This section will keep you up-to-date with all the latest news from the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport.
The Peter Harrison Centre is proud to welcome Dr Fransiska Bossuyt as a Visiting Fellow within the School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences. A leading expert in shoulder health among wheelchair athletes, Dr Bossuyt brings her expertise from ETH Zurich to enhance research, education, and injury prevention in Para and disability Sport.
On May 14th, Doctoral researcher Iain Gowans PLY successfully defended his PhD thesis, becoming our centre’s newest Dr!
We are excited to announce a unique opportunity for aspiring researchers: six fully funded PhD scholarships as part of our newly launched interdisciplinary research cluster. These scholarships are designed to foster cutting-edge research that directly supports and enhances elite Para sport performance.
A collaborative project, led by academics at Loughborough University, is using expertise from the field of vehicle aerodynamics and wheelchair design to better support wheelchair racers taking part in the next Paralympics and beyond.
On 13th March, we welcomed Associate Professor Jorge Candiotti from the University of Pittsburgh to our laboratory, strengthening our ongoing collaboration in assistive technology. During his visit, he helped calibrate new SmartWheels, which will support research in wheelchair racing and potentially expand to other wheelchair sports.
On 4th March, World Wheelchair Rugby (WWR) signed the Brighton Plus Helsinki 2014 Declaration, reinforcing its commitment to gender equity. Alongside this, WWR launched the Wheelchair Rugby Gender Equity Playbook to boost female participation and leadership.
Paralympian Richard Whitehead, PLY MBE, visited Loughborough University for testing as he prepares to run 20 marathons in 2025, aiming for 100 total. His visit gave students hands-on sports science experience ahead of his next race on March 8th.
Dr Anna Fitzpatrick and Dr Thomas Rietveld visited Bolton to attend the Indoor ITF2 Wheelchair Tennis Tournament and continued conversations on future collaborations between The Peter Harrison Laboratory and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA).
Activity Alliance deliver a seminar and collaborate with a PhD studentship.
In January, Peter Harrison Centre Doctoral Researcher Iain Gowans attended a strategy session of ParalympicsGB’s International Relations Committee, held at their headquarters in London. The purpose of the session was to review and develop the ParalympicsGB’s International Relations strategy. The Committee collectively supports ParalympicsGB by making effective use of partnerships and giving contextual intelligence and advice on current and future international developments and trends.
