Football on the Brain Team

Football on the Brain is a partnership between the University of Oxford and Oxford United in the Community, Ignite, Football Beyond Borders, She Kicks, and Oxford University Sport.

University of Oxford

Our team at the University of Oxford includes:

Professor Heidi Johansen-Berg is Pro-Vice Chancellor (Strategic Initiatives) at the University of Oxford and Associate Head (Research and Innovation) in the Medical Sciences Division, as well as former Director of the Oxford Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging (OxCIN). At OxCIN, she leads the Plasticity Group, whose research focuses on how the brain changes with learning, experience, and damage. Heidi is a keen football player, coaches an U16 girls team and enjoys watching the Lionesses! 

Professor Holly Bridge is a Professor of Neuroscience at OxCIN. Her research uses non-invasive human brain imaging to understand the organisation of the visual system in both people with normal vision and those who have abnormal visual function. She is particularly focussed on rehabilitation for people who have suffered a stroke affecting their vision, along with those who have problems with their binocular vision. Holly has played football for over 30 years, is a level 2 qualified coach currently coaching u15 boys and spends a lot of time driving children to football training and matches.  

Louise Aukland is a teacher and impact evaluation officer. Her Football on the Brain role involves translating the neuroscience and research into training materials for players and coaches, and leading on impact evaluation. Louise’s football skills are limited to kicking the ball around the garden with her children or supporting them in Sunday matches. You might also spot her in the family stand at Oxford United matches! 

Morgan Mitchell is a DPhil (PhD) student at OxCIN. She researches the use of Targeted Memory Reactivation (TMR) during sleep as an intervention to boost the memory consolidation processes underlying motor learning for stroke rehabilitation patients. Morgan has played football for over 20 years and is a qualified coach currently coaching U14 girls. If she’s not playing football in her spare time, she loves cycling and has recently branched out into tackling triathlons, endurance running (including running the Oxford Half Marathon on her birthday and tackling the London Marathon!), hiking and playing basketball.  

Dr Carinne Piekema is the Engagement Manager and Dr Hanna Smyth is the Engagement Coordinator at OxCIN. They develop, deliver, and support a wide range of public engagement activities and training opportunities across OxCIN. Neither have ever played football (though enjoy training for other sports!) but are happy to celebrate when the Dutch or Canadian teams (respectively) have a win.

Sports Engagement Ambassadors

Each calendar year 2023-2025, we recruited 'Sports Engagement Ambassadors', researchers from across the university with experience or interest in sport. 

They developed and delivered activities connecting research with various sport audiences. The Sports Engagement Ambassador programme was modelled after the established Engagement Ambassador scheme run by our home department (Oxford Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging), which is coordinated by our team members Carinne Piekema and Hanna Smyth. The Sports Engagement Ambassadors have access to a year-long series of training sessions, which will help them understand key public engagement concepts and receive guided support in developing activities. 

Our 2025 Sports Engagement Ambassadors are Aria Appoo, Harry Manship, and Erik Vanegas Muller. Read more about them

Our 2024 Sports Engagement Ambassadors were M Garrido, Holly Jenkins, RuoHan Liu, Izabelle Lovgren, and Andrew Spires. Read more about them

Our 2023 Sports Engagement Ambassadors were Denise Kohlhepp, Eliza Copland, Lauren Rudd and Zhiyu (Jerry) Zheng. Read more about them