The Drake Foundation delighted to co-host fifth Drake Sports Head Impact Research Symposium
Event held at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday 26th April brought together leading minds in sports head injury research
The Drake Foundation was delighted to host the fifth Sports Head Impact Research (SHIR) Symposium (previously the UK Sports Concussion Research Symposium) at Wembley Stadium on Tuesday 26th April 2022, bringing together the leading minds in sports head injury research across the UK.
The Drake SHIR Symposium, held in collaboration with The Football Association, Rugby Football Union, England and Wales Cricket Board and British Horseracing Authority, saw speakers and attendees share cutting edge research and insight into ongoing efforts to understand head impacts in sport, as well as the changes being made to minimise such impacts for elite and grassroots athletes alike.
The event featured a series of lively panel discussions, presentations and study updates from some of the UK’s leading research universities and NGOs, with over 20 different institutions represented in the speaker line up and over 120 different institutions and organisations represented in the delegates registered. The programme included speakers from institutions such as University of Glasgow, Loughborough University, Swansea University, UCL, Imperial College London, University of Birmingham and many more, as well as representatives from the Premier League, the Concussion in Sport Forum and the Concussion in Para Sport Group.
The sessions covered areas including long-term brain health risk in sport; new technologies being explored to aid further understanding of head impacts; diagnostic and clinical tools that could detect or prevent brain injury; and policy and progress in sport as it seeks to prioritise and improve player welfare.
The Drake Foundation is proud to have hosted such a collaborative and inclusive event and will continue to work with its partners across the sports industry and to fund pioneering research such as the Drake Rugby Biomarker Study and the HEADING study.
James Drake, Founder & Chairman of The Drake Foundation, said: “The Drake Foundation is committed to spearheading research and collaboration as part of our mission to understand and reduce any negative brain health effects of head impacts in sports, at all levels, as well as beyond sport.
“It’s imperative therefore that we take a collaborative approach, which is why we’re so proud to have hosted the fifth Drake Sports Head Impact Research Symposium in partnership with the FA, RFU, ECB and BHA, bringing together the UK’s foremost sports and brain injury experts.
“Great strides have been made in recent years in highlighting the potential long-term effects on the brain of both elite and grassroots contact sports. There’s a long way to go to combat these effects, but holding inclusive events like these will only help us on our journey to fully understanding and combatting head injury in sport, whilst ensuring the many benefits of sport are not forgotten.”
Access the event programme here, and for more information please contact [email protected]
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