Waseda University’s Health Promotion: The Joy of Sports and Exercise Unit was pleased to invite Professor Benedicte Vanwanseele from KU Leuven, Belgium, as a visiting faculty member for the 2022 academic year. Prof. Vanwanseele was presented with a commemorative gift by Unit leader Professor Hiroaki Masaki at Waseda University’s Tokorozawa Campus on November 22.
Prof. Vanwanseele is an expert in biomechanics and is an experienced researcher on the determinants of running performance in particular. In addition to the mechanical process of human movements, Prof. Vanwanseele also conducts research that links theory and practice in a style that applies knowledge of musculoskeletal anatomy and training science.
KUL and Waseda University’s Faculty of Sport Sciences signed a bilaterial agreement in 2018, and since then student and research exchanges have been conducted between the two institutions. This is our first time to invite Prof. Vanwanseele as a visiting scholar in 2022, but she has been conducting joint research with the University’s Professor Yasuo Kawakami previously, and also presented at the International Symposium “Multi-level structural and functional adaptability of skeletal muscles and the whole-body” in the 2021 academic year.
During her stay, she gave intensive lectures and mini-workshop. The intensive lecture “Musculoskeletal biomechanics: from the lab to the field” was held from November 8 to November 18, and touched on the following themes:
- The use of qualitative analyse and decision trees to make an analysis plan
- 3D Measurement techniques used in the lab
- Musculoskeletal modeling to improve sport performance
- Measurement techniques in the field
- Monitor sprint performance
- Monitor sprint performance in team sports
- The evolution of sports materials (helmets)
- The evolution of sports materials (running footwear)
- Monitoring musculoskeletal load
Please click here to read an article about students who studied in KUL from Waseda.
