The Science of Beach Lifeguarding (PDF)

Edited by:

Mike Tipton, professor, Human & Applied Physiology, Extreme Environments Laboratory, Department of Sport & Exercise Science, University of Portsmouth, UK. Educated at the Universities of Keele and London, professor Tipton joined the University of Surrey in 1986. After 12 years at the Robens Institute and European Institute of Health and Medical Science he moved to the University of Portsmouth in 1998. In addition to his university positions, professor Tipton was based at the Institute of Naval Medicine (INM) from 1983 to 2004 and was Consultant Head of the Environmental Medicine Division of the INM from 1996. He has spent over 30 years researching and advising the military, industry and elite sports people in the areas of thermoregulation, environmental and occupational physiology and survival in the sea. He has published 500 scientific papers, reports, chapters and books in these areas.

Professor Tipton was a consultant in survival and thermal medicine to the Royal Air Force and UKSport. He sits on the Royal National Lifeboat Institution's Medical & Survival Committee, and the Ectodermal Dysplasia Society's medical advisory board. In 2004, professor Tipton was made an Honorary Life Member of the International Association for Safety & Survival Training in recognition of his work in sea survival. He chaired UKSport's Research Advisory Group and now sits on the English Institute of Sports' Technical Advisory Group. Professor Tipton chairs the Energy Institute's Health Technical Committee; he is a Trustee of Surf Lifesaving GB and Senior Editor of the journal "Extreme Physiology and Medicine." Professor Tipton is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine, he provides advice to a range of universities, government departments, industries, medical, search and rescue and media organisations.