Professor Victoria Goodyear PhD, SFHEA

• PhD Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy
• MA Education
• PGCE Physical Education
• BSc Sport and Exercise Science 

Victoria is a previous physical education teacher and school sport coordinator. She was awarded an Alexander Trust Bursary to complete a PhD at the University of Bedfordshire, where she was subsequently appointed as a Lecturer. Victoria joined the University of Birmingham in 2015. 

• Digital Technologies in Sport, Exercise and Physical Education
• Qualitative Methods

Professor Goodyear is an internationally recognised leader in school-based and youth-focused research examining how digital technologies shape children’s and young people’s mental health and wellbeing, health outcomes, physical activity behaviours, and learning. Her work examines interventions promoting physical activity, health and wellbeing, in schools and in community settings. She has expertise in pedagogy and qualitative methods. She is also experienced in the design, delivery and evaluation of training and CPD in behavioural research.

Professor Goodyear’s research has attracted substantial competitive funding from research councils, charities, and trusts, including ESRC, NIHR, Wellcome Trust, Society for Educational Studies, British Academy, Richard Benjamin Trust, Birmingham Alumni, and Department for Education. She leads a major National Institute for Health and Social Care Research (NIHR) national mixed-methods study evaluating the impact of school mobile phone policies on adolescent mental health and wellbeing (The SMART Schools Study). She is Training Director of the ESRC-funded Centre for National Training and Research Excellence in Understanding Behaviour (Centre-UB). She leads a systematic review on the impacts of digital media, commissioned by the Department for Education. Her other current projects, funded by Birmingham Alumni, ESRC, and NIHR, explore adolescent and athlete/player media use behaviours, digital-based approaches to health promotion in older adults, and innovative approaches to co-production. 

Professor Goodyear’s work is published in high-ranking journals, including The Lancet, The BMJ, and Social Science and Medicine. She has received several competitive international awards for her research on youth digital wellbeing, including those from international associations: American Education Research Association, Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise, European Education Research Association, Association for Physical Education in Higher Education, and British Education Research Association. Professor Goodyear regularly advises the government on areas related to Screens and Online Harms, Mental Health, and Physical Activity, and she has worked extensively with national broadcast media. Professor Goodyear is an impact case lead and has received awards for her outstanding impact on society, including University of Birmingham’s Research and Impact Award for Outstanding Research Team and Outstanding Impact on Society, and being part of the Birmingham Heroes Campaign. 

Current External Roles 

• Technical Advisory Group Member, Growing Up in 2020s, Department for Education
• Scientific Advisor, APPG Political and Media Literacy
• Academic Member of Government Behavioural Science Network
• Academic Member of Behavioural Research Cross-Government Strategic Steering Group
• UK Chief Medical Officer, member of UK Physical Activity Expert Committee for Communications
• Scientific Advisory Board Member for the Centre for Sport Science and University Sport at the University of Vienna
• Collaborator for the National Institute for Health Research, School for Public Health Research, Public Health Research for Health Consortium (PHRESH)
• Editorial Board, Qualitative Research in Sport, Exercise and Health
• Editorial Board, Quest Journal
• Editorial Board, Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy Journal

Victoria has given keynotes and invited talks in numerous countries around the world, including Dubai, Sweden, Germany, and Canada. She has been awarded 11 competitive international research awards, including the best paper award from Physical Education and Sport Pedagogy journal, the exemplary paper award received twice from from the American Education Research Association. Victoria frequently engages in Public Engagement Activities, key examples: 

• Smartphones are powerful personal pocket computers – should schools ban them? Conversation Article
• Social media can help young people live healthy lives Conversation Article
• Coronavirus: How Joe Wicks’ fitness workouts ‘changed my life’ – BBC Article
• What role does social media play in young people’s perceptions of their bodies – Article, Beauty Demands Network
• Social Media and Young People’s Health: Are Alarmist Narratives Wrong? – The Chronicle of Higher Education
• 21^st Century Body – Being Human Festival
• Perfect Bodies – British Science Festival
• Growing up Digital – BBC Radio 4, The Fix
• Fitbits could be putting children off exercise – Sky News TV
• Young People oppose Fitbits in schools – Conversation Article