Dr Leighton Wells

Client advisory and business leadership through sport-technology projects, including due diligence associated with a major acquisition.

Advised on features for a new training management system. Wrote an article on combining subjective and objective athlete data as part of the consulting engagement.

Led a regional technology and innovation event. Secured more than $1 million in sponsorship, recruited Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak and negotiated Deakin University's major sponsorship directly with Vice-Chancellor Professor Jane den Hollander AO.

Co-founded a startup incubator and accelerator that raised $1.25 million through the Victorian Government's LaunchVic program. One of three initial directors, with responsibility as Chief Operations Officer.

Managed a $1 million annual marketing budget and three direct reports.

Product-management responsibility carried a $23 million annual sales target.

Marketing communications and marketing roles at Varian Australia (1998–2000), GBC Scientific Equipment (2000–2002), OfficeMax (Boise, 2002–2004) and MYOB (2004–2006). Director, Crux Marketing (2007–2013); board director, Technology Geelong (2015–2017). Secured and acquitted local, state and federal grants for education and innovation programs.

Professional coaching for athletes in Australia and internationally, across triathlon distances up to Ironman. Work includes training prescription, programming, monitoring and athlete communication through remote coaching technology. AusTriathlon Development Coach and TrainingPeaks Level 2 Coach; more than thirty years in triathlon and seven Ironman finishes.

• Resistance-training and altitude study led by Dr Giselle Allsop: lifting-technique instruction and supervision, 3RM strength testing, participant recruitment, laboratory protocols, honours-student mentoring and literature/scoping-review work as an invited co-author.
• Earlier GPS sport-watch energy-expenditure accuracy research: sub-maximal VO₂ testing of recreational runners using MetaLyzer and a clinical-grade treadmill.
• Co-supervised a Master of Applied Sport Science candidate in 2025 examining menstrual-cycle symptoms and perceived performance in female triathletes.

Research methods: developing AI-assisted research workflows with source tracking, privacy controls, audit trails and mandatory human review. Current work uses a dataset of approximately 42,000 Ironman World Championship performances.

Full unit-chair responsibilities for SSC2000 Sport Coaching Systems and Technology (Semester 2, Block 4, 2025) and AHE3114 Sport Physiology (Block 3, 2026): unit news, student support, all marking, self-moderation and grade release.

Contributed to unit-content development in both units. For SSC2000, proposed and delivered an endurance sport technology session based on my research, including a practical TrainingPeaks training-week exercise. SSC2000's 2025 Student Evaluation of Teaching responses were 100% “strongly agree” across all items.

Practical classes, seminars and marking across all three trimesters. Teaching delivered across eight units:

• HSE103 Exercise Prescription and Delivery; HSE302 Exercise Programming.
• HSE105 Principles of Sport Coaching; HSE204 Motor Learning and Skill Acquisition.
• HSE208 Integrated Human Physiology; HSE304 Physiology of Sport Performance.
• HBS109 Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology; HSE104 Research Methods and Data Analysis in Exercise and Sport.

Additional marking in HSE102 Functional Human Anatomy, HSE110 Muscle Biology for Exercise Science and HSE727 Time and Motion Analysis of Sport Performance. Provided additional teaching cover in HSE304 and HSE103; allocated all Waurn Ponds HSE304 AT1–4 marking in T2 2024. Engaged for two HSE208 intensive classes and marking in November–December 2026.

Recent evaluations recorded 100% agree or strongly agree to “This teacher provided a quality learning experience for me in this unit”: HBS109 and HSE105 in T1 2026, and HSE208 in T3 2025. Earlier evaluations recorded 100% student satisfaction in HSE302 (2024 and 2025) and HSE103 (2025).

Thesis: Triathlon Coaching Practices: Optimising Training Load Processes and Communication. Submitted in just over three years, with three peer-reviewed papers published during candidature; independently examined by Professor Stephen Seiler, University of Agder.