the body do the work.' How squash players mentalizing abilities affect their experiences of playing squash: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 2025, 77, 102797.
  • Stone MJ, Knight CJ, Hall R, Cropley B, Shearer C, Nicholas R, Shearer DA. Elite swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience of taper: A multi-phase qualitative investigation. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology 2025, epub ahead of print.
  • Coussens A H, Stone M J, Donachie T D. Coach-Athlete Relationships, Self-Confidence, and Psychological Wellbeing: The role of Perceived and Received Coach Support. European Journal of Sport Science 2025, 25(1), e12226.
  • Stone MJ, Knight CJ, Hall R, Shearer C, Nicholas R, Shearer DA. The Psychology of Athletic Tapering in Sport: A Scoping Review. Sports Medicine 2023, 53, 777–801.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Points A, Hooper A, Donachie T, Coussens A, Stone M. University team sport athletes' perceptions and experiences of warm-ups. In: 17th European Congress of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 2024, Innsbruck, Austria: European Federation of Sport Psychology (FEPSAC).
  • Stone MJ, Knight CJ, Hall R, Shearer C, Shearer DA. Cognitive, emotional, and behavioural factors associated with tapering. In: Sport and Exercise Science New Zealand Annual Conference. 2018, Dunedin, New Zealand.
  • Stone MJ, Knight CJ, Hall R, Shearer C, Shearer DA. Tapering: A review for swim coaches. In: English Institute of Sport National Conference. 2017, Hinckley, UK: EIS.
  • Stone MJ, Knight CJ, Shearer C, Shearer DA. An interpretive description of the conceptualisations of the taper process from the perspective of elite swimmers and swim coaches. In: The Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology Conference. 2016, Cardiff, UK: The British Psychological Society.