Academic biography

Mika Manninen started as an Assistant Professor of Physical Education in the School of Health and Human Performance at Dublin City University in July 2019. He received his BSc and MSc in Physical Education from the University of Jyväskylä, Finland in 2012 and 2014, respectively. After receiving his master’s degree, he worked two years as a Physical Education and Health Science teacher in two High Schools in Helsinki, Finland. In 2016, he started his doctoral studies as a Fulbright Scholar at The University of Georgia under the supervision of Dr. Sami Yli-Piipari with an emphasis on Physical Education and Exercise Psychology. In his doctoral studies, which ended in Spring 2019, he focused on Self-Determination Theory-based need-supportive instructional strategies and their effect on student motivation, emotion, and skill performance. His current research interests revolve broadly around effective teaching practices and, in particular, its meaning for student motivation and behavior. His other research interests are linked more broadly to physical activity behavior change using psychological theories and new technology, for example, exergaming. Mika is interested broadly in different physical activities. His old passions basketball and cross-country skiing have slowly but surely switched to a love of learning everything new from playing musical instruments to skateboarding. Besides being an athlete, teacher, and researcher within the world of physical activity, he has also coached and instructed basketball, gymnastics, and circus for many years.