40 years of Sport Science

Celebrating 40 years at the home of Sport Science

Liverpool John Moores University, formerly Liverpool Polytechnic, was the first institution in the world to host a single honours programme in sport science.

The programme was originally founded and led by former Olympic basketball player Dr Vaughan Thomas. Vaughan was joined in his quest by Tom Reilly and Frank Sanderson.

40 years reunion

40 Years of Sports Science logo By way of celebration the School hosted a reunion of former students, staff and friends on 2 April 2015. Attendees had a chance to relive their undergraduate and/or postgraduate days and witness how sport science has evolved over the 40 years. The Tom Reilly Building was open for tours and a range of activities, seminars and masterclasses from staff, past and present, and alumni took place. The day ended with an evening reception with music and guest speakers at the Adelphi Hotel. See the links below for further information about the event:

Speakers at the event | Photos and videos | Merchandise

Keep in touch and share your memories

The School of Sport and Exercise Sciences and Alumni Relations are very keen to keep sport science alumni up-to-date with this and many more events and stories. If you would like to hear more in the future please email sportsci40@ljmu.ac.uk providing us with your full name, subject of study, year of graduation and current job.

The School also plans to develop a visual timeline of Sport and Exercise Sciences, Science and Football, and Applied Sport Psychology at LJMU; if you have any pictures or pieces of nostalgia we would be delighted to hear from you.

Follow @LJMUsportsci for updates on our sport science activities. We’ll be sharing photos from the early days right through to the cutting-edge research of the present – share your memories and photos with us too.