Rate My Professor Stephen Goodman

Dr. Stephen Goodman is a Senior Lecturer of Exercise and Sport Science (Motor Control and Skills Acquisition) in the School of Science and Technology, Faculty of Science, Agriculture, Business and Law at the University of New England, a position he has held since joining the university as an academic staff member in 2019. He also serves as Discipline Convenor for Exercise and Sports Science. Goodman is a graduate of Charles Sturt University, where he completed his Bachelor of Exercise Science (Rehabilitation), Bachelor of Exercise Science (Honours), and PhD, with his doctoral research exploring the effects of hydration and thirst on cognitive performance and decision making. His teaching portfolio includes foundational and advanced units in motor control, skill acquisition, anatomy, and human development, such as ANAT110 - Introduction to Human Anatomy, EXSC239 - Motor Skill Acquisition and Performance, and EXSC335 - Motor Control and Human Development. He contributes to student support initiatives aimed at reducing first-year attrition in exercise and sports science programs.

Goodman's research specializations encompass mental fatigue—especially its prominence and ramifications for physical and cognitive performance in sporting and exercise contexts—alongside cognition, hydration, neuromuscular performance, hypohydration's influence on sports decision making, and experience in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. His key publications include 'Approaches to inducing mental fatigue: A systematic review and meta-analysis of neurophysiologic indices' (2025), 'Effects of muscle strengthening and cardiovascular fitness activities for poliomyelitis survivors: A systematic review and meta-analysis' (Ramachandran et al., Journal of Rehabilitation Medicine, 2021), 'Thirst perception exacerbates objective mental fatigue' (Goodman & Marino, Neuropsychologia, 2020), 'The effect of active hypohydration on cognitive function: A systematic review and meta-analysis' (Goodman et al., Physiology and Behavior, 2019), 'Euhydration preserves cognitive function, but is not superior to hypohydration' (Goodman et al., Journal of Cognitive Enhancement, 2019), and 'Dehydration does not impair motor performance or motor learning in military and civilian participants' (Goodman & Marino, Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 2017). Goodman earned the Young Investigator award at the 2021 ESSA Research to Practice conference and has supervised theses including a master's on physiological effects of altitude training for elite athletes and an honours thesis on corticospinal changes in knee conditions.