Sport scientist Dr Ross Pinder has been named a QUT Outstanding Sports Alumnus for 2025, in recognition of his leading work in skill acquisition and his impact on elite athlete and coach development, particularly in Paralympic sport.
He was honoured last night at the annual QUT Outstanding Alumni Awards at the university’s Gardens Point campus in Brisbane.
QUT Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Sheil said the recognition as Outstanding Sports Alumnus celebrated Dr Pinder’s impact in transforming how elite athletes and coaches learn, adapt and perform to achieve success.
“His pioneering work in skill acquisition and Paralympic sport is shaping the future of major high-performance sporting environments – where innovation, inclusion and excellence go hand in hand,” Professor Sheil said.
Dr Pinder studied sport and exercise science at Sheffield Hallam University in England before moving to Brisbane to do a PhD at QUT and study under world-leading academics in his field.
His PhD research focused on the best ways for athletes to learn and perform complex movements in fast-paced sports like cricket, with the aim of helping coaches and sports scientists create more effective training environments.
It launched his career as a skill acquisition specialist and saw him spend 10 years at Paralympics Australia in leadership roles in skill acquisition, performance and innovation.
Dr Pinder was recently seconded into the role of Learning Design Lead at the AIS, where he is overseeing the development of an action plan that aims to enhance our approach to skill acquisition and learning design towards Brisbane 2032 and beyond.
Dr Pinder said moving to Australia and studying at QUT had been an easy decision.
“The chance for somebody in the UK to come out to Brisbane and complete a PhD, particularly with a focus on cricket, was incredible and something I probably never even considered when I was younger,” he said.
“QUT had attracted some of the world leaders in our field. Keith Davids and Ian Renshaw were my primary supervisors, and they were the people that I really wanted to study under.”
Now based in Adelaide, Dr Pinder leads the development of innovative learning strategies at the AIS, supporting athlete performance and coach development across multiple disciplines.
His work has had a significant impact on Australia’s Paralympic success, including at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Games, where he supported athletes and coaches in para archery, para athletics, para cycling, para table tennis, wheelchair tennis and wheelchair rugby.
He also played a key role in establishing the Connected Coaches group, which fosters collaboration and knowledge-sharing among high-performance Paralympic coaches.
Over this period, Dr Pinder has also mentored emerging sports scientists and supervised higher degree research students embedded in elite sport.
It’s an area where he leads by example, through the supervision of research students.
“I had so much incredible support from my supervisors at QUT so a really privileged part of my role, and one I'm really proud of, is providing opportunities for new students coming through,” he said.
“I’m very grateful to QUT and their backing of these student research projects.”
Dr Pinder said being recognised by QUT was a humbling experience.
“Having looked at some of the people that have been awarded this category and other categories across QUT in the past, and the work that they've gone on to do, I hope I can fulfill some of that promise as well,” he said.
“This honour has come at a wonderful time with two of my own students at QUT submitting their final thesis for examination this year. It’s really nice that I'm now able to support people through the same process I went through, and hopefully go on to great things.”
Dr Pinder’s advice to students and early-career professionals is to stay curious and be open to opportunity.
“Lean into opportunities,” he said.
“I took an opportunity to come to Brisbane … and I put my hand up when Paralympic sport were looking for somebody to go and support them.
“I think on reflection of the last 10 years, the thing that has been the biggest impact is really following that curiosity.”
Learn more about the 2025 QUT Outstanding Alumni Awards winners here.
Information on studying sport and exercise science at QUT can be found here.
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- media@qut.edu.au
- After hours, 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au
