Neil Armstrong

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The University of Tartu has conferred the degree of Honorary Doctor on Professor Neil Armstrong for his outstanding work in the studies on physical activity and fitness of children and youth, increasing international visibility of sport sciences conducted at the University of Tartu, and supporting Estonian researchers in the field of exercise studies.

Neil Armstrong was born on 24 January 1949 in Ashington, England. He completed his bachelor’s and master’s studies at Loughborough University and earned his doctoral degree in Child Health and Exercise Sciences and a higher doctorate (DSc) in Paediatric Physiology at the University of Exeter. Following periods of teaching and research at the universities of Loughborough and Liverpool, he founded the Children´s Health and Exercise Research Centre (CHERC) at the University of Exeter, and was appointed to the first Personal Chair (Professorship) of Sport and Health Sciences in a British university. Under his leadership, the CHERC soon developed into an international centre for researching children´s sport, health and exercise that attracted both young and established scientists all over the world to conduct their studies there. Professor Armstrong has served as the University of Exeter´s Provost and Senior Vice-President.

Neil Armstrong is an outstanding scientist in the field of children´s exercise and health studies. His main research interests encompass the challenges associated with children´s sport, exercise and health in relation to their growth and maturation. In the 1980s, he was the first to conduct research on children´s low physical activity and the related health risks.

Professor Armstrong has provided the International Olympic Committee with expertise in training elite youth athletes for several decades. He is the author of 20 books, more than 100 chapters in books, and has published over 300 research articles in prestigious peer-reviewed journals. He has supervised more than 30 PhD dissertations, whereas 12 former doctoral students of his have become professors at universities worldwide. Neil Armstrong has also received Doctor Honoris Causa degrees from the University of Coimbra in Portugal and Brock University in Canada.

Cooperation with the University of Tartu has been important in Neil Armstrong´s research activity. He has had a significant role in increasing the international visibility of Estonian scientists throughout recent decades. He has been engaged in long-term collaboration with the Institute of Sport Sciences and Physiotherapy of the University of Tartu Faculty of Medicine in developing and supporting the research areas of paediatric exercise physiology.