Department of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition Sciences facilities
The Department of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition Sciences has facilities that support health and wellbeing education, research and practice.
Our students have access to state-of-the-art sport performance laboratories and industrial kitchens – allowing them to master the practice-based skills of their profession.
Our facilities also support research that benefits both individuals and communities.
Our facilities include:
In partnership with Melbourne Polytechnic, our students learn in highly specialised commercial teaching kitchens where they are supported by both academic staff and professional chefs. Here, they get to combine the art and science of food to build their practical skills and food science knowledge.
Our specialised laboratory is designed as a centre for our clinical trials. It features a dedicated body composition and anthropometric assessment area, including a dual energy X-ray absorptiometry scanner and phlebotomy facilities. It also houses other specialised equipment used for our clinical trials of functional foods and nutritional supplements. The laboratory has a dedicated area for interviews with study participants, a shared space for research students, and a storage room.
Our metabolic kitchen is used for research in food science, molecular gastronomy, sensory testing and small group teaching. In addition to traditional kitchen equipment, it houses a novel food printer, a 3D printer and a sensory space.
Located on the University’s Bundoora campus, the La Trobe Sports Park is a world class precinct for teaching, research, community participation and elite sport. Our students use these facilities extensively, particularly the laboratories and tech-instrumented courts in the sports stadium.
Strength and conditioning laboratory
Our strength and conditioning laboratory is highly valued by students, particularly those undertaking our Master of Strength and Conditioning degree. It features eight lifting platforms, two instrumented racks with force platforms and elite form 3D camera technology, several portable force plates and isokinetic dynamometry.
Biomechanics laboratory
Our biomechanics laboratory features a 40m track with two in-ground force plates for running gait analysis. An additional four in-ground force plates are in a general-purpose space. A purpose built kicking area opens directly out onto a FIFA-accredited pitch. Two sets of Vicon 3D motion capture cameras are used for kinematic and kinetic analysis of actions, ranging from walking and running, through to jumping and kicking. We also have portable sensors and athlete tracking systems that allow our students to gain relevant field-based performance analytical skills.
Exercise physiology laboratories
Our laboratory accommodates a range of teaching needs. Students undertake practical classes with metabolic carts, rowing ergometers, treadmills and stationary bikes. The research laboratory is also home to an environmental chamber that can simulate both heat and altitude, and eye-tracking technology for assessment of visual attention and cognition.
Performance analysis and sport analytics laboratory
This facility brings the laboratory to the field through in-training and competition analysis. Wireless and wearable technologies offer in-game insight for coaches and extensive post-game analysis for sport science staff and researchers. Catapult’s Vector system provides premium elite athlete monitoring in the field using advanced global navigation satellite system, litres per second (LPS) and inertial measurement unit technology.
La Trobe’s sports stadium courts are instrumented with Catapult’s Clearsky indoor system, generating high quality LPS athlete tracking data. Synergy Sports’ professional-quality camera technology and fully automated artificial intelligence-driven video production offer unprecedented indoor analysis capability.
The laboratory overlooks a FIFA-accredited synthetic football pitch, enabling real-time event coding using Sportscode for performance analysis and packaging of synchronised video highlights. Data science and programming skills enable comprehensive analysis capability.
La Trobe's telehealth training facilities ensure best practice training for allied health and nursing students, and better equip clinicians undertaking professional development.
The facility features a telehealth audiovisual setup including microphone, cameras, display screens and computers; technology to stream or record video for larger groups of students or professionals; and mobile telehealth hardware to allow for high quality offsite telehealth consultations.