Dr Elizabeth Partington

Assistant Professor

School: Sport Exercise and Rehabilitation

Liz has lectured in sport psychology at Northumbria University since 2001. During that time, she has occupied several leadership roles, including Director of Programmes, Faculty Director of Student Satisfaction and Engagement, and the Department’s Director of Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion. Currently Liz leads on the Department's provision of British Psychological Society Stage Two Professional Training for sport Psychologists (Qualification in Sport and Exercise Psychology). Liz is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (HEA).

Liz is a chartered Sport and Exercise Psychologist and is on the Health and Care Professions Council Register (Practitioner Psychologist). She has provided sport psychology consultancy for a variety of sports, most notably for England Badminton, the UK Sports Institute, England Athletics and within professional rugby. She is a member of the British Psychological Society’s Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology and is a qualified supervisor for the British Psychological Society's Qualification in Sport and Exercise Psychology (QSEP).

Liz’s research expertise is in narrative psychology. In particular, she is interested in the use of narrative approaches to understanding athletic identity and athlete wellbeing.

Campus Address

Northumberland Building

Email Elizabeth

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Liz is a cultural sport psychologist with a particular focus upon understanding athletes’ identity through the lens of narrative inquiry. In her PhD, Liz used narrative approaches to explore the identity dilemmas and negotiations experienced by athletes following a significant sporting injury. More recently, Liz’s interests have broadened to include wider areas of athlete mental health and wellbeing. Current projects include the use of narrative approaches to understand and intervene with problematic drinking in women athletes, and exploration of mental wellbeing initiatives in women's sport. Liz is a member of the University's Women's Sport and Wellbeing Interdiscipinary Research Group.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Exploring the sport-alcohol relationship: A longitudinal qualitative study of student-athlete drinking following the transition out of university, Partington, E., Jankowski, M., Partington, S., Heather, N. 1 Sep 2024, In: Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology
Narratives of adventure, intimacy, conformity, and rejection: Narrative inquiry as a methodological approach to understanding how women student athletes 'do' sport-related drinking, Partington, S., Smith, J., Longstaff, F., Partington, E. 2 Jan 2024, In: Sport, Education and Society
Drinking Outcome Expectancies and Normative Perceptions of Students Engaged in University Sport in England, Longstaff, F., Heather, N., Allsop, S., Partington, E., Jankowski, M., Wareham, H., St Clair Gibson, A., Partington, S. Mar 2015, In: Journal of Clinical Sport Psychology
Psychophysiological responses in experienced firefighters undertaking repeated self-contained breathing apparatus tasks, Young, P., St Clair Gibson, A., Partington, E., Partington, S., Wetherell, M. 3 Nov 2014, In: Ergonomics
Readiness to change drinking behaviour among heavy-drinking university students in England, Longstaff, F., Heather, N., Jankowski, M., Allsop, S., Wareham, H., Partington, S., Partington, E., St Clair Gibson, A. 2014, In: Education and Health
Stressors and Coping Strategies of UK Firefighters during On-duty Incidents, Young, P., Partington, S., Wetherell, M., St Clair Gibson, A., Partington, E. 2014, In: Stress and Health
Anxiety, stress and perceived workload during the command and control of computer simulated fire service training environments, Young, P., St Clair Gibson, A., Partington, E., Partington, S., Wetherell, M. 2013, In: International Journal of Emergency Services
The relationship between membership of a university sports group and drinking behaviour among students at English Universities., Partington, S., Partington, E., Heather, N., Longstaff, F., Allsop, S., Jankowski, M., Wareham, H., Stephens, R., St Clair Gibson, A. 2013, In: Addiction Research & Theory
Alcohol Use Disorders and Hazardous Drinking among Undergraduates at English Universities, Heather, N., Partington, S., Partington, E., Longstaff, F., Allsop, S., Jankowski, M., Wareham, H., St Clair Gibson, A. 2011, In: Alcohol and Alcoholism
Coping strategies in UK firefighters, Young, P., St Clair Gibson, A., Partington, E., Partington, S., Wetherell, M. Aug 2010, 31st conference of the Stress and Anxiety Research Society

Qualifications

Sports Science PhD June 20 2001
Senior Fellow (SFHEA) Higher Education Academy (HEA) 2020
Full Member British Psychological Society (BPS) Division of Sport & Exercise Psychology 2001
Graduate Member (MBPsS) British Psychological Society (BPS) 2001