Marjon aims to save scuba lives

Released: 28.03.18

In ground-breaking research, Marjon researchers are tackling a critical issue in the diving community: the high death rate of recreational scuba divers. The “Fit to Dive” initiative is a collaborative research project between Plymouth Marjon University and DDRC healthcare, investigating the impact of diving to cardiovascular health and whether a targeted exercise intervention could improve divers’ fitness to dive.

DDRC is based on Plymouth Science Park and works closely with NHS and emergency services, providing diving treatment, research, education, training, medicals and wound care services. DDRC healthcare has contributed resources and personnel expertise equivalent to £40K for the next two years for the successful completion of the project. Preliminary data will be presented this June in Florida, USA during the Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society Scientific Meeting. 

The team working on the project includes Associate Professor Giorgos Sakkas, who is an internationally known competitive free diver, and Director of the Exercise Medicine & Wellbeing (EMpoWER) research cluster at Marjon, and Dr Gary Smerdon, the CEO of DDRC healthcare. The Fit to Dive project is one of the Marjon’s Mayflower Doctoral Fellowships awarded to Jo Alexiou as her PhD research project.