Dr Ben Cousins completed his undergraduate degree and postgraduate studies (MRes Sport Science and PhD) at Nottingham Trent University. His PhD examined the demands of elite Rugby Union and was completed alongside his work in professional sport. He has worked in elite sport for over a decade with Bristol Bears, London Irish and Fiji Rugby for the 2023 Pacific Nations Cup and Rugby World Cup campaigns, part of the historic Fiji win at Twickenham over England and beating Australia at the RWC matching their previous best of QF phase. Ben has more recently transitioned into Football, working for Brentford FC as Head of Academy Sport Science and then at the start of the 25/26 season was promoted to the first-team to assume the role as Head of Performance Planning. Responsible for the co-ordination of squad and individual player loading across the MDT, advising fellow performance staff and coaches on training design processes to ensure performance optimisation and player robustness. He has a strong interest in the utility of data – to inform the decision-making process across sport science, medicine, nutrition, psychology, sport-specific technical-tactical and recruitment fields.
