New professor wants to contribute to better health for children and elite athletes

Marie Alricsson is just starting up a new project where she will study physical activity among school children in Småland.

"We will study parameters like self-experienced health, both physical and psychological, as well as if sleeping habits are affected by daily physical activities", says Alricsson.

Physical activities decrease the risk of a number of illnesses, and early health efforts for children and young people are important in order to have a good quality of life and a healthy adult life.

"The challenge for me as a researcher is to develop and apply methods that lead to individuals being active on a regular basis", Alricsson continues.

Prevention of injuries among elite athletes

Another field of research for which Alricsson has an interest is the prevention of injuries among elite athletes. Within this field, she primarily studies muscular injuries in legs of soccer players.

"Athletes to a large extent experience severe injuries that involve suffering for the affected individuals as well as great costs for society. Therefore, it is important to reduce the risk of injury and speed up the recovery and return to sports by having efficient rehabilitation programmes" says Alricsson.

Looking forward to establishing new research environments

Marie Alricsson has been active as guest professor at Linnaeus University for five years. Now she is one of two new permanent employment professors within sport science at Linnaeus University.

"I want to contribute to developing the subject within both research and education, where the connection to research is important in order to take the subject to the next level. I'm also looking forward to establishing multidisciplinary research environments with lots of creative doctoral students", Alricsson concludes.