About
Research
Email: jonathan.craven@stmarys.ac.uk
Biography
Jonathan earned a BSc in Exercise Science, a Postgraduate Diploma in Secondary Education, and a PhD in Biochemistry of Exercise from Griffith University in Australia. His doctoral thesis was titled ‘The Influence of Contextual Factors on Short-Term Post-Exercise Muscle Glycogen Resynthesis: A Focus on Sleep.’ With a professional background as an exercise physiologist and sports nutritionist, Jonathan has supported elite athletes throughout his career.
Since 2023, he has been a lecturer in Sport and Exercise Nutrition at St Mary’s University. In this role, he teaches both Masters and Bachelor degree students in Sport and Exercise Nutrition, and serves as the Course Lead for the BSc Sport and Exercise Nutrition program. Prior to this, from 2019 to 2023, Jonathan was an Associate Lecturer at Griffith University, where he led laboratory and tutorial sessions across various subjects, including: Integrated Systems Physiology, Foundations of Exercise and Sports Science, Sports Nutrition, Clinical Exercise Testing, and Exercise Health and Disease.
His teaching responsibilities encompassed practical sessions on cardiovascular and respiratory physiology, metabolic assessments using indirect calorimetry, and various exercise testing protocols. Jonathan also facilitated hands-on labs focused on macronutrient testing, anthropometry, and clinical exercise testing, equipping students with valuable skills in blood pressure measurement, ECG interpretation, and pulmonary function testing.
Research
Research profile
Jonathan boasts a broad range of research interests and extensive experience. He led a study investigating the impact of acute sleep loss on muscle glycogen resynthesis and cycling performance, employing advanced data collection and analysis methodologies. At Griffith University, he introduced innovative methods for muscle fibre typing and glycogen analysis, including the dot-blot technique and transmission electron microscopy to explore glycogen at a sub-cellular level.
Jonathan’s scholarly work includes systematic reviews and meta-analyses published in Sports Medicine, focusing on the impact of sleep loss on exercise performance and the dynamics of short-term post-exercise muscle glycogen resynthesis. His undergraduate research, featured in the European Journal of Sport Science, examined how increased training volume affects the gut microbiome in middle-distance runners. He also contributed to a study on the effects of training volume on muscle oxidative capacity using near-infrared spectroscopy, and another study exploring the relationship between the work of breathing and gas-exchange thresholds during incremental cycling.
Jonathan's research interests include substrate utilisation during exercise, the dynamics of muscle glycogen utilisation and resynthesis, the application of ergogenic aids to enhance exercise performance, and the effects of sleep loss on athletic performance.
Grant funding
In 2021 Jonathan helped secure a grant from the Queensland Academy of Sport (£27,000) to determine the influence of evening exercise on muscle glycogen replenishment and next day exercise performance.
Key publications
Craven, J., McCartney, D., Desbrow, B., Sabapathy, S., Bellinger, P., Roberts, L., & Irwin, C. (2022). Effects of Acute Sleep Loss on Physical Performance: A Systematic and Meta-Analytical Review. Sports Medicine, 52(11), 2669–2690.
Craven, J., Desbrow, B., Sabapathy, S., Bellinger, P., McCartney, D., Irwin, C. (2021). The effect of consuming carbohydrate with and without protein on the rate of muscle glycogen resynthesis during short-term post-exercise recovery: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Med. Open, 7, 2891.
Craven J., Cox A.J., Bellinger P., Desbrow B., Irwin C., Buchan J., & Sabapathy. S. (2021). The influence of exercise training volume alterations on the gut microbiome in highly-trained middle-distance runners. Eur J Sport Sci, 13:1–9.
Bellinger, P., Desbrow, B., Derave, W., Lievens, E., Irwin, C., Sabapathy, S., Kennedy, B., Craven, J., Pennell, E., Rice, H., Minahan., C. (2020). Muscle fiber typology is associated with the incidence of overreaching in response to overload training. J Appl Physiol, 1985.
Bellinger, P. M., Sabapathy, S., Craven, J., Arnold, B., & Minahan, C. (2019). Overreaching attenuates training-induced improvements in muscle oxidative capacity. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 52(1), 77–85