Michael Annear BSpC • MAppSc • PhD

As an academic working in the oldest society in the world, I am fortunate to study the factors associated with active living across the life course (from youth to extreme old age). I am particularly interested in the physical activity and sports participation of middle-aged and older adults and how this translates into health, quality of life and longevity outcomes in developed societies. My research interests also extend to environmental influences on activity and behavior, including urban physical activity interventions and population-level effects of hosting sports mega events.

 

My main area of research is concerned with physical activity and human life course - examined through a social-ecological lens and employing innovative mixed methods. As part of this work, I head an Active Life Course lab at Waseda University in Tokyo, which focuses on evaluating and improving urban conditions to support increased levels of physical activity at all ages. I am also currently exploring the potential for the Tokyo 2021 Olympic and Paralympic Games to facilitate increases in population physical activity - an important opportunity in the context of aging societies. The recent COVID-19 pandemic and postponement of the Games have created new challenges for Tokyo residents and the international community, which are also being actively investigated. I hope to contribute to the growing understanding about the social and health-related impact of this terrible pandemic. Augmenting my research, I lecture and supervise students in the areas of health science, sports science, public health and environmental psychology. Within the wider academic community, I am an associate editor with the Journal of Aging and Physical Activity (JAPA) and a  member of the European College of Sports Science (ECSS) and American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).