Rebecca Neal

Dr Rebecca Neal

  • Principal Academic in Exercise Physiology
  • Bournemouth Gateway Building BGB 504, St Pauls Lane, Bournemouth, BH8 8GP
UN SDGs:
Back to top

Biography

Rebecca is a Principal Lecturer in Exercise Physiology and is the Programme Leader for the Sport and Exercise Science degree programme. She leads physiology units and supports a variety of other taught elements across the Department of Rehabilitation and Sport Sciences.

Current research areas include supporting applied physiology research in extreme environments like high altitude expeditions and with professional sports teams, like AFC Bournemouth Women's team. She is currently working on internally and externally funded research projects investigating novel tools for the management and treatment of type 2 diabetes mellitus and is also looking to incorporate her knowledge of thermal physiology to help develop health strategies for climate change, with a focus on low and middle income countries.

Rebecca is currently leading a Clinical Trial utilising BU's state-of-the-art Institute of Medical Imaging and Visualisation MRI scanner to examine brown fat. In November 2022 Rebecca led an international group of research collaborators on a high altitude expedition, examining physiological, cognitive function and exercise performance...

more

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person's work contributes towards the following SDGs:

Good health and well-being

"Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages"

more information

Reduced inequalities

"Reduce inequality within and among countries"

more information

Climate action

"Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts"

more information

Journal Articles

  • Shepherd, A.I., Neal, R. et al., 2024. Impact of nocturnal hypoxia on glycaemic control, appetite, gut microbiota and inflammation in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus: A single-blind cross-over trial. Journal of Physiology, 602 (21), 5835-5854.
  • Mohan, V., Branney, J., Clark, C., Neal, R., Jagannathan, M., Paungmali, A. and Perri, M., 2022. Reliability and preliminary reference values for the Total Faulty Breathing Scale (TFBS): A cross-sectional study. Health Science Reports, 5 (3).
  • Corbett, J., Massey, H.C., Costello, J.T., Tipton, M.J. and Neal, R.A., 2022. The effect of medium-term heat acclimation on endurance performance in a temperate environment. European Journal of Sport Science, 22 (2), 190-199.
  • Costello, J.T., Rendell, R.A., Furber, M., Massey, H.C., Tipton, M.J., Young, J.S. and Corbett, J., 2018. Effects of acute or chronic heat exposure, exercise and dehydration on plasma cortisol, IL-6 and CRP levels in trained males. Cytokine, 110, 277-283.
  • Corbett, J., Rendell, R.A., Massey, H.C., Costello, J.T. and Tipton, M.J., 2018. Inter-individual variation in the adaptive response to heat acclimation. Journal of Thermal Biology, 74, 29-36.
  • Rendell, R.A., Tipton, M.J. and Corbett, J., 2018. Reply to “Letter to the editor: Combined effects of hypoxia and heat: Importance of hypoxic dose”. American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 314 (2), R230.
  • Rendell, R.A., Prout, J., Costello, J.T., Massey, H.C., Tipton, M.J., Young, J.S. and Corbett, J., 2017. Effects of 10 days of separate heat and hypoxic exposure on heat acclimation and temperate exercise performance. American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory Integrative and Comparative Physiology, 313 (3), R191-R201.
  • Neal, R.A., Corbett, J., Massey, H.C. and Tipton, M.J., 2016. Effect of short-term heat acclimation with permissive dehydration on thermoregulation and temperate exercise performance. Scand J Med Sci Sports, 26 (8), 875-884.
  • Neal, R.A., Massey, H.C., Tipton, M.J., Young, J.S. and Corbett, J., 2016. Effect of Permissive Dehydration on Induction and Decay of Heat Acclimation, and Temperate Exercise Performance. Front Physiol, 7, 564.
  • Corbett, J., Neal, R.A., Lunt, H.C. and Tipton, M.J., 2014. Adaptation to heat and exercise performance under cooler conditions: a new hot topic. Sports Med, 44 (10), 1323-1331.

Conferences

  • Willis, S., Neal, R., Mantzouratou, A., Pelosi, E. and Buchan, S., 2024. Detecting and Defining Immunity to human cytomegalovirus. In: BSI Immune-stromal interactions in health and disease 14 June 2024 Southampton University Hospitals Trust.
  • Rendell, R., Massey, H., Costello, J., Tipton, M. and Corbett, J., 2019. Inter-individual variation in the adaptive response to heat acclimation; impact on temperate performance. In: International Conference of Environmental Ergonomics 7-12 July 2019 Amsterdam.

PhD Students

  • Kate Rattley. Physiological responses to exercise in the menopause, (In progress)

Profile of Teaching UG

  • Research Methods (Sports) (Level 5/Year2)
  • Unit lead: Functional Anatomy (Level 4/Year 1)
  • Principles of Sport and Exercise Physiology
  • Advances in Sport and Exercise Physiology
  • Applied Sport and Exercise Physiology
  • Fitness Assessments in Sport, Exercise and Health
  • Principles of Training
  • Dissertation
  • Research Expedition

Invited Lectures

  • Exercising in Extremes, Bournemouth University, 15 Mar 2018 more

Grants

  • Developing stakeholder relationships to build a global community for multidisciplinary health-based environmental research (The British Academy, 12 Oct 2022). In Progress
  • The effects of repeated moderate overnight hypoxia on glucose homeostasis, appetite, bodyweight, inflammation and oxidative stress in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (Prince Faisal bin Fahad Sports Award, 06 Sep 2021). In Progress
  • The effect of inorganic nitrate supplementation on brown fat activation and quantity in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (Bournemouth University Institute of Medical Imaging and Visualisation, 01 Jun 2021). In Progress
  • Reliability and Development of Normative Data of the Total Faulty Breathing Scale (TFBS) (ACORN, 01 May 2020). Completed

Journal Reviewing/Refereeing

  • International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance, 29 Apr 2019
  • Experimental Physiology, 04 Feb 2019
  • Journal of thermal biology, 25 Jul 2018
  • Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, Anonymous peer review, 05 Jan 2018

Public Engagement & Outreach Activities

  • Sport & Exercise Science education - impact on the UK economy (15 May 2019)
  • Cafe Scientifique: The Physiology of living life to the extreme (04 Dec 2018)
  • Beat the heat workshop (19 Jun 2018)
  • Pint of Science Global Festival (14 May 2018)

Conference Presentations

  • International Conference on Environmental Ergonomics, 06 Sep 2022, Niagara Falls, Canada
  • Canadian Physiotherapy Association Congress 2022, A Reliability Study to explore the assessment of Breathing Function Using the Total Faulty Breathing Scale in a Female Populations, 12 May 2022, Canada (Virtual)
  • Virtual International Conference on the Physiology and Pharmacology of Temperature Regulation, Impact of ice swimming and body morphology on body temperature in cold-acclimatised ice swimmers, 26 Oct 2020, Online (Vancouver, Canada)
  • Variability: How to Deal with It, Interpret It, and Learn from It, Individual variability in the response to heat and hypoxic adaptation, with particular reference to combined stressor approaches, 05 Oct 2020, Online (London, UK)
  • Virtual Environmental Ergonomics, The effect of combined stressors on heat acclimation and endurance performance, 25 Jun 2020, Online
  • Extreme Environmental Physiology: Life at the limits, Seminar panel member: Understanding the role of extreme physiology to improve human performance and health, 02 Sep 2019, University of Portsmouth, UK
  • International Conference of Environmental Ergonomics, Inter-individual variation in the adaptive response to heat acclimation; impact on temperate performance, 07 Jul 2019, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  • English Institute of Sport National Conference, The effect of combined stressors on heat acclimation and temperate exercise, 12 Dec 2016, Hinkley, UK
  • 6th International Conference on the Physiology and Pharmacology of Temperature Regulation, Combining heat, dehydration and hypoxia: effects on performance, 05 Dec 2016, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • 21st Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science, The influence of dehydration on the time-course of heat acclimation and temperate exercise performance, 06 Jul 2016, Vienna, Austria
  • Biomedical Basis of Elite Performance, The influence of dehydration on long-term heat acclimation and temperate exercise, 06 Mar 2016, Nottingham, UK
  • 16th International Conference for Environmental Ergonomics, The influence of short-term heat acclimation with permissive dehydration on temperate exercise performance in highly trained athletes, 28 Jun 2015, Portsmouth, UK

Consultancy Activities

  • Investigating physiological and cognitive responses to high altitude expeditions, Research consultancy. World's Highest OCR

Attended Training

  • ISAK Level 1 Anthopometry Course, 09 Jan 2018, International Society for the Advancement of Kinanthropometry
  • Research Councils UK Development Scheme

Qualifications

  • PhD in Exercise Physiology (University of Portsmouth, 2017)
  • MSc in Human and Applied Physiology (King's College London, 2013)
  • BSc (Hons) in Sport and Exercise Science (University of Birmingham, 2012)
  • Short-course in Nutrition (The Open University, 2008)

Memberships

Social Media Links