Designing Inclusive Sports Technology for Broader Participation in Physical and Digital Sporting Environments

Overview

https://research.qut.edu.au/designlab/https://research.qut.edu.au/designlab/

Sport and active participation play a critical role in physical health, social inclusion, wellbeing, and community connection. However, many people continue to face significant barriers to participation, including people with disabilities, and individuals experiencing mobility, sensory, cognitive, social, or economic constraint. Emerging sports technologies present new opportunities to broaden access and participation, yet many products, services, and systems remain designed for narrow user groups and performance contexts.

This PhD project will investigate how sports technologies can be designed to support more inclusive participation in sporting environments. The project may explore traditional physical sport settings, community recreation, adaptive sport, esports, or immersive and extended reality environments. A key focus will be understanding how barriers to participation emerge and how they can be addressed through applied human-centred design within a systems thinking framework.

The research will employ participatory design and qualitative methods to engage end-users, community groups, sporting organisations, and other stakeholders. It will develop and evaluate innovative technology concepts to support broader participation in sport and active experiences, generating both theoretical and applied contributions to inclusive design, human factors, and sports innovation.

Research activities

As part of this PhD project, the student will:

• conduct qualitative research with participants who face barriers to sports participation
• collaborate with athletes, community organisations, sports bodies, carers, and technology stakeholders
• use participatory design methods to identify unmet needs and lived experiences
• map systemic barriers and enabling factors across physical, social, and technological contexts
• design and develop prototype sports technology concepts or service systems
• evaluate prototypes through user testing, field observations, and iterative refinement
• produce academic publications and applied design outputs.

Outcomes

The project aims to deliver:

• new knowledge on barriers and enablers of inclusive sports participation
• a systems-oriented framework for designing inclusive sports technologies
• co-designed prototype concepts for broader participation in sport and recreation
• methodological contributions to participatory design in disability and sports contexts
• practical recommendations for sports organisations, technology developers, and policy stakeholders
• academic publications in design, human factors, and sports innovation
• translational outcomes with potential industry and community impact.

Skills and experience

Ideal candidates will have:

• a background in industrial design, human-centred design, HCI, human factors, ergonomics, sport science, or a related field
• experience with qualitative research methods such as interviews, observation, or thematic analysis
• interest in participatory design, accessibility, and inclusive innovation
• strong communication skills and experience working with diverse stakeholders
• interest in disability inclusion, sport participation, or emerging technologies
• experience in design prototyping, concept development, or applied research
• ability to work independently and collaboratively in interdisciplinary settings.

Scholarships

You may be eligible to apply for a research scholarship.

Explore our research scholarships

Keywords

• Inclusive Design
• Sports Technology
• Participatory Design
• Human-centred Design
• Systems Thinking
• eSports
• Prototyping

Contact

Contact the supervisor for more information