Dr Leon Foster is a researcher within the Sports Engineering Research Group, SERG, specialising in performance analysis systems. Leon develops the software and hardware for performance analysis tools used by elite athletes. He has also become involved in the development of these technologies for use by the general public through a jointly funded European Union Interreg project called ProFit. Leon has a keen interest in the testing sports equipment and has developed testing protocols to evaluate the safety of protective sporting equipment within the SERG research laboratory. In addition to his research Leon lecturers within the MSc Sports Engineering course, and supervises several PhD students.

Leon graduated from the University of Bath with a MEng in Sports Engineering. Leon then completed his PhD at Sheffield Hallam University in 2012, modelling the influence of technology on athletic performance in a range of different sports. Taking key elements from his PhD, Leon embarked on the 2012 Institute of Physics schools lecture tour titled " Physics and the Games: a Winning Formula". He was part of a team of three who were responsible for delivering and organising a series of lectures at schools and universities throughout the UK, including at the Royal Institution.

Areas of interest:

• Sports engineering
• Performance analysis
• Materials testing
• Systems development