David PYNE

Professor David Pyne is a sports physiologist with 30 years practical and research experience across a range of individual and team sports. Pyne served as an adjunct member of UCRISE in 2014 and 2015 and joined as a full-time Research Professor in 2016.  He completed both an undergraduate (Bachelor of Applied Science in Sports Coaching) and graduate (Masters in Exercise Physiology) degree at UC, and a PhD in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Australian National University. He held adjunct status at UC between 1997 and 2016 in sport science.

Pyne has a long history of service as a sports physiologist and researcher at the Australian Institute of Sport (1987-2016) and currently holds a conjoint position with the AIS as a research professor in the Discipline of Physiology.  Pyne has extensive experience with basketball, rugby union, rugby league, Australian Football, cricket and swimming at the AIS and national levels. He attended four Olympic Games and numerous international competitions with the Australian Swimming Team.  Between 2013 and 2017, David served as the Discipline Lead – Physiology for Swimming Australia.

Pyne's research work in the areas of exercise and the immune system, environmental physiology, the applied physiology of swimming, and fitness and conditioning for team sports is recognised internationally.  This work has focussed on both practical interventions for enhancing sports performance and physiological mechanisms that explain variations in performance, health and fitness.

Pyne is Theme Leader at UCRISE for High Performance Sport and Exercise and serves as the Associate Dean of Research.  He also contributes to research training and mentoring of students and staff, and other UCRISE activities. His international research links stretch to the US, New Zealand, France, Portugal, UK, Spain and the Middle East.  Leadership, collegiality, and mentoring with students, researchers, coaches and athletes alike are seen as high priorities. 

Prof Pyne has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers in exercise and sports science journals, an H-Index of 53, and supervised 16 PhD students to completion. He was Foundation Editor of the International Journal of Sports Physiology and Performance from 2004-2009 and currently serves as a Consulting Editor.  David is a member of Sports Medicine Australia, Exercise and Sports Science Australia, and a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine.