Overview
Background
Dr Veronique Richard earned her doctoral degree in Sport Science from the University of Montreal and subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Sport Psychology at Florida State University. Specialising in performance psychology and creativity, she has extensive experience in both research and applied settings.
Currently a research fellow at the University of Queensland, Dr Richard conducts pioneering research that integrates creativity and movement sciences to enhance performance, health, and wellbeing. Her research interests stem from her dual engagements with high-performance sports and circus arts. In her previous roles as a mental performance consultant for Canadian national sports organisations and Cirque du Soleil, Dr Richard observed the complexities of balancing high-level performance with wellbeing among athletes and performers.
To address these challenges, she designs enriched movement activities aimed at fostering creativity-supportive environments and investigates their impact on cognitive, affective, and socio-cultural variables related to creativity. Her research aspires to promote holistic growth by creating spaces where individuals can use their physicality to experiment, discover, connect, and express themselves.
While sports organisations remain a significant area of her research, Dr Richard is expanding her focus to other high-performance domains such as the medical field, educational institutions, and health and wellbeing organisations. She is also exploring how creativity-supportive environments can enhance equity, diversity, and inclusion within organisations.
Availability
- Dr Veronique Richard is:
- Available for supervision
Qualifications
- Masters (Research), University of Montreal
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Montreal
Research interests
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Creativity, performance and wellbeing
Balancing high-level performance and wellbeing can be challenging. My research examines how designing creativity supportive environments in various contexts (sport, school, health, etc.) can contribute to performance while fostering cognitive, affective and socio-cultural factors associated with wellbeing. Specifically, I examine the impact of implementing enriched movement activities on performance and well-being variables.
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Performance psychology
Applied expertise: I have worked as a mental performance consultant with various national Canadian sport organisations and with Cirque du Soleil. In addition to help athletes and artists develop mental skills, I design risk friendly environments to encourage them to navigate sport-related uncertainties and ambiguities and grow psychologically from it.
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Creative movers
Much can be learned from observing those that use their body to create breathtaking moments. Specifically, my interest is to better capture the processes supporting movement creativity in dancers, circus artists, figure skaters, and all those that create through the body.
Research impacts
While societies are in constant motion, requiring creativity to adapt, our bodies have never been in such a state of inertia. Our research is impactful because it tackles two essential human needs; to create and to move. By shifting towards creativity, sport, education, and health organisations will offer rich landscapes of opportunities to ignite individuals' motivation to live a healthy life, but also equip them with the skills needed to creatively confront societal issues, thereby contributing to economic sustainability.
Works
Search Professor Veronique Richard’s works on UQ eSpace
2023
Book Chapter
Coaching for creativity
Richard, Veronique and Holder, Darren (2023). Coaching for creativity. Developing Sport Expertise. (pp. 27-38) London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003285168-4
2023
Journal Article
The embodied journey of an idea: an exploration of movement creativity in circus arts
Richard, Veronique, Glăveanu, Vlad and Aubertin, Patrice (2023). The embodied journey of an idea: an exploration of movement creativity in circus arts. The Journal of Creative Behavior, 57 (2), 221-236. doi: 10.1002/jocb.571
2023
Conference Publication
On the centrality of (movement) creativity to enrich the sustainability of physical literacy
Richard, Veronique, Thomas, George, Gomersall, Sjaan and Cairney, John (2023). On the centrality of (movement) creativity to enrich the sustainability of physical literacy. International Physical Literacy Conference, New York, United States, 1-3 May 2023.
2023
Journal Article
What would the idea say? Experimenting with creative writing about creativity
Richard, Véronique, Glăveanu, Vlad and Aubertin, Patrice (2023). What would the idea say? Experimenting with creative writing about creativity. Minnesota Review, 2023 (100), 132-150. doi: 10.1215/00265667-10320947
2023
Journal Article
Holding open spaces to explore beyond: Toward a different conceptualization of specialization in high-performance sport
Richard, Veronique, Cairney, John and Woods, Carl T. (2023). Holding open spaces to explore beyond: Toward a different conceptualization of specialization in high-performance sport. Frontiers in Psychology, 14 1089264, 1089264. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1089264
2022
Journal Article
Assessment of professional circus students’ psychological characteristics at four strategic timepoints over the scholastic year: a longitudinal study using the stress process model
Decker, Adam, Richard, Veronique, Cairney, John, Jefferies, Philip, Houser, Natalie, Aubertin, Patrice and Kriellaars, Dean (2022). Assessment of professional circus students’ psychological characteristics at four strategic timepoints over the scholastic year: a longitudinal study using the stress process model. Medical Problems of Performing Artists, 37 (4), 249-258. doi: 10.21091/mppa.2022.4036
2022
Journal Article
The Gold Medal Profile for Sport Psychology (GMP-SP)
Durand-Bush, Natalie, Baker, Joseph, van den Berg, Frank, Richard, Véronique and Bloom, Gordon A. (2022). The Gold Medal Profile for Sport Psychology (GMP-SP). Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 35 (4), 547-570. doi: 10.1080/10413200.2022.2055224
2022
Journal Article
Effects of bali yoga program for athletes (BYP-A) on psychological state related to performance of circus artists
Cadieux, Elena Grilli, Richard, Véronique and Dupuis, Gilles (2022). Effects of bali yoga program for athletes (BYP-A) on psychological state related to performance of circus artists. International Journal of Yogic, Human Movement and Sports Sciences, 7 (1), 23-33. doi: 10.22271/yogic.2022.v7.i1a.1249
2022
Journal Article
Considerations for the medical management of the circus performance artist and acrobat
Faltus, John and Richard, Veronique (2022). Considerations for the medical management of the circus performance artist and acrobat. International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, 17 (2), 307-316. doi: 10.26603/001c.31645
2021
Journal Article
Creativity in motion: examining the creative potential system and enriched movement activities as a way to ignite it
Richard, Veronique, Holder, Darren and Cairney, John (2021). Creativity in motion: examining the creative potential system and enriched movement activities as a way to ignite it. Frontiers in Psychology, 12 690710, 690710. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.690710
2021
Book Chapter
Kinesthetic creativity in sports and performing arts
Richard, Veronique (2021). Kinesthetic creativity in sports and performing arts. Expertise and Excellence: A Multi-Dimensional Perspective. (pp. ---) edited by Gershon Tenenbaum and Yair Galily. Needham, MA United States: IDC University Press.
2021
Journal Article
Embedding perceptual–cognitive training in the athlete environment: an interdisciplinary case study among elite female goalkeepers preparing for Tokyo 2020
Richard, Veronique, Lavoie-Léonard, Béatrice and Romeas, Thomas (2021). Embedding perceptual–cognitive training in the athlete environment: an interdisciplinary case study among elite female goalkeepers preparing for Tokyo 2020. Case Studies in Sport and Exercise Psychology, 5 (S1), 44-58. doi: 10.1123/cssep.2021-0028
2021
Journal Article
Effect of preperformance routine on advanced swimmers' performance and motor efficiency, self-efficacy, and idiosyncratic emotions
Richard, Veronique, Mason, Justin, Alvarez-Alvarado, Stacey, Perry, Inbal, Lussier, Benoit and Tenenbau, Gershon (2021). Effect of preperformance routine on advanced swimmers' performance and motor efficiency, self-efficacy, and idiosyncratic emotions. Sport Psychologist, 35 (2), 97-107. doi: 10.1123/TSP.2020-0023
2021
Journal Article
Effects of movement improvisation and aerobic dancing on motor creativity and divergent thinking
Richard, Veronique, Ben-Zaken, Sigal, Siekańska, Małgorzata and Tenenbaum, Gershon (2021). Effects of movement improvisation and aerobic dancing on motor creativity and divergent thinking. Journal of Creative Behavior, 55 (1), 255-267. doi: 10.1002/jocb.450
2021
Journal Article
Supporting holistic wellbeing for performing artists during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery: Study protocol
Stuckey, Melanie, Richard, Véronique, Decker, Adam, Aubertin, Patrice and Kriellaars, Dean (2021). Supporting holistic wellbeing for performing artists during the COVID-19 pandemic and recovery: Study protocol. Frontiers in Psychology, 12 577882. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.577882
2020
Book Chapter
Creativity: The emergence of a new dimension of sport expertise
Richard, Véronique and Runco, Mark A. (2020). Creativity: The emergence of a new dimension of sport expertise. Handbook of Sport Psychology: Fourth Edition. (pp. 632-652) New York, NY United States: Wiley.
2020
Book Chapter
Sport
Richard, Veronique (2020). Sport. Encyclopedia of Creativity. (pp. 500-505) edited by Steven Pritzker and Mark Runco. Amsterdam, Netherlands: Elsevier BV. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-809324-5.23730-9
2020
Journal Article
Factor structure of play creativity: A new instrument to assess movement creativity
Richard, Veronique, Aubertin, Patrice, Yang, Yan Yun and Kriellaars, Dean (2020). Factor structure of play creativity: A new instrument to assess movement creativity. Creativity Research Journal, 32 (4), 383-393. doi: 10.1080/10400419.2020.1821567
2019
Journal Article
Does Engaging in Creative Activities Influence the Use of Coping Skills and Perception of Challenge-Skill Balance in Elite Athletes?
Richard, Veronique, Yang, Yanyun, Runco, Mark, Abdulla, Ahmed M. and Tenenbaum, Gershon (2019). Does Engaging in Creative Activities Influence the Use of Coping Skills and Perception of Challenge-Skill Balance in Elite Athletes?. IAFOR Journal of Psychology & the Behavioral Sciences, 5 (si), 3-20. doi: 10.22492/ijpbs.5.si.01
2019
Book Chapter
Grit
Richard, Veronique (2019). Grit. Dictionary of Sport Psychology: Sport, Exercise, and Performing Arts. (pp. 117-117) edited by Dieter Hackfort, Robert J. Schinke and Bernd Strauss. New York, NY United States: Academic Press. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-12-813150-3.00007-3
Funding
Current funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Veronique Richard is:
- Available for supervision
Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
The Impact of Environmental Factors on the Distribution of Talent Hotspots within Queensland Olympic and Paralympic Populations.
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Emma Beckman
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Doctor Philosophy
Stadium to stage: Advancing Western actor training with sport psychology and pedagogy
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Cliff Mallett, Associate Professor Steven Rynne
Completed supervision
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2025
Master Philosophy
Training talent to thrive: Piloting the Mindfulness-Acceptance-Commitment protocol in a Western drama school
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Steven Rynne, Professor Cliff Mallett
Media
Enquiries
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