Sport, Health and Rehabilitation Research Cluster

Professor Nick Draper has been a researcher and teacher at the University of Canterbury for over decade, but has a wealth of experience developed as a practitioner. Nick’s research has a translational focus with the aim of finding solutions to real-world problems. Nick has a thorough understanding of the elite performance sport environment, having been a sport and exercise scientist for British Judo for 8 years and a Selector and Team Manager at European Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games. He has written training programmes for World and Olympic medalists, supporting athletes to success at the highest levels in sport. At a grassroots level Nick continues to coach junior rugby and judo players and has also coached 1st XV and Reps rugby in NZ. Nick started his career as a physical education teacher, graduating from the University of Exeter, and teaching at primary, middle and high school levels.

Nick completed his research training at the Universities of London and New Mexico where he received a thorough grounding in qualitative and quantitative methods, both of which he applies to research problems in his chosen field of exercise physiology. Through his research training and depth of his experience as a practitioner Nick is able to bring a practitioner’s and researcher’s knowledge to solving real-world problems. As a researcher Nick has led or been involved in over 20 successful competitive grants in New Zealand and the UK totaling over $10 million. His current research projects, very much with a translational focus, include measuring collisions in junior rugby, examining possible impact force mitigation through rugby headgear, the feasibility of exercise to improve outcomes for cancer patients, the health benefits of trampolining and performance prediction for elite cyclists.

My areas of expertise are Bioengineering, Fluid Mechanics, Heat and Mass Transfer and Thermodynamics within a wide range of applications including combustion systems, plasma sources, refrigeration systems, electrospraying, physoloical modelling, biomedical device R&D and forensics applications. I have researched fluid flow, mixing and heat transfer in gas burner systems, agricultural sprays and heat exchangers; modelled heat transfer and energy consumption in electrical floor heating and aquatic systems; vacuum plasma source design for mass spectrometry; liquid atomization, droplet formation and flight for forensic and healthcare applications.

Some of my current research interests are in:
- mechanobiology, biomechanics and mitigation of Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) in contact sport players;
- Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer of vapour deposition processes and Phase Change Materials (PCMs) for thermal management of electronic equipment;
- bloodstain pattern formation simulation and reconstruction in Augmented Reality (AR) for virtual crime scene analysis.

My research revolves around medical devices, biomechanics, and diagnostic sensors for improving people's lives. For much of my career, I worked in the orthopaedic implant industry, designing implants and instruments for hip and knee replacement surgeries. Returning to university later in life to obtain my doctorate, I studied Biological Systems Engineering and designed and patented a wireless, implantable sensor system to measure the progress of spinal fusion. The system is battery-free, so all power and communication is supplied via an external reader. My areas of current research on this are developing a new MEMS fabrication method for the sensor and a new encapsulation material that will be both waterproof and transparent to electromagnetic waves.

My other research interests include smart climbing holds for improving athlete performance in sport climbing, designing point-of-care devices for detecting biomarkers in the blood, improving the comfort and usefulness of virtual reality environments, and implementing means of improving the systems for training, design, donation, repair, and disposal of medical devices in developing countries.

I am the Lead for the Minor in Biomedical Engineering, serve as faculty advisor for the bioengineering club, and also run a work experience for bioengineering students in the Pacific Islands, where we assist the Ministries of Health improve the quality of healthcare in their countries.