PhD Football Psychology Researcher

Meet the Researcher - John O'Neill (PhD Psychology)

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Posted on November 3, 2025

John O’Neill, studying for his PhD in the Department of Psychology at MIC, tells us about his really interesting research topic, which delves into the concept of vulnerability in professional football. His study aims to enhance our understanding of vulnerability across all roles in the football landscape, from players to directors and various departments within.

John also talks about what he enjoys most when undertaking his research, what he likes about supervising students and his advice for anyone considering taking up a postgraduate programme by research.

Tell us a bit about your research

For my PhD, I am doing a psychology research project that delves into the concept of vulnerability in professional football. This study aims to enhance our understanding of vulnerability across all roles in the football landscape, from players to directors and various departments. We want to understand how can vulnerability serve as a compass for our learning in professional football. By understanding it through (𝐢) our own vulnerability (𝐢𝐢) how vulnerability may be different between and within departments of a club (𝐢𝐢𝐢) how vulnerability may impact senior management/leadership at the board level (𝐢𝐯) how vulnerability may impact sport psychology. We have developed a psychological framework around these phases and now we are building a psychometric scale to measure and understand how and when we can use our vulnerability throughout all the roles and people who make up a professional club.

What did you study as an Undergraduate and Postgraduate?

Before coming to MIC to undertake my PhD, I completed a Sports & Exercise Science Degree, and a Master in Sport Psychology at the University of Limerick. I always wanted to do sports psychology and apply it to professional football. One of the main learning pillars of a Sports & Exercise Science degree is psychology, and during this time I created an opportunity to do my thesis on understanding Player Welfare in Professional Football. This allowed me to understand what it really meant to be a professional athlete and coach. It also taught me the psychology and continuous learning needed to support athletes on and off the field. For my Masters thesis, I was able to research the learning behind the psychology within Athletic Bilbao who are a professional football club in the Basque Country of Spain. Since 1912, it has adhered to a policy of only developing players from the Basque Country to play for them. I discovered how psychology was developed in the club towards developing home‑grown players, which became known as La Mirada (“The Gaze” in Spanish). A key perspective of how La Mirada developed over time was to address coaches’ mindsets before those of the players, especially because coaches often felt that their learning was going to be an upward trajectory by relying on what had given them results in other clubs. Despite the self‑imposed limitation of this unwritten rule, Athletic Bilbao is one of only three clubs to have never been relegated from La Liga, along with Real Madrid and Barcelona.

What do you enjoy most about undertaking your research projects?

I like the fact that we started with very little research in this area of psychology but now we have developed it to a level where we feel our research can make a positive impact practically and also in academia. It has allowed me to connect, share, learn and discuss this research with some of the most influential football clubs, associations and federations in the world like the Premier League, La Liga and FIFA. I also really enjoy that in MIC you get to know and share with other researchers from different departments with different interests. In many ways, we might have a different research topic but we are all connected by the journey of what it means to be a researcher. I have found that when sharing my research with my department and others, people can often give you knowledge that can have a positive impact on your whole research area and vice versa. I have been able to show and connect my research into vulnerability with other researchers and department colleagues in MIC regarding how we all at times feel vulnerable both personally and professionally. I am also very grateful for all the support I get from my Head of Department, Niamh Stack, and colleagues who don’t just support you but encourage you both in the good times and especially at times when challenges are encountered.

What do you like about supervising students?

For the last three years, I have been the module leader of the Sport Psychology Module for Third Year BAs and Fourth Year B Eds. MIC has allowed me to connect with students in a way where I still know what it