Their partnership will see John McGlynn’s side gain access to the academy’s cutting-edge facilities for advanced exercise testing and movement analysis.
In return, Heriot-Watt students will gain real-world experience through placement and research opportunities at the club for third and fourth-year students studying for a BSc (Hons) Sport and Exercise Science.
Chris Easton, professor of exercise physiology at Heriot-Watt, said: “By bringing together Heriot-Watt’s academic strengths in sport science with Falkirk FC’s expertise on the field, we’re setting the foundation for a powerful exchange of knowledge that will benefit both our students and the club.
“Our students will gain invaluable, hands-on experience in a real-world sports environment, where they can apply the principles they learn in the classroom directly to player development and performance analysis.
“This collaboration exemplifies our commitment to producing industry-ready graduates, and we’re thrilled to offer our students an opportunity to learn from and contribute to a leading football club.”
With Falkirk sitting atop the Championship table, Heriot-Watt could be supplying students to the top flight come next season.
Blair Dougherty, head of physical performance at Falkirk FC, said: “The access to cutting-edge sport science laboratory facilities will be of great value to the performance department as we seek to provide best-in-class performance services for our players to give them the tools needed to perform at the highest level.
“As well as facilities, another benefit of this partnership is the ability to keep up to date with the latest research developments, helping inform best practise and also develop our own process and frameworks to push performance both for the first team and academy.”
To win the league would mean a second promotion in succession as the Bairns took the League One title unbeaten last season.