Exercise is a well-known stressor that disrupts the body’s normal physiological state, with the physiology of exercise further concerned with how the body functions and responds to the dynamic challenge of skeletal muscle contractions.  Ulster University’s Sport and Exercise Sciences Research Institute (SESRI) was established in 2002, and since then, Exercise Physiology research has become a cornerstone of the Institute’s research outputs. SESRI’s work, to date, has demonstrated how during exercise, cells, tissues and organ systems are affected, initiating diverse physiological responses such as altered gene expression, enhanced vascular function, changes to free radical metabolism, and DNA damage that can all be applied in different contexts. Thus, exercise is a remarkable lens through which normal bodily function can be explored. This presentation will summarise SESRI’s research demonstrating the molecular, cellular and systemic responses to exercise (both acutely and following training) that underpin adaptations, which can be harnessed to improve training responsiveness, performance and/or health parameters. Specifically, the presentation will focus on research that has sought to understand how exercise of different types, intensities, and durations can elicit different physiological responses, and the mechanisms through which these effects manifest through oxidative stress and inflammatory related pathways. We have also been concerned how supplements such as a broad range of antioxidants have the potential to modify responses to exercise stimuli, and how the physiological compensations to exercise may be affected by certain environmental factors such as hypoxia. Collectively, our data have been used in basic, applied, translational and clinical contexts such as for the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases.   This talk will highlight some of our emerging and future research directions including how circadian principles may be applied to exercise prescription for both health and performance outcomes.