BU Research Blog

Welcome to our new series, The Friday Prof-ile – a chance to get to know some of our recently appointed Professors and Associate Professors a little better. Every Friday, we’ll be asking a different person the same set of questions to get an insight into their life, work and what makes them tick. 

Bryce Dyer

This week, we’re chatting with Associate Professor in Product Development, Bryce Dyer 

What are your research interests? What made you want to study these areas? 

My research interest is the design or debate surrounding the technology we use for sport and physical activity. I love it as it bolts together my constant inquisitive inner dialogue and my hobbies.

What has been your career highlight to date? 

There have been a few, but winning and then giving the Brunel Award Lecture at the British Science Festival a few years ago was one that stood out for me. The talk brought together everything I’d done in teaching, research and my professional practice at that point in my career and I then had one of those great days where the talk went really well, I got a few laughs and I had a very large and positive crowd giving me a real grilling. It was a lot of fun.

What are you working on at the moment? 

I did a lot of research and projects on the run up to the 2021 Paralympic Games – I’m now writing them all up and publishing them all before my attention turns to seeking out new opportunities ahead of the next Olympic & Paralympic Games.

If you weren’t an academic, what would you be doing?

I would have pursued my ‘sliding doors’ decision of serving in the armed forces or have wanted to have been a professional athlete if I’d have been good enough. I was good enough to crawl through a ditch or go marching through the snow somewhere for hours on end but despite making a school team once for throwing the discus (due to what I still call one single ‘hand of god’ throw that could never be repeated), I never chose my parents well enough to have the physical capacity of being an Olympian.

What do you do to unwind?

Competitive sport and the training needed to then not come last doing it.

What’s the best thing about Bournemouth?

The huge variety of terrain, geography, and landscapes within a small radius of the town.

If you could pick any superpower, what would it be and why? 

Immortality. It’s always a struggle to have enough time to cram in everything I’m wanting to do. The list just keeps getting longer.

If you were stranded on a desert island, what one luxury item would you take with you?

My MP3 player with an abundance of questionable choices of music on it (despite then having to come up with how I’m going to power it when the battery runs out).

What advice would you give to your younger self?

Just keep going – you’ll make all the right judgement calls in the end.

If you’re a recently appointed Professor or Associate Professor and you’d like to be featured in the series, please contact research@bournemouth.ac.uk to find out more and get involved.