Everyone at the Peter Harrison Laboratory would like to send huge congratulations to Iain on successfully defending his PhD thesis, titled: Cheating the classification process: mitigating the ‘greatest threat’ to the integrity of Para sport.
Iain’s research provides valuable insight into Intentional Misrepresentation in Para sport - a deliberate attempt by para-athletes to mislead governing bodies about the degree of their impairment to gain an unfair competitive advantage by being placed in a Para sport class with athletes with more severe impairments. His work contributes significantly to enhancing the integrity of the classification system in Paralympic sport by exploring the prevalence, detection, and prevention of Intentional Misrepresentation.
Iain’s PhD was co-supervised by Professor Daniel Rhind, Dr Serhat Yilmaz, and Professor Vicky Tolfrey. We also extend sincere thanks to Dr Emma Beckman from the University of Queensland, who acted as an advisor throughout Iain’s PhD.
Reflecting on Iain’s achievements, Professor Daniel Rhind said:
“It has been a real pleasure working with Iain and the broader supervisory team throughout this journey. It has been great to see how Iain has developed academically throughout this process. His innovative research has the potential to have a global impact through shaping policies, strategies and education related to classification across Para Sport. I look forward to seeing what Iain now goes on to achieve in the future.”
Please join us in celebrating this fantastic achievement.
A special thank you also goes to Iain’s examiners, Dr Emma Pullen and Dr Ben Powis.