From the gym floor to the research lab: My journey at Middlesex

I did not plan to become a researcher. For most of my career, I was firmly on the other side of that world, on the gym floor, in the pool, in consultation rooms across the UAE, working with real people on real health problems. When a conversation with Dr Anne Elliott at the London Sport Institute nudged me towards the Masters in Exercise and Physical Activity for Special Populations and Healthy Ageing at Middlesex, I had no idea how much it would change the direction of my life. 

New challenges

The biggest challenge was not the academic content, it was the shift in identity. As a coach, I was used to being the person with answers. Research asks you to sit with questions, with uncertainty. That was genuinely difficult at first. But the programme sat right at the intersection of clinical knowledge, behavioural science, and applied sport and exercise. For someone coming from a decade of coaching older adults, people managing obesity and diabetes, and pre- and post-natal clients, it felt like the academic world was finally speaking my language. I completed the Masters with a Distinction and, more importantly, left with a question I could not stop thinking about: how do we actually get people moving in ways that counteract metabolic syndrome — not just in theory, but in real life? 

That question became my PhD, which I began at Middlesex in January 2022. The moment I felt I truly belonged in this research world, though, was not in a lecture theatre. It was standing at the front of a room at the Middlesex Research Student Symposium in 2022, presenting for the first time to an audience of academics and fellow researchers. I received the Outstanding Oral Presentation award that day, and the Saracens Postgraduate Award for Achievement the same year. I presented again at RSSC in 2024, and returning with more depth and clarity about my research showed me how far the journey had taken me. 

Global reach

The international dimension has been equally transformative. Attending ISPAH, the International Society for Physical Activity and Health congress in Abu Dhabi in 2022 was unlike anything I had experienced before. Researchers, policymakers, and clinicians from across the world, all gathered around the same questions that had been driving my work for years. In 2024, ISPAH was held in France, and by then my relationship with the organisation had already begun to grow. That year I was highlighted through the ISPAH Early Career Researcher Network, a recognition I valued deeply. Alongside the international stage, I have made a point of staying connected locally too, attending conferences like the Active Connection Conference with HERTS Sports and Physical Activity, because the conversations happening at community level matter just as much. 

My future path

This year, I was appointed as a member of the ISPAH Capacity Building Committee and last year, in 2025, I was awarded Chartered Fellow status by CIMSPA, the highest level of professional recognition in the sport and physical activity sector in the UK. When I think about where I started, both of these feel significant. The Capacity Building Committee exists to grow the next generation of physical activity researchers, to create pathways into the field for those who might not see themselves as researchers yet. That is a cause I feel personally connected to, having made that journey myself. 

For anyone in practice, in fitness, health, or sport, who is wondering whether research has a place for them: the questions you carry through years of work are exactly the ones worth investigating. MDX gave me the tools, the community, and the confidence to pursue mine. 

The journey did not end when I arrived at Middlesex. In many ways, that is exactly where it began.

Syeda Bushra Ali is a PhD researcher in Sports Science at Middlesex University London. Her research focuses on finding evidence-based ways to increase physical activity to counteract metabolic syndrome. She is a Chartered Fellow of CIMSPA, a member of the ISPAH Capacity Building Committee, and a runner-up for Transformation Coach of the Year 2023.