Tracey Devonport

Staff profile

Senior Lecturer

Tracey Davenport 5

Career Overview

I have worked in Higher Education for over 25 years, offering sport and exercise psychology consultancy services for over 20 years. In this time I have held committee roles with the British Psychological Society (BPS) and Chartered Association for Sport and Exercise Sciences (CASES). I am a senior fellow of CASES in recognition of services to sport and exercise science, and a registered sport and exercise psychologist with the Health and Care Professions Council.


I joined Hartpury in 2025 with a remit to establish a BSc Psychology, and a BSc and MSc Psychology with Sport and Exercise Perspectives. As a sport and exercise enthusiast, I enjoy teaching and research in sport and exercise contexts, but also general psychology in respect of concepts such as stress, coping, and emotion regulation. I currently supervise a number of PhD students aligned to these areas.

Teaching and supervision

• Level 4: HSPXLE-15-4 Introduction to Sport and Exercise Psychology

• Level 5: HSPXRV-15-5 Sport Psychology

• Level 6: HSPV4A-15-6 Sport Psychology in Action

• PhD supervision

Research interests

Examples of my research interests include:

• Stress and coping - with illustrative recent papers including:
Kent, S., Potts, A., & Devonport, T. J. (2025). “The Degree of Success”: Using ecological momentary assessment to examine the stressors, primary appraisal, and coping experiences of dual-career badminton athletes, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 1-34, https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2024.2446205

Devonport, T. J., Meijen, C., & Lloyd, J. (2022). Walking on thin ice: Exploring demands and means of coping during an extreme expedition. Journal of Human Performance in Extreme Environments, 17(1) https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/jhpee/vol17/iss1/7

• Emotional eating and weight making in sports - with illustrative papers including:
Barker, L., Ruiz, M. C., Nevill, A., Cloak, R., Lane, A. M., & Devonport, T. J. (2024). Dietary Restraint and Emotional Eating among Elite/International Combat Sport Athletes. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1080/1612197X.2024.2308884

Ruiz, M. C., Devonport, T. J., Chen-Wilson, C-H (J)., Nicholls, W., Cagas, J. Y., Fernandez-Montalvo, J., Choi, Y. & Robazza, C. (2023). Brief emotional eating scale: A multinational study of factor structure, validity, and invariance. Appetite, 185, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2023.106538

• Relationships in sport - with illustrative papers including:
Maurice, J., Devonport, T. J., & Knight, C. J. (2021). Towards improved triadic functioning/working: Exploring the interactions and adaptations of coaches, parents and athletes in professional academy soccer through the adversity of COVID-19. Frontiers in Psychology, 12 https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.609631

Devonport, T. J., & Lane, A. M. (2009). Utilizing mentors to facilitate the delivery of a longitudinal coping intervention amongst national junior netball players. International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, 7 (2), 50-63

• Emotions and their regulation - with illustrative papers including
Lane, A. M., Devonport, T. J., Stanley, D. M., & Beedie, C. J. (2016). The effects of brief online self-help intervention strategies on emotions and satisfaction with running performance. Sensoria, 30-39. http://dx.doi.org/10.7790/sa.v12i2.441

Lane, A. M., Devonport, T. J., Friesen, A. P., Beedie, C. J., Fullerton, C. L., & Stanley, D M. (2016). How should I regulate my emotions if I want to run faster? European Journal of Sports Science, 16(4), 465-472. DOI: 10.1080/17461391.2015.1080305

• Equality, diversity, and inclusion - with illustrative papers including
Devonport, T. J., Leflay, K., Biscomb, K., Richardson-Walsh, H., Richardson-Walsh, K & Thelwall, M. (2022). ‘Nobody needs a label’: Responses on Facebook to a Team GB Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative. Sport in Society, https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2022.2115365

Devonport, T. J., Ward, G., Morrissey, H., Burt, C., Harris, J., Burt, S., Patel., R., Manning, R., Paredes, R., & Nicholls, W. (2022). A Systematic Review of the Determinants of Mental Health among Black African, Black Caribbean and Black-mixed Ethnicity UK Populations: Implications for Action. Journal of Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-022-01352-0

To date, my professional outputs include 83 papers published in peer-reviewed academic journals, 3 books, 24 book chapters, and 13 professional papers.

Psychology degrees

Psychology Hartpury University