Postdoctoral position (NePTUNE project) : physiological responses and human movement analysis in top elite swimming.
Context of the project
The NePTUNE project is a project funded by the French National Agency of Research (ID: ANR-19-STHP-0004 NePTUNE) concerning the call “Sport of Very High Performance” (https://anr.fr/en/call-for-proposals-details/call/dfed2a01f16751361be6f6421e781191/), especially the 7th challenge about “big-data and artificial intelligence to support performance”. The NePTUNE project is a multi-disciplinary project supported by the French Federation of Swimming (FFN) and French Federation of Handisport (FFH), a consortium of 5 high schools (ENPC, ENS Polytechnique, Centrale and INSA) and 3 universities (University of Rouen, Picardie Jules Verne, Paris XIII). The aim of the project is to provide tools and methods in order to improve and to monitor top elite swimmers of the French team for the 2024 Paris Olympics and Paralympics games (http://www.sports.gouv.fr/presse/article/appel-a-projets-sport-de-tres-haute-performance). The current post-doc or research engineer position concerns mainly Work Package n°3 of the project, which investigates how stroke rate and speed influence motor coordination and energetic cost.
Description of the work
The two laboratory (UR) CETAPS (location Rouen, Haute-Normandie, France) and APERE lab (location Amiens, Hauts de France, France), are in charge of dealing with the scientific issues related to the behavioral transition in swimming, and more specifically:
- To the effects of swimming speed and swimming style on the swimmer’s coordination in terms of stroke frequency and stroke length management during the stroke cycle (biomechanics of swimming)
- To the relationships between the different combinations of stroke frequency and stroke length and the contribution of aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms to the swimmer’s energy expenditure (exercise physiology applied to swimming)
Required skills:
- The candidate is requested to have a PhD in human movement science and/or biomechanics and/or exercice physiology
- An important knowledge of the biomechanical and physiological requirements of the four common strokes (freestyle, breaststroke, butterfly and backstroke)
- An important knowledge of measurements by back-extrapolation technique from breath-to-breath gas exchanges (O2 and CO2) at the buccal level
- Strong knowledge in measurement techniques by near-infrared spectrometry (NIRS) of muscle oxygenation. This position requires skills in behavioral modelling of physiological variables (pulmonary, metabolites: lactates, H+, PO2, PCO2, etc.) by linear regressions, on linear modellings (piecewise, second or third order polynomial functions) to obtain individual best-fit.
- A strong interest for very high performance in sport and in competitive swimming would really be a bonus
- Ability to write ‘popularisation’ documents, or scientific articles in English and briefing notes in French.
- Additionnal skills in programming to automatise data processing is requested.
To apply or for further information please contact:
- Ludovic Seifert (Full Professor in Motor Control, NePTUNE project supervisor), CETAPS, Faculty of Sports Sciences, University of Rouen Normandy, France. Tel: +33(0)2 35 14 67 84 or +33(0)6 82 07 70 21 @: ludovic.seifert@univ-rouen.fr
- Pierre-Marie Leprêtre: pierre-marie.lepretre@u-picardie.fr (Associate professor in Physiology, co-supervisor of Work Package 3, UR-APERE, University of Picardie Jules Verne)
- Brice Guignard: brice.guignard@univ-rouen.fr (Associate professor in Motor Control and Biomechanics, co-supervisor of Work Package 3, UR-CETAPS, University of Rouen Normandie)
Location of the job:
Location for experimentations and data collections: National Institute for Sports, Expertise and Performance (INSEP), 11 avenue du Tremblay, 75012 Paris.
Main location of data treatment and data enhancement: CETAPS Laboratory, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Rouen Normandy, Campus of Mont Saint Aignan, France.
Secondary location of data treatment and data enhancement: UR-APERE Laboratory (APERE): University of Picardie Jules Verne, UFR-STAPS, South university campus Le Bailly, allée Pascal Grousset, Amiens. (This location is 1h and 15min from CETAPS Laboratory). At least two working days are required in this laboratory per month.
Travelling within the national territory is to be expected for data collection and meetings with swimmers and coaches.
Salary: 2264 €/month net of charge (INM 600).
Length: 22 months.
Starting date: possible from 10th Jnuary 2022
