Staff Profile

Dr Maxwell (Max) Stone is a Lecturer in Sport and Exercise Psychology at Newcastle University. He joined the School of Psychology in 2020 after completing his PhD at the University of South Wales, where his doctoral work examined the psychological factors underpinning tapering in sport. Max has since developed a strong academic and applied profile, contributing to teaching, research, and leadership across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. He is a Chartered Psychologist (BPS), a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, and an active member of the sport and exercise psychology community through editorial, accreditation, and professional service roles.

Max’s research focuses on optimising athletes’ and coaches’ pre‑competition preparation, with particular interests in tapering, warm‑ups, holding rooms, and pre‑competition camps. His work adopts a pragmatic methodological approach, integrating qualitative, quantitative, and single‑case designs to generate practically meaningful insights that support applied practice. He has published across leading journals, including Sports Medicine, Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, Psychology of Sport and Exercise, and European Journal of Sport Science, and has presented at international conferences. Max is currently a Co‑Investigator on an EPSRC‑funded project exploring digital solutions to support mental health in junior sport, and he supervises doctoral, clinical, and postgraduate researchers working across sport psychology and applied psychophysiology.

Max has extensive experience designing, leading, and delivering teaching across undergraduate and postgraduate sport and exercise psychology programmes. He has created and/or led multiple modules, including Clinical Sport and Exercise Psychology, Psychology for Sport Performance, and Social and Interpersonal Processes in Sport and Exercise. Max has supervised over 40 UG/PGT dissertations and contributes to PhD, DClinPsy, and MRes supervision. He also holds several leadership roles within the School, including UG Admissions Tutor, PGT Senior Tutor, and Deputy Degree Programme Director for the MSc Sport and Exercise Psychology.

Module leader

PSY3039 Clinical Sport and Exercise Psychology

PSY8075 Social and Interpersonal Processes in Sport and Exercise Psychology

PSY8078 Sport and Exercise Psychology Project

Contributor

PSY3097 Undergraduate Empirical Project

PSY8062 Advanced Research Methods for Applied Psychology B 

PSY8076 Applied Sport and Performance Psychology

PSY8077 Psychological Techniques in Sport and Exercise

Supervision

PSY3097 Undergraduate Empirical Project

PSY8078 Sport and Exercise Psychology Project

• Articles

  • Rowlands I, Roderique-Davies G, Greville J, Stone M, Shearer D. What motivates athletes to recover? A qualitative exploration of perceptions, behaviours, and barriers to recovery engagement. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology 2025, Epub ahead of print.
  • Mitchell S, Stone M. 'It was a fair fight' v. 'Let the body do the work.' How squash players mentalizing abilities affect their experiences of playing squash: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. Psychology of Sport and Exercise 2025, 77, 102797.
  • Stone MJ, Knight CJ, Hall R, Cropley B, Shearer C, Nicholas R, Shearer DA. Elite swimmers’ and coaches’ understanding and psychological experience of taper: A multi-phase qualitative investigation. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology 2025, epub ahead of print.
  • Coussens A H, Stone M J, Donachie T D. Coach-Athlete Relationships, Self-Confidence, and Psychological Wellbeing: The role of Perceived and Received Coach Support. European Journal of Sport Science 2025, 25(1), e12226.
  • Stone MJ, Knight CJ, Hall R, Shearer C, Nicholas R, Shearer DA. The Psychology of Athletic Tapering in Sport: A Scoping Review. Sports Medicine 2023, 53, 777–801.

• Conference Proceedings (inc. Abstracts)

  • Points A, Hooper A, Donachie T, Coussens A, Stone M. University team sport athletes' perceptions and experiences of warm-ups. In: 17th European Congress of Sport and Exercise Psychology. 2024, Innsbruck, Austria: European Federation of Sport Psychology (FEPSAC).
  • Stone MJ, Knight CJ, Hall R, Shearer C, Shearer DA. Cognitive, emotional, and behavioural factors associated with tapering. In: Sport and Exercise Science New Zealand Annual Conference. 2018, Dunedin, New Zealand.
  • Stone MJ, Knight CJ, Hall R, Shearer C, Shearer DA. Tapering: A review for swim coaches. In: English Institute of Sport National Conference. 2017, Hinckley, UK: EIS.
  • Stone MJ, Knight CJ, Shearer C, Shearer DA. An interpretive description of the conceptualisations of the taper process from the perspective of elite swimmers and swim coaches. In: The Division of Sport and Exercise Psychology Conference. 2016, Cardiff, UK: The British Psychological Society.