Speaker Bio
Mark Williams is one of the fmost published sports scientists globally with a focus on expertise, sport psychology, skill acquisition and talent idetification. He is currently a Senior
Research Scientist at the Institute of Human and Machine Cognition in Florida working with the US Department of Defense and its special forces groups, as well as NASA. Previously, he was worked at world-leading universities in the UK, US and Australia. He has published almost 500 articles, written 18 books and delivered more than 200 keynote and invited lectures in over 30 countries. His first popular science book, titled ‘The Best: How Elite Athletes are Made’, was published in December 2020, by Nicholas Brealey in London (Aug) and Boston (Dec). The Best reveals how the most incredible sports people in the world get to the top and stay there. It is a unique look at the path to sporting greatness; a story of origins, serendipity, practice, genetics and the psychology of excellence, as well as of sports science and cutting-edge technology. The book explains how the best athletes develop the extraordinary skills that allow them to perform remarkable feats under pressure.
He has worked extensively in high-performance sport as an applied sports scientist and as a coach educator. He has delivered courses and services for numerous national governing bodies across the globe, including UEFA, IOC, FIFA, The FA, as well as a multitude of professional sports teams in the Premier League, Premiership Rugby, National Basketball Association, National Football League, Major League Baseball, and several Olympic sports including GB Hockey and Sailing and the US Ski Team. He has also advised various armed forces and government agencies on policy.
He regularly delivers on A and Pro-License courses for several national football associations across the globe including The FA, Portuguese FA, Football Federation Brazil, Swedish FA, FA of Wales, Irish FA, Football Federation Australia and US Soccer Federation. He is regarded globally as one of the foremost scientists in the field of sports science applied to football.
He is a Fellow of the European College and Sports Science and the National Academy of Kinesiology in the US, and a Fellow of the British Association of Sport and Exercise Science, where he has been accredited to work as a skill acquisition specialist in high-performance sport. He is Editor-in-Chief of three of the top journals in his field globally, including the Journal of Sports Sciences.