Dr Katrina McDonald SFHEA

Her research has evolved from athlete education and coach development into two complementary areas. The first explores how judo-based safe falling programmes can support healthy ageing, community participation and rehabilitation, including work with older adults and people living with Parkinson's disease. The second focuses on the application of judo principles within sport, most notably through the development of Contact Confidence, an evidence-informed approach to improving confidence, technique and safety in contact and collision sports.

Through collaborations with organisations including British Judo, World Rugby, Scottish Rugby, NHS stakeholders and local authorities, her work seeks to translate research into practical interventions that improve confidence, resilience, participation, safety and wellbeing.

• Athlete education
• Coach education
• Coaching pedagogy
• Safe falling and falls management
• Parkinson's disease
• Judo-based rehabilitation
• Physical activity in long-term health conditions
• Healthy ageing
• Intergenerational physical activity initiatives
• Contact confidence in sport
• Injury prevention and risk reduction
• Women's sport
• Rugby safety and contact confidence
• Knowledge exchange and impact
• Community-based physical activity interventions

Areas of Expertise

• Sport coaching
• Coach development and coach education
• Athlete education
• Judo
• Safe falling and falls management
• Parkinson's disease rehabilitation
• Judo-based rehabilitation programmes
• Contact confidence and tackle safety
• Physical activity and healthy ageing
• Injury prevention
• Physical activity in long-term conditions
• Knowledge exchange and community engagement

Undergraduate and Master's

• Safe falling and falls management
• Contact confidence in sport
• Athlete education
• Coach education
• Women's football
• Judo and martial arts-based interventions
• Physical activity and ageing
• Sport coaching and pedagogy

PhD

• Scalability of safe falling programmes
• Contact confidence interventions
• Co-constructed approaches to safe falling education
• Safe falling for older adults
• Safe falling for people living with Parkinson's disease
• Community-based falls management initiatives
• Landing and falling techniques in sport
• Evaluation and implementation of Finding Your Feet
• Coach education and knowledge translation

Katrina teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate sport coaching and sport science programmes. Current and recent modules include:

• Strategic Sports Development
• Research Methods (qualitative)
• Introduction to Sport Coaching and Development
• Coaching Philosophy and Ethics
• Applied Teaching and Coaching
• Mentoring in Coaching

She also contributes to:

• BSc (Hons) Sports Coaching and Physical Education
• BSc (Hons) Strength and Conditioning with Rehabilitation
• BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Science
• MSc Sport Psychology

• PhD, Athlete Education: A Grounded Theory Approach
• MA Education (Sports Coaching), University of Bath
• PGCert in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education
• Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
• British Judo Association Level 3 Coach

Awards, Recognition and Professional Distinction

• ARU Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Education (Team Award)
• ARU Associate Teaching Fellow
• ARU Dean's Award for Outstanding and Distinguished Contribution
• ARU Dean's Award for Excellence in Teaching
• ARU Students' Union "Made a Difference" Award Nominee (Outstanding Tutor)
• Selected as Great Britain Judo Coach for the World University Games
• Selected as Great Britain Judo Coach for the European University Games

• Senior Fellow, Advance HE
• Member, International Council for Coaching Excellence (ICCE)
• Member, International Association of Judo Researchers (IAJR)
• Member, British Judo Association
• Member, British Judo Association Coaching Commission

Principal Investigator

• Intergenerational Safe Falling Project, Cambridge Festival
• Investigation of Martial Arts in Promoting Safe Falling in Older Adults, ARU Health, Performance and Wellbeing RII Theme
• Safe Falling Project: Judo and the Art of Falling, ARU QR Next Steps Funding
• British Judo Association AASE Strategy and Programme Development Consultancy
• World Rugby Safe Falling Protocol Development

Co-Investigator

• Preventing Abuse in Youth Sport: Policy and Stakeholder Roundtable
• HEIF Project: Stressors and Coping Strategies in Commercial Aviation Pilots
• Evaluation of Play With Pride LGBTQ+ Inclusive Coach Education
• Qualitative Inquiry Research Group Development Project

Consultancy and Knowledge Exchange

• British Judo Association Finding Your Feet Coach Education Programme
• EasyJet Coaching and Learning Consultancy
• Scottish Rugby Contact Confidence and Safe Falling Consultancy
• Royal College of Chiropractors Invited Expert Speaker
• Revealing the Secrets of Judo Event with NHS, Local Authority and Physical Activity Stakeholders

McDonald, K. et al. (2025) A collaborative approach to co-creating Contact Confident, an evidence-informed tackle safety and technique intervention for coaches and players in rugby union. European Journal of Sport Science.

Stodter, A., Lillis, J. & McDonald, K. (2023) A Coaching Intervention Using Judo Principles to Reduce Head Impacts in Women's Rugby Union. The Arts and Sciences of Judo, 3(2), 4-8.

McDonald, K., Pexton, S., Marks, K. & Cubberley, R. (2022) Exploring the Experiences of Attending a Safe Falling Workshop Based on the Practice of Ukemi. The Arts and Sciences of Judo, 2(2), 31-40.

McDonald, K., Stodter, A., Dowling, M. & Roberts, J. (2022) High Performance Judoka's Views on Their Athlete Journey and the Need for Athlete Education. Journal of Athlete Development and Experience, 4(2), 173-188.

Samuel, R.D. et al. (2020) Please Stop Changing the Rules! The Modifications of Judo Regulations as a Change Event in Judokas' and Coaches' Careers. Sport in Society, 23(4), 774-794.

Irish, T., Cavallerio, F. & McDonald, K. (2018) "Sport Saved My Life" but "I Am Tired of Being an Alien!": Stories from the Life of a Deaf Athlete. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 37, 179-187.

• 2025 WiSEAN Conference, Leeds
• 2024 IOC World Conference on Prevention of Injury & Illness in Sport, Monaco
• 2024 Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise Conference, University of Bath
• 2023 ICCE Global Coach Conference, Singapore (multiple presentations)
• 2023 European Science of Judo Research Symposium, Croatia
• 2022 Kodokan Judo Institute, Tokyo, Japan

• BBC One, Dr Xand's Con or Cure (2025)
• ITV This Morning (2024)
• BBC Radio 2, OJ Borg Show (2024)
• BBC Radio Cambridgeshire (2024)
• ITV News Anglia (2024)
• BBC News (2024)
• Daily Mail (2024)
• The Telegraph (2023)
• BBC Radio 4, Inside Health (2023)
• BBC Mental Muscle Podcast (2023)
• British Science Festival (2021)
• Cambridge Science Festival (2022)