Mel Leggate
mel leggate

Dr Mel Leggate

Associate Professor

Biography

Dr Mel Leggate is an Associate Professor in Exercise Physiology & Health and is the Academic Lead for Quality Enhancement in the School of Applied Science. Melanie was awarded her PhD in Exercise Physiology in 2012 from Loughborough University, before undertaking a post as a Research Associate within the prestigious NIHR Leicester-Loughborough Diet, Lifestyle and Physical Activity Biomedical Research Unit. In 2013 Dr Leggate took up her post as a Lecturer and then took up her current role as Associate Professor within the Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences department in 2023.

Melanie’s research interests fall into two broad area: her disciplinary research as an Exercise Physiologist and pedagogical research into curriculum design and student engagement.

Dr Leggate’s disciplinary research include the effects of physical activity and exercise on risk factors for long-term chronic diseases, particularly those related to ageing, obesity, the metabolic syndrome, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. She is interested in the added health benefits that may be achieved by taking part in high intensity intermittent training and has also led research focusing on the role of ageing, exercise and vitamin D status.

Melanie is currently leading on a student-partnership project to enhance assessment and feedback practice across programmes through a co-creation approach with students. She is also co-leading a project to create an accredited MSc in Clinical Exercise Physiology by engaging students and alumni in the curriculum design process.

In her role as School Academic Lead for Quality Enhancement Mel is responsible for providing leadership and management of curriculum in the School and oversees the implementation of the University Quality Framework. During this post Mel has provided support to numerous programme teams seeking approval of new provision or going through their Institutional Led Review. She has extensive experience of supporting programme teams in relation to good practice in curriculum design, quality assurance and aligning with Professional, Statutory and Regulatory Bodies.

Melanie led on the development of the Clinical Exercise Science MSc in 2016 and was the programme leader until 2021. She has taught and led a wide range of both undergraduate and postgraduate modules within the Sport, Exercise & Health Science Department on both home and overseas programmes. She currently leads on the MSc module Cardiometabolic Conditions and Exercise and final year undergraduate module Physical Activity and Exercise Prescription in Health and Disease.

Her experience of leadership in higher education led to her being recognised as a Senior Fellow of Advance HE. She is a member of BASES and the Physiological Society. Melanie is also a member of the BASE’s Education and Teaching Special Interest Group, the CEP-UK Standards and Education Group and the CIMSPA Workforce Insight Group.

Themes

Esteem

Grant Reviewer

  • Invited grant assessor for Diabetes UK

 

Invited Speaker

  • Conference talk: Leggate M, Carter WG, Nimmo MA (2011) Levels of inflammatory proteins in subcutaneous adipose tissue and the circulation, in response to 2 weeks of high intensity intermittent training. 16th Annual Congress of the ECSS, Liverpool, UK
  • Leggate M, 4th International Sport Sciences Symposium for Active Life (ISSSAL) (2011) The response of adipokines/myokines to acute and chronic high intensity interval training. Waseda University, Japan. Invited Speaker

 

Reviewing

  • Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism
  • Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism
  • International Journal of Sport Nutrition & Exercise Metabolism

 

Date


20 results

Student engagement and curriculum design within Clinical Exercise Physiology

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Leggate, M., Pitkethly, A., & De Klerk, T. (2023, April)
Student engagement and curriculum design within Clinical Exercise Physiology. Paper presented at Innovation and Updates in Teaching and Student Education across Physiology and STEM in the UK, Leeds, UK
This project aims to determine the perceptions of both graduate and current students studying on a MSc programme in Clinical Exercise Science. This project aims to redevelop o...

Addressing concerns between curricula and employability: Can we do more?

Presentation / Conference
Leggate, M., & Pitkethly, A. (2022, June)
Addressing concerns between curricula and employability: Can we do more?. Paper presented at Advance HE's Curriculum Symposium, Leeds

Exercise acutely increases vitamin D receptor expression in T lymphocytes in vitamin D-deficient men, independent of age

Journal Article
Lithgow, H., Florida‐James, G., Ross, M., Duncan, G., & Leggate, M. (2021)
Exercise acutely increases vitamin D receptor expression in T lymphocytes in vitamin D-deficient men, independent of age. Experimental Physiology, 106(7), 1460-1469. https://doi.org/10.1113/ep089480
Vitamin D plays a key role in the modulation of the immune system, mediated through the intracellular vitamin D receptor (VDR). Exercise has been shown to influence the activi...

The effects of age and acute aerobic and resistance exercise on circulating T lymphocyte vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression in healthy males

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Leggate, M., Florida-James, G., Ross, M., Jurevicius, M., Duncan, G., & Lithgow, H. (2019, December)
The effects of age and acute aerobic and resistance exercise on circulating T lymphocyte vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression in healthy males. Presented at Future Physiology, Liverpool, UK
A low vitamin D status has been identified as an association risk factor in the etiology of numerous chronic diseases, with older adults identified as generally more deficient...

Exercise Window Trial in Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer–Letter

Journal Article
Sims, A. H., Leggate, M., & Campbell, A. (2019)
Exercise Window Trial in Newly Diagnosed Breast Cancer–Letter. Clinical Cancer Research, 25(24), 7609-7610. https://doi.org/10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-19-2571

The effect of acute exercise on T cell vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression in young and older males

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Leggate, M., Lithgow, H., Florida-James, G., & Barlow, P. (2018, July)
The effect of acute exercise on T cell vitamin D receptor (VDR) expression in young and older males. Presented at 23rd Annual Congress of the European College of Sport Science (ECSS), Dublin, Ireland
A low vitamin D status has been identified as an association risk factor in the etiology of numerous chronic diseases, with older adults identified as generally more deficient...

The combined effect of high-intensity intermittent training and vitamin D supplementation on glycemic control in overweight and obese adults

Journal Article
Lithgow, H. M., Florida-James, G., & Leggate, M. (2018)
The combined effect of high-intensity intermittent training and vitamin D supplementation on glycemic control in overweight and obese adults. Physiological Reports, 6(9), https://doi.org/10.14814/phy2.13684
High intensity intermittent training (HIIT) has been shown to reduce the risk of chronic conditions including the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Independently...

The Effect of a Single Bout of High Intensity Intermittent Exercise on Glucose Tolerance in Non-diabetic Older Adults

Journal Article
Lithgow, H., & Leggate, M. (2018)
The Effect of a Single Bout of High Intensity Intermittent Exercise on Glucose Tolerance in Non-diabetic Older Adults. International Journal of Exercise Science, 11(3), 95-105
Our aim was to investigate the acute effects of a single bout of high intensity intermittent training (HIIT) on glucose tolerance and other physiological and metabolic markers...

The combined effect of high‐intensity intermittent training and vitamin D supplementation on glycemic control in overweight and obese adults

Presentation / Conference Contribution
Leggate, M., Lithgow, H., & Florida-James, G. (2017, May)
The combined effect of high‐intensity intermittent training and vitamin D supplementation on glycemic control in overweight and obese adults. Poster presented at Cell Symposia: Exercise Metabolism, Gothenburg, Sweden
The aim of this study was to investigate if there was a synergistic effect of high intensity intermittent training (HIIT) and vitamin D3 supplementation on glycaemic control. ...

Subclinical diastolic dysfunction in young adults with Type 2 diabetes mellitus: a multiparametric contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance pilot study assessing potential mechanisms

Journal Article
Khan, J. N., Wilmot, E. G., Leggate, M., Singh, A., Yates, T., Nimmo, M., …McCann, G. P. (2014)
Subclinical diastolic dysfunction in young adults with Type 2 diabetes mellitus: a multiparametric contrast-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance pilot study assessing potential mechanisms. European heart journal cardiovascular Imaging, 15(11), 1263-1269. https://doi.org/10.1093/ehjci/jeu121
Aims To assess the cardiac, vascular, anthropometric, and biochemical determinants of subclinical diastolic dysfunction in younger adults with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) ...

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