Plenary talk presented at the 14th International Scientific Conference "Transformation Processes in Sport - Sport Performance"

1. Sport as a transformational process: a
multidisciplinary and biocultural approach
Dr Inês Varela-Silva (BSc, MSc, PhD, FHEA, FRSA)
Senior Lecturer in Human Biology
School of Sport, Exercise, and Health Sciences

2. About Loughborough

4. www.lboro.ac.uk

5. Dr. Inês Varela-Silva (BSc, MSc, PhD, FHEA, FRSA)
Senior Lecturer in Human Biology
m.i.o.varela-silva@lboro.ac.uk
Twitter: @inesvarelasilva
5
Loughborough University, UK
- Health and Wellbeing Research Challenge
- National Centre for Sport and Exercise Medicine
- Centre for Global Health and Human Development
Research in low-and-middle income countries
- Maternal and child growth & nutritional status
- Physical (In)Activity and Health
- Intergenerational effects of health and disease
Broad interests
- Gender and ethnic gaps in academia/research representations
- Research ethics
- Decolonization of science

6. Maya Angelou summarizes
my science
You are the sum
total of everything
you've ever seen,
heard, eaten,
smelled, been told,
forgot - it's all there.
Everything
influences each of
us…”

8. Global
Community
Individual
Sports as a transformational process
Development Social inclusion
Health Stronger & more
resilient societies
Human Context
Defined and constrained by biology and culture

9. Sport as a transformational process
Human Context
Defined and constrained by biology and culture
Multi/Interdisciplinary and Biocultural approaches

10. Biocultural approach in sports research
• Biocultural approaches recognize the pervasiveness and dynamism of
interactions between biological and cultural phenomena, and they
explicitly strive to integrate biological, sociocultural, environmental,
demographic, and other kinds of data.
• Be aware that the quality of the sociocultural environment will have an
impact on selection, performance and excellence in sport.
• Critically analyze and question research based on fixed racial
characteristics, extreme hereditarianism, and male-centric perspectives
of sex/gender differences in sport and performance.
• Place a greater focus on evolution, natural selection, and on attempts to
understand human biological variation as a result of adaptation to the
environment.
(Dufour, 2006. AJHB, 18(1) 1-9)

11. Multi/Cross/Inter/Transdisciplinary research in Sports
• Intradisciplinary: working within a single discipline.
• Multidisciplinary: people from different disciplines working together but
within their own boundaries.
• Crossdisciplinary: viewing one discipline from the perspective of another.
• Interdisciplinary: integrating knowledge and methods from different disciplines
using a real synthesis of approaches.
• Transdisciplinary: creating of a unity of research frameworks beyond
disciplinary perspectives.
Am.J.Prev. Med. 2008. 35(2S); Soc Sci J. 1991. 28(1),1-14; http://www.arj.no/2012/03/12/disciplinarities-2/

12. The conference is focused on very current themes
from all areas of sport science and sport medicine
including physiology and sports medicine; social
sciences & humanities; biomechanics and
neuromuscular (…)

13. Sports
Research
Basic
biology
How race
becomes
biology
Sex/gender
biases
Ethics
Participatory
Action
Research

14. Basic Biology

15. 0 2 4 6 8 1 0 1 2 1 4 1 6 1 8 2 0 2 2
AGE,years
0
2
4
6
8
1 0
1 2
1 4
1 6
1 8
2 0Heightvelocity,cm/yr
4 0
6 0
8 0
1 0 0
1 2 0
1 4 0
1 6 0
1 8 0
2 0 0
Height,cm
Basic biology - growth
Adiposity
rebound
Muscle
spurt
Height
spurt
Bogin (1999)

16. Basic biology - maturation

17. Basic biology – chronic undernutrition
Stunting: height-for-age <5th percentile for age and sex

18. Basic biology - Stunting
• affects all body systems and, if not curbed early
in life, will leave permanent damaging traits
• less muscle, and lower levels of energy
expenditure in voluntary physical activity
• Higher respiratory quotients - carbohydrates
instead of lipids for energy needs while at rest 
more subcutaneous fat storage
• There is no adaptation mechanism

19. Basic biology - Stunting
No human group “adapts” to poverty,
segregation, racism, deprivation, infection,
heavy workloads, and shortage of nutrients.
They all suffer and many die. The ones who
survive to adulthood, do so at the expense
of their health and productivity, in some way
or other.
These are trade-offs that may maximize
survival but come at a cost that, sooner or
later, will be painfully paid with interest
(Varela-Silva, 2017).
https://scienceitches.com/2016/11/27/the-health-of-the-maya-people-in-mesoamerica-what-do-we-know/

20. Sports
Research
Basic
biology
How race becomes
biology
Sex/gender
biases
Ethics
Participatory
Action
Research

21. Social inequalities  originate and perpetuate racial health disparities ….. SPORT

22. … natural biological variation
amongst and between
peoples cannot be used to
validate claims of innate
racial superiority in athletic
competition (Kerr 2010).
“Look at the entire body,
sociological, anthropological,
population genetic, cognitive
science literature. It is there, it is
prominent. We have been
researching this for over a
century and it is clear.”
Agustin Fuentes, 28 March 2017 (Notre Dame
University)

24. Sports
Research
Basic
biology
How race
becomes
biology
Sex/gender
biasesEthics
Participatory
Action
Research

26. ….media often portray female athletes as inferior to their male
counterparts and are dismissive of their true abilities. The little coverage
received often sexually objectifies female athletes by putting the spotlight
on their looks and strength. On the other hand, the media is quick to
recoil at women who do not fit into the traditional feminine mold
(Science 2.0, 2014)

27. 0 2 4 6 8 1 0 1 2 1 4 1 6 1 8 2 0 2 2
AGE,years
0
2
4
6
8
1 0
1 2
1 4
1 6
1 8
2 0
Heightvelocity,cm/yr
4 0
6 0
8 0
1 0 0
1 2 0
1 4 0
1 6 0
1 8 0
2 0 0
Height,cm
Basic biological differences
Adiposity
rebound
Muscle
spurt
Height
spurt
Bogin (1999)

28. Sports
Research
Basic biology
How race
becomes
biology
Sex/gender
biasesEthics
Participatory
Action
Research

30. Consists of reflection, data collection, and action
by involving the people who, in turn, take
actions…(J Epidemiol Community Health 2006;60:854–857. doi:
10.1136/jech.2004.028662 )
Action
• Experience
• Evidence in terms of
diff outcomes
Research
• Knowledge flows
both ways
Participatory
• Empowering
participants
• Collaboration
through
participation

31. Competitive Sports
Elite Performers
??????

32. TPS*
Basic
biology
How race
becomes
biology
Sex/gen
der
biases
Ethics
Participator
y Action
Research
* Transformational Processes in Sport
Multidisciplinary
approach
Interdisciplinary
approach

34. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-diversity-makes-us-smarter