Action:
1. To address the issue of a lack of data about the scale and impacts of sporting head injuries in the UK, the Government is supporting plans for a world-leading research project led by the University of Oxford and backed by the sport concussion charity, Podium Analytics.
To facilitate this project, Podium Analytics announced in September 2021 the establishment of an Institute of Sports Medicine and Technology in partnership with the University of Oxford. This will be a 10-year financial commitment to the University with the aim to create a world- leading system to understand, monitor and prevent sport injury. This research will involve the new Institute producing an independent report to qualify and quantify the incidence of concussion in general and in sport in this country, its prevalence by individual sports, age and
gender and the associated costs to the UK economy of concussion in general and sports in particular. This will be the first such report of its kind and will allow the UK to become one of the first countries in the world to build up a clear picture of the current situation across the
world of sport. The Minister for Sport has encouraged all National Governing Bodies of sport to collaborate with Podium in their research programmes.
2. The Government is convening a “sports concussion research forum” in conjunction with the Medical Research Council to bring together sports and academics to identify the priority research questions for the sector. This will work with relevant parties to initiate the delivery of those priorities to address gaps in research.
Research will then be translated into relevant actions and will be short, medium and long term
(longitudinal). These projects will then be directed to existing research funding institutions. The
forum will also enable the sharing of findings of research across sports.
Milestones:
• Findings from the Oxford University research study will be available by the end of March 2022.
• The Sports Concussion Research Forum will be convened by Government by the end of January
2022, with initial findings presented later that year.





