Role
Dr Fieke Rongen is a Senior Lecturer in the Sport Science Department within the School of Science and Technology.
Career overview
Dr Rongen joined the Sport Science Academic Team at Å·ÃÀ¾ÞÈé (NTU) in August 2023. In 2016, she was awarded her PhD which explored the impact of football academy involvement on both the sport and non-sport (e.g. educational, psycho-social, injury, health and well-being) development of players. She also holds a BSc and MSc in Psychology (specialising in clinical psychology) from the Radboud University Nijmegen (the Netherlands) and a PgDip in Performance Psychology from the University of Edinburgh. Fieke is a fellow of the HEA.
Prior to joining NTU in 2023, Dr. Rongen worked as a senior lecturer in Sport Coaching at Leeds Beckett University for 8 years. Before this, she was the High Performance Sport Officer at Å·ÃÀ¾ÞÈé and worked as an Academic Advisor/Counsellor for the department of psychology and artificial intelligence at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Research areas
Fieke is part of the Sport, Health and Performance Enhancement Research Centre (/research/groups-and-centres/centres/sport-health-performance-enhancement). Her research has focused on the healthiness of (intensified) youth sport involvement through exploring:
- the wide ranging impacts of involvement across different levels of sport participation (community sport, talent development, elite)
- key features and characteristics of effective, ethical and healthy sporting (performance) environments.
- the role of coaches and athlete support personnel, in particular the qualities, skills and knowledge they require, to ensure ‘healthiness’
Previous PhD students:
- Dr Ffion Thompson - What is it like to be a sport school student athlete? A holistic impact mixed method evaluation. (Leeds Beckett University)
- Barney Sargent-Megicks - The evaluation of talent development environments across European sport: Developing holistic guidelines to enhance practice. (Leeds Beckett University)
- Craig Winstanley - What are the key factors to successfully navigating critical transitions for developing talent in elite level football? (Leeds Beckett University)
Current PhD students:
- Jonathon Wheeler - Investigating relative age, maturity and psycho-behavioural skills across age grades in adolescent rugby. (Leeds Beckett University)
- Joshua Wall – Developing support for student-athletes in an independent girls’ school (Leeds Beckett University)
For any potential doctoral students interested in studying a PhD in the above areas, please visit the Research Degree page.
External activity
Consultancy and enterprise
Dr Rongen is a TALS accredited lifestyle advisor and has supported athletes from a variety of different sports as a TASS lifestyle advisor at Å·ÃÀ¾ÞÈé, Leeds Beckett University and Sheffield Hallam University.
Journal Reviewing
Dr. Rongen provides expert opinion and reviews articles submitted to several internationally-recognised journals, including:
- Journal of Applied Sport Psychology
- Sport, Exercise and Performance Psychology
- Å·ÃÀ¾ÞÈé Sports Coaching Journal
Sponsors and collaborators
Dr Rongen is and has been involved in collaborative research with:
- Professor Kevin Till, Leeds Beckett University
- Dr. Laurie Patterson, Leeds Beckett University
- Professor Julian North, Leeds Beckett University
- Dr. Ian Cowburn, Leeds Beckett University
- Dr Chris Low, Leeds Beckett University
- Dr Colum Cronin, Liverpool John Moores University
- Dr Jason Tee, Jeppe Highschool for boys, University of Pretoria