Position: Senior Lecturer.

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: (01248) 38 2197

Twitter: @julianowenPhD

Location: George Building, Normal Site

Julian is an applied physiologist with expertise in sport injury epidemiology. He has a BSc in Biochemistry and a MSc and PhD in Exercise Physiology. Before arriving in Bangor, he spent 8 years working as a physiologist and sport scientist within various sport performance pathways and professional sports (football, rugby union and hockey). Julian is also a member of the Institute for Applied Human Physiology and Director of the Rugby Knowledge Exchange within the School. The aim of the exchange is to deliver real-world solutions to rugby, through cutting edge research and impact, high quality education and applied enterprise solutions, particularly within the area of player welfare.

Julian is the Sport Injury research lead for the Welsh Institute for Performance Science (WIPS: https://www.swansea.ac.uk/sports-science/astem/wips/); a three-way partnership between Sport Wales, Wales’ leading academic sport scientists and relevant industry partners to support multi-disciplinary, world-leading, applied performance science projects that enhance the performance of Welsh athletes and businesses.

Keywords: Physiology, Sport Injury, Concussion, Rugby

Julian's primary research focus is sport injury epidemiology. This research includes understanding the causes of sport injury, quantifying injury risk and developing strategies to reduce injury in sport. He has a particular interest in sport-related brain injury (concussion), and from a public health perspective, the prevention of injury in community sport settings.

Current externally funded research projects include:

• Establishing injury risk in girls community youth rugby - Welsh Injury Surveillance in Girls Youth Rugby (WISGYR) project funded by World Rugby
• Prevention of sport-related brain injury in community rugby union - Head Sense project funded by the Academy for Health Equity, Prevention and Wellbeing (AHEPW)
• Mechanisms of exercise intolerance following sport-related brain injury - funded by Bangor University
• Effects of a season of rugby on brain function and brain chemistry / Pitch-side detection of concussion in Rugby Union - Tackling Rugby Union's Headache project in collaboration with Head Diagnostics and funded by Research Wales Innovation Fund (RWIF)
• Hamstring injury risk and prevention in team sports - Funded by the Turkish Education Ministry

Julian is also the Director of the Rugby Knowledge Exchange who's mission is to deliver real-world solutions to rugby, through cutting edge research and impact. A key objective of the group is to contribute to player welfare and safety within the game.

In addition he also contributes to research in the following areas:

• Talent and long-term athlete development (LTAD) - Funded by the WRU and KESS 2 and GB Rowing/Welsh Rowing
• Athlete monitoring and assessment - with Rygbi Gogledd Cymru (RGC) in collaboration with the WRU and Mapei Sport, Italy

Editorial Duties

Julian is currently a member of the Editorial Board for the International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, and a Review Editor for Frontiers in Sport and Active Living within the injury prevention and rehabilitation section. Julian is also a Topic Editor for Frontiers on an edition titled Multidisciplinary Approaches to Youth Rugby Talent Development.

He also regularly reviews for journals including International Journal of Sport Medicine, European Journal of Sport Sciences, Journal of Sport Sciences, Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport and International Journal of Spport Physiology and Performance, and reviews grant application for UKRI e.g., Medical Research Council (MRC)

Julian supervises research projects for both undergraduate and postgraduate students and teaches applied physiology in the context of physical preparation of athletes and applied practice.

• Advanced Strength & Conditioning (Level 6 BSc)
• Research Project (Level 6 BSc & Level 7 MSc)
• Dissertation (Level 6 BSc & Level 7 MSc)
• The Sport & Exercise Science Practitioner (Level 7 MSc)

Current Research Supervision

Subhan Nazir (PhD, 2025 to present) - Effects of subconcussion, post-concussion exercise intolerance and post-concussion syndrome on brain chemistry. Funding: Bangor University.

Eloise Kirby (PhD, 2023 to present) - Welsh Injury Surveillance in Girls' Youth Rugby (WISGYR Project). Funding: World Rugby.

Steffi Studt (PhD, 2023 to present) - Head Sense: Prevention of sport-related brain trauma in community youth rugby union. Funding: Academy for Health Equity, Prevention and Wellbeing.

Jack Bickley (PhD, 2021 to present) - Development of elite performance in rowing. Funding: Bangor University and Welsh Rowing.

Marco Martin (PhD, 2020 to present) - Efficacy of triaxial accelerometry in soccer. Supported by MAPEI Sports Institute.

Previous research students

George Lowe (PhD, completed 2025) - Optimising Talent Pathways in Rugby Union: A Multidisciplinary, Mixed-Methods Approach to Talent Detection, Identification, Development, and Selection. Funding: ESF Knowledge Exchange Scholarship Scheme (KESS II) with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).

Ersagun Kepir (PhD, completed 2025) - Activations and Structures of the Lower Extremity Muscles: Implications for lower extremity injuries in sports. Funding: Turkish Education Ministry.

Dr Tom Chandy (Masters by Research, completed 2025) - Injury surveillance in female youth rugby union: A pilot study in the community sport setting. Funding: British Association of Sport & Exercise Medicine (BASEM).

Seren Evans (PhD, Completed 2023) - From surveillance to prediction: a multifactorial approach to injury risk in Senior Academy Rugby Union. Funding: Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlathol and Bangor University.

Gokhan Yagiz (PhD, Completed 2023) - Muscle architecture of vastus lateralis and bicep femoris long head: implications for injury. Funding: Turkish Education Ministry.

Jessica Hughes (Masters by Research, Completed 2021) - Psychological and physical determinants of regional age-grade rugby players. Funding: ESF Knowledge Exchange Scholarship Scheme (KESS II) with the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU).

Davide Mondin (Masters by Research, Completed 2021) - Athlete monitoring in rugby union: inter- and intra-week associations of training markers with load during an entire Rugby Union Season. Funding: ESF Knowledge Exchange Scholarship Scheme (KESS II) with the Rygbi Gogledd Cymru (RGC).

Claire Griffith-McGeever (PhD, completed 2020) - Factors In Obstructive Sleep Apnoea: Chemosensitivity and Perception of Effort Before and After Loading of Respiratory and Locomotor Systems. Funding: Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlathol.

Grants

Owen, J.A. Evans, S.L. Gottwald, V. WISGYR – Welsh Injury Surveillance in Girls' Youth Rugby. World Rugby. December 2022.

Owen, J.A. Mullins, P.G. Head Sense: Prevention of sport-related brain trauma in the North Wales education sector. Applied Learning for Preventative Health Academy (ALPHAcademy), December 2022.

Owen, J.A. Mullins, P.G. Davis, O-E. Dardis, R. van Zuydam, D. Tackling Rugby Union’s Headache: Validity of a handheld medical device for the rapid assessment and evaluation of mild Traumatic Brain Injury (mTBI). Bangor University Impact and Innovation Award. August 2022.

Gottwald, V. Owen, J.A. Fella, D. Hardy, J. Life’s a beach: Anthropometric and psychological profiles of the World’s best Beach Sprint Rowers to determine future talent identification and selection protocols. Bangor University Impact and Innovation Award. August 2022.

Owen, J.A. Gottwald, V., Jones, E.S. Enhancing talent systems in rugby union. ESF Knowledge Exchange Scholarship Scheme (KESS II) Masters by Research Grant. April 2021.

Martin, R., Gottwald, V., Owen, J.A. The role of puberty in the relationship between relative age effects and sports injury. British Association of Sport & Exercise Medicine (BASEM). April 2021

Owen, J.A. and Jones, E.S. Psychological and physiological determinants of regional age-grade rugby players. ESF Knowledge Exchange Scholarship Scheme (KESS II) Masters by Research Grant.  November 2019.

Owen, J.A., Hardy, J.T., Mellalieu, S. Injury Risk in in Pre-Professional and Semi-Professional Regional Rugby Union. Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol PhD Studentship. July 2018.

Owen, J.A., Jones, E.S. and Hardy, J.T. Markers of athlete readiness in rugby union. ESF Knowledge Exchange Scholarship Scheme (KESS II) Masters by Research Grant. April 2018.

Blanchfield, A.W., Owen, J.A., and Griffiths, G. Development of a mindful-exercise training framework. ESRC Impact Acceleration Account. March 2016.

Earing, C.M.N., McKeon, D., Owen, J.A. and Kubis, H.P. Purchase of a pneumotachometer for research within the field of respiratory physiology in health and obstructive sleep apnoea. BCUHB Small grant scheme. February 2016

Owen, J.A., Moore, J.P., and Kubis, H.P.Pathophysiology of obstructive sleep apnoea. Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol PhD studentship. April 2015.

Owen, J.A. Conference and travel grant. European Hydration Institute. October 2012.

Owen, J.A., Walsh, N.P., and Oliver, S.J. Hypertonic and isotonic dehydration: effects on hydration marker utility and human performance. European Hydration Institute: Graduate research grant for the study of Human Hydration. January 2012.

Projects

Welsh Injury Surveillance in Girls Youth Rugby (WISGYR) project. 2023 to present

Head Sense - Prevention of sport related concussion in community sport project. 2023 to present

Tackling Rugby Union's Headache. 2022 to 2023.

North Wales Rugby Talent Project. June 2018 to 2025.

Inspiratory effort perception and interoception to breathlessness in health and obstructive sleep apnoea. October 2015 to May 2020.

Methods of dehydration assessment and effects on subjective discomfort, well-being and exercise performance. October 2010 to September 2015.