Holly Taylor

Holly Taylor is a graduate researcher with a keen interest in the psychological and organisational factors that influence performance, wellbeing, and inclusion in high-performance sport and applied organisational settings. She holds a First-Class BSc in Joint Honours Psychology and Sport and Exercise Science from Newcastle University and a Distinction MSc in Health Psychology from the University of Bath. Her academic training provides a solid foundation in primary research, health intervention design, and applying psychological theory to promote wellbeing.

Holly is currently a Research Assistant at the University of Bath, investigating stress, thriving, performance, and wellbeing across sport and policing contexts. Her work spans organisational stress, performance cultures, leadership, classification in para sport, and the enhancement of personal, team, and organisational outcomes. She has directed and contributed to multiple applied research projects, including co-developing a conversational prompts checklist to improve managerial support and wellbeing for Avon and Somerset Police; exploring mental health, wellbeing, and burnout in Athlete Support Personnel across the UK High-Performance Sport System; and designing and evaluating an athlete burnout education workshop for Team Bath practitioners.

During her MSc, Holly directed a qualitative study examining classifiers’ perspectives on implementing the Biopsychosocial Model in para athlete classification. This work contributed to the development of the GB Paralympic Classification Code with the British Paralympic Association, supporting its practical application in athlete classification. She has also investigated the impact of social and emotional assets on adolescents’ learning and memory, and the effects of brief heart rate variability biofeedback on athletes’ attention and mental fatigue.

Holly has presented her research at national conferences, including Newcastle University’s Psychological Insights into Coaching Practices, the British Paralympic Association Classifier Forum, and the GaMES Conference in London, to name a few, and has received awards for her presentations. She has collaborated with a range of organisations on research and consultancy projects, including UK Sport, GB Paralympics, the UK Sports Institute (UKSI), and Avon and Somerset Police, translating research into evidence-based interventions that enhance performance, wellbeing, and organisational functioning. She is actively building her publication portfolio, aiming to contribute her work to peer-reviewed journals and further evidence-based practice in sport and organisational psychology.

Her research interests include organisational stress, thriving and wellbeing, performance environments and cultures, leadership and management, and the psychological and organisational determinants of classification in para sport. Holly is currently seeking to pursue a PhD exploring these topics in high-performance sport, with the aim of generating research with practical and impactful applications.