USQ psychologist to address International Congress

A USQ academic will provide a keynote address at the International Congress of Applied Psychology (ICAP) later this month (July).

Faculty of Sciences Psychology Professor Peter Terry will present: “The Evolution of Applied Sport Psychology: Beware the Sun, Icarus!” to potentially thousands of psychologists from around the world who gather in Melbourne from July 11 until July 16.

World-renowned for his research into sport and music psychology and his work with international elite athletes during an impressive 26-year career, Professor Terry will also present a workshop on mood profiling and two symposia, one on imagery and sport and the other on use of music with athletes and exercisers.

'To be asked to present a state-of-the-art keynote during ICAP is quite an honour for me,' Professor Terry said.

'I will also be talking about my work with athletes at the Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) and my research into the effects of music on sport performance and training effectiveness.'

Professor Terry received a grant totalling more than $100,000 from the QAS to monitor the effects of music on triathletes. PhD student, Alessandra Mecozzi was appointed to the project and has been working on it for the past two years as a QAS Scholar.

'The triathletes ran on treadmills in a lab and we looked at the way playing motivational music affected them compared to running without music,' Professor Terry said.

'We found, on average, an 18% improvement in their time to exhaustion.'

ICAP 2010 will be the first IAAP Congress to be held in the Southern Hemisphere and aims to develop a greater understanding of applied psychology.

The conference occurs every four years.