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Team
Members of the CSP team are all available for individual or joint collaboration/consultations. Read about their research interests below and get in touch if you'd like to know more.
Billy Leason, MRes
Billy is a cycling and running coach, exercise physiology consultant, and founder of Consilience Sport Physiology. He read for his undergraduate degree in Sport and Exercise Science at Bangor University; here he averaged a mark of 87.5% across the degree programme, including a mark of 95% in his final thesis, titled 'The effect of preload cadence on time to exhaustion in cycling'. These grades earned him the Sarah Smythe Award for highest overall degree grade, as well as the highest scoring physiology research project.
After graduating he spent time working in a clinical setting as a physiotherapy assistant at Ysbyty Gwynedd. Wishing to transition to performance sport, he then returned to Bangor University to read for a Masters by Research (MRes) in Exercise Physiology. Under the supervision of Dr Jonathan Moore and Mr Kevin Williams he developed a wealth of theoretical and practical research skills, graduating with a distinction, and an exciting study that is currently being prepared for publication. He has gone on to advise amateur athletes, coaches, and Olympians alike, and loves delving into all the intricacies performance sport has to offer.
Billy is also a lifelong endurance athlete; as a cyclist he has a 49:56 25 mile TT PB to his name (quite a UK-specific metric!), and since taking up running recently finished 9th in the Welsh Short Course Fell Running Championships 2026. Billy is friendly, easy to talk to, and down to earth - if you'd like to work with him please do get in touch.
Dr Geoff Coombs
Geoff is a lecturer in Sport and Exercise Science at Bangor University. He completed a BSc and MSc at the University of Ottawa, before moving on to the University of British Columbia, Okanagan, where he earned his PhD in 2020.
Geoff has published extensively throughout his career, and has authored/co-authored over 50 peer reviewed papers in the fields of exercise, environmental, and human physiology. He has a broad research interest, but specialises in the thermoregulatory and cardiovascular responses to environmental stressors (including heat, cold, altitude, and diving), as well as factors impacting cerebrovascular regulation.
In the applied sphere Geoff has a particular interest in projects relating to heat tolerance and heat acclimation.
Geoff is full-time lecturer, so if you'd like to work with him please get in touch to confirm his availability first.
Flynn Owen, BSc
(MRes & PhD candidate)
Flynn is a current postgraduate student at Bangor University reading in the areas of human and environmental physiology. He has a track record of outstanding academic achievement at the undergraduate level; on graduating in 2025 Flynn achieved the highest scoring Sport Science research project, with a written thesis grade of 95%, and a presentation grade of 91%. This was instrumental in him also winning the Sarah Smythe Award for highest overall Sport Science grade, and the Dr John Robert Jones Award for highest degree mark across all programmes offered at Bangor University.
Under the tutorage of Professor Sam Oliver, Dr Geoff Coombs, and now Dr Sam Leaney, Flynn's experience as a Research Assistant has resulted in him already co-authoring a paper (Titled Acute hot-water immersion augments the diastolic blood pressure nocturnal dip in healthy adults), with another paper accepted pending revisions. His successes have lead to his acceptance onto a combined MRes and PhD programme; here he will focus on a variety of physiological responses to environmental stress, with particular emphasis on responses to thermal stress.
Outside of academia Flynn has worked in the University as a public speaking programme manager and tutor. He has a passion for bouldering, fell running, and other longer multi-day efforts in the mountains. For applied work Flynn welcomes projects relating to training programming for climbing performance, and preparation strategies for maintaining endurance performance in the heat.
We look forward to hearing from you
Consilience Sport Physiology
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