Dr Georgia Allen-Baker

Assistant Professor

Department: Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation

Georgia is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation at Northumbria University. She holds a BSc in Applied Sport and Exercise Sciences and an MSc in Sport and Behaviour Psychology from Northumbria. She completed her PhD at Brunel University in Sport Psychology and Education following two years in NHS roles focused on behaviour change and health promotion.

Georgia’s research centres on the psychological and social dimensions of sport and physical activity, with a particular focus on how children and young people experience these environments. Her recent work explores how early childhood engagement in sport and exercise influences wellbeing, motivation, and long-term physical activity behaviours as well as focusing the intersectional nature of inequality in early years sport and physical activity. She is particularly interested in how environments, coaching practices, inequality and wider social factors shape children’s experiences and development in sport.

Georgia’s interdisciplinary approach bridges sport psychology, education, and public health, contributing to more inclusive and supportive sport and exercise settings. She is also a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), reflecting her sustained commitment to excellence in teaching and learning in higher education.

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Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Teacher-Led Yoga/Mindfulness in the Key Stage 1 Classroom. Survey of Educators Across North-East England, Wilkin, K., Thornton, C., Allen-Baker, G. 25 Mar 2025, In: Early Childhood Education Journal
Understanding the Use of Superstitious Rituals in Sports People, Morris, B., Thornton, C., Neave, N., Allen, G. 15 Jul 2025, In: Journal of Sports Sciences
What nutrition advice is freely available for gymnasts, coaches and parents on their member national governing body webpages?, Riman, J., Keane, K., Hicks, K., Allen, G., Peart, D. 1 Mar 2025, In: Nutrition and Health
Barriers to using yoga and mindfulness in the Key Stage 1 classroom: perspectives of educators working in faith and non-faith state schools across North East England, Wilkin, K., Thornton, C., Allen, G. 25 Dec 2024, In: Cogent Education
‘Every day we’d have an arranged activity, so she’d have football, swimming, dance, gymnastics’: A sociological analysis of parenting and sports-based enrichment activities for the under-fives., Velija, P., Allen, G. 1 Sep 2024, In: International Review for the Sociology of Sport
Eye movement desensitization reprocessing as a treatment for PTSD in conflict-affected areas, Wippich, A., Howatson, G., Allen, G., Farrell, D., Kiernan, M., Scott-Bell, A. 1 Dec 2024, In: Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy
‘Hearing Their Voice’: The Experiences of Physical Education with Pupils Diagnosed with Severe Learning Disabilities, Allen, G., Radley, R., Milne, B., Velija, P. 23 Mar 2024, In: Sport, Education and Society
The effects of school-based yoga on the executive functioning skills of children between three and seven years of age. A meta-analysis of existing research, Wilkin, K., Allen-Baker, G., Thornton, C. Oct 2024, In: Mental Health and Physical Activity
'If lecturers are at home, they can’t tell their kids to shut up’: University student engagement with blended learning during Covid-19: A mixed methods study, Thornton, C., Peart, D., Hicks, K., McCullogh, N., Allen, G. 21 Apr 2023, In: Journal of Further and Higher Education
Parents perceptions of online physical activity and leisure with early years children during Covid-19 and beyond, Allen, G., Velijab, P. 2 Jan 2023, In: Leisure Studies