Ross Tucker is a sports scientist and high performance sports expert. He currently works as a research scientist for World Rugby, with a particular interest in injury prevention and management.
He is known for his forthright views and ability to integrate and translate sports science concepts and principles across various domains.
His background of having a dual qualification in science and management positions him ideally to bridge the gap between data and strategy, science and performance.
Ross was a Senior Lecturer with UCT's Exercise Science and Sports Medicine research unit (ESSM), and High Performance consultant to the Sports Science Institute of SA. He obtained a PhD on fatigue and the regulation of exercise performance, and completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Sports Management from the University of Cape Town. He then worked in sports sponsorship for Navitute (Pty) Ltd, a SAIL company, for three years, before returning to UCT to resume research.
Ross is currently a science and research consultant for World Rugby, where his role is to support all strategic decisions that involve player welfare (so injury, concussion, player health), High Performance (performance analysis, performance audits) and Law (law change and monitoring). He has been a high performance consultant to numerous sports teams, including SA Sevens (including the 2009/2010 World Series winning team), SA Kayaking, SA Triathlon, UK Olympic Sport, USA Olympic Committee and USA Triathlon. He created and runs The Science of Sport website, and has written opinion articles for publications including the New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian (UK), Le Monde (France) and The Times (SA). In 2013, he was named by Mail and Guardian in their list of Top 200 Influential Young South Africans, and by the Minister of Sport as one of the 100 Influential people in South African Sport. Ross is also an ambassador and scientific advisor to Virgin Active and adidas, where his job is to help them apply science in the education of their staff (and members, in the case of Virgin Active), and to provide coaching and training support for adidas in their events