iaingowans PLY_PhD

The press release from the annual meeting can be read here: www.paralympic.org/news/2025%20...

A healthy group discussion followed: using video evidence to police intentional misrepresentation without compromising data protection or data storage; most attempts at intentional misrepresentation are managed by the classifiers – it’s a minority of athletes that proceed to a disciplinary process.

Key points of the presentation: the relationship between knowledge of the classification process and the level of trust placed in it; the lack of opportunity to report concerns; and the need to enforce the sanctions that exist for those who have been found to have intentionally misrepresented.

On a blue background there are seven figures. From left to right the figures are an ice sledge hockey athlete, a boccia athlete, a goalball athlete, a classifier, an athlete running, a wheelchair basketball athlete, and a badminton athlete. Below the seven figures is the following text: "INTEGRITY AND INVESTIGATIONS Presenters Michael Hutchinson: Head of Classification Iain Gowans PLY: Classification Compliance and Oversight Committee" In the bottom right hand corner of the image is the logo of the International Paralympic Committee.

Last week I presented the main findings of my Doctoral Thesis at the International Paralympic Committee’s Annual Classification Meeting. More than 150 people attended the meeting, representing National Paralympic Committees and International Federations across the Paralympic Movement.

Iain is pictured in the right of the picture wearing a blue jacket and blue and white checked shirt. In the left of the picture is The University of Edinburgh logo.

Yesterday, I led a disability workshop for Sports Management degree students at @edinburgh-uni.bsky.social.

We covered models of disability, the history of the Paralympic Games, nations winning medals at the Paralympic Games (including Russia!) and, of course, intentional misrepresentation.

🙏Thank you to my supervisors Prof Daniel Rhind, Dr Serhat_Yilmaz, Prof Vicky Goosey-Tolfrey (all from
@lborouniversity.bsky.social and Dr Emma Beckman from University of Queensland. Thank you to the athletes, support staff, and classifiers who completed a survey and agreed to be interviewed. 🙏
5/5

4️⃣actions proposed:

1. Compulsory education for athletes with learning outcomes of: athlete responsibilities; a culture of honesty and fair play.
2. Video recording the classification process
3. Longer bans for wrongdoing
4. More support for classifiers

4/5

Findings:

· Minority of athletes surveyed were confident that a classifier would notice if an athlete tried to mislead
· Athlete capacity to intentionally misrepresent is dependent on impairment type
· Support staff uniquely placed to spot intentional misrepresentation

3/5

The thesis adopts a Pragmatic Approach as its research paradigm and takes a Social Relational position on disability 📚

3️⃣separate but related studies – a bespoke online survey, interviews, and a Delphi survey. 2/5

Here it is❗😋 The full bhuna ❗🍴

My PhD thesis is now available to read via @lborouniversity.bsky.social
library repository.

63,877 words on intentional misrepresentation (cheating classification) in Para sport! 🤓

doi.org/10.26174/the...

*et al. are Prof Daniel Rhind, Dr Serhat Yilmaz, and Prof Vicky Goosey-Tolfrey from @lborouniversity.bsky.social, and Dr Emma Beckman from The University of Queensland.

Picture shows the following cropped text: "performance and address" in black, then immediately below that "(Gowans et al., 2025;" in blue

This article in Adapted Physical Activity Quarterly is my first ever citing🥳! Gowans et al. (2025) off and running!

doi.org/10.1123/apaq...

Rafael Lima Kons from the Universidade Federal da Bahia, Brazil, includes intentional misrepresentation as one of the challenges Para Judo faces. 🥋

Iain is wearing sunglasses and smiling at the camera. On the left there is a pop-up banner with "EPYG EUROPEAN PARA YOUTH GAMES GROW/ASPIRE/PLAY" written on it. Below the words is the Games mascot, who is a cat with a prosthetic left leg and is wearing a-t-shirt with the same wording that's on the banner.

Photograph of Dan, Iain, and Wongyeong wearing matching green t-shirts. They are standing in front of banners that show the logos and names of the Türkiye National Paralympic Committee, the European Paralympic Youth Games, the International Paralympic Committee, and the European Paralympic Committee.

Wongyeong sits smiling behind a table with bucket hats and stickers on it. Behind her the screen says "Sport Class" with smaller text underneath that cannot be distinguished. On the left and right there are blue and red banners with the International Paralympic Committee written on them. On the far left sits a volunteer wearing a red t-shirt.

Four athletes surround the table while Dan talks them through what they need to do receive an item from the table. Bucket hats, stickers, and a QR code can be seen on the table. An athlete support staff members stands to the left of the athletes. Wongyeong and a volunteer stand behind the table. Behind the volunteer is a blue pop-up banner with International Paralympic Committee written on it

Last week, I was at the European Youth Para Games supporting Daniel Harding and Wongyeong Jang deliver classification education .

With more than 600 athletes, all under the age of 24, this was the ideal opportunity for @paralympics.org to deliver it's outreach programme.

The article is from my PhD thesis, so co-authors are my supervisors: Daniel Rhind, Serhat Yilmaz, Vicky Goosey-Tolfrey (all from Loughborough University) and Emma Beckman (University of Queensland).

Image is the top quarter of the first page of an article in the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics. The article’s headline is “Prioritised actions to reduce the threat of cheating classification in Para sport: a Delphi study” and the authors are listed as: Iain Gowans, Serhat Yilmaz, Victoria L. Goosey-Tolfrey, Emma M. Beckman & Daniel J. A. Rhind

Here we go! My first ever published article in a journal! 🙌

🙏 Thank you to the 29 athletes, support staff, and classifiers, who completed 3 rounds of an online survey, prioritising actions to reduce the threat of cheating
classification in Para sport.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Iain stands on the left of the photograph, with Alex Shill, Jonnie Riall holding a Beijing 2022 Paralympic Torch, Jen Barsby holding a London 2012 Paralympic Medal, and Ben Quilter holding a London 2012 Paralympic Torch. They are all standing behind a table covered with a blue tablecloth with the ParalympicsGB logo and Paralympic Potential logos above a hashtag #BeTheFuture

On Saturday, I really enjoyed supporting the @paralympicsgb.bsky.social stand at the Scottish Disability Sport National Exhibition. A great event despite the weather! #BeTheFuture

ParalympicsGB | Paralympicsgb’s athlete community reunites team members from across the decades Official home of ParalympicsGB - the Great Britain and Northern Ireland team that competes at the Paralympic summer and winter Games, run by the British Paralympic Association. Meet the athletes, find...

The press release from the event is here: paralympics.org.uk/articles/par...

A photo of Iain with Dave Clarke, Chief Executive of ParalympicsGB. They are both facing the camera and smiling. The background says "Recognition Tokens" but Iain's head is in front of some of the letters of "Recognition".

A photo of Iain smiling, listening to Jon Amos talk. Jon has his back to the camera. There are a number of other people sat talking in the background.

A photo of Iain listening to Stephen Payton talk. They are both standing up. Iain is facing the camera, Stephen is facing away from the camera.

A photo of Iain listening to Kelly Gallagher speak, they are both sat at a table.

On Saturday I had the pleasure of catching up with some long-standing friends at the @paralympicsgb.bsky.social
inaugural athlete reunion.

I received my Recognition Token from ParalympicsGB’s Chief Executive Dave Clarke, and had great chats with Paralympians old and new!

Banner says "Athlete Community" above the ParalympicsGB logo and "Once a Paralympian, always a Paralympian" below it

📢two weeks to go to the first ever @paralympicsgb.bsky.social reunion event🥳
📅Saturday 31 May 📅
📍Stirling Court Hotel & Conference Centre, FK9 4LA 🌍

🤔not got your invite yet? rsvp to: shorturl.at/SUhD8 📧

Paralympians can claim up to £50 travel expenses (usual ts + cs apply)

YouTube video by Dr Amina Yonis Preparing For Your PhD Thesis Defense Viva | Questions You WILL Be Asked

This video from @draminayonis.bsky.social was a big help when preparing for the viva. Excellent advice on how to re-read your thesis and anticipate some of the questions that the examiners will ask.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=yliT...

I successfully defended my thesis this week and passed my viva exam. Throughout my PhD journey, the account @thephdplace.bsky.social helped keep me going. If you're PhDing or thinking of starting - give them a follow.

Photo shows people from left to right, with the Peter Harrison Centre for Disability Sport sign above their heads: Serhat Yilmaz, Vicky Tolfrey, Daniel Rhind, Iain Gowans, and Emma Pullen.

🥳 Yesterday, I successfully defended my thesis and passed my viva exam! 👨‍🎓

Many thanks to @drbenpowis.bsky.social and Emma Pullen for a firm but fair exam, as well as to my supervisory team of Daniel Rhind, Serhat Yilmaz, Vicky Goosey-Tolfrey, and Emma Beckman.

Here's a one-minute teaser🗣️

YouTube video by Let's Talk Para #15 Iain Gowans Diving deep into Classification and the Paralympic Journey

Yasmina and I crammed a lot into our 45-minute conversation!

We covered the importance of disabled children playing sport #EqualPlay @paralympicsgb.bsky.social, what it feels like to be classified, and why some athletes might try to cheat classification.

youtu.be/0J3DB2HS3OY?...

Photo shows a screen above a door that shows the lecture room is booked for Iain Gowans to present Conceptualising Sport

Last week I lectured on conceptualising disability sport.

I took 2nd year Loughborough Uni undergraduates from how society perceived disability in biblical times, to 2024 Paralympic Games, and Paralympians on Strictly Come Dancing!

Namechecks included Drs. Marx, Foucault, Guttman, and Oliver.

Photo shows Scotland's Hugh Nibloe sat behind Charlotte McKenna holding her chair steady, as Charlotte is about to deliver a curling stone down the ice with a long curling cue.

I'm pretty fortunate to have the Wheelchair Curling Mixed Doubles World Championship just down the road from me in North Ayrshire.
Best of luck to Scotland in the quarter finals this morning.

Cover page of thesis. Text reads: Cheating the classification process: mitigating the ‘greatest threat’ to the integrity of Para sport by Iain Gowans Doctoral Thesis Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of Doctor of Philosophy of Loughborough University

📣Yesterday I submitted my thesis! 📣

🙂Looking forward to defending in it May🙂

Photo of Peter, a white man nearly 40, sitting in wheelchair and engaging smile. He works on a laptop, and wears a green hoody with a disabled-gingerbreadman theme. He has short dark curly hair, glasses and a trimmed beard.

I make a newsletter on international disability news and I need your help.

The two biggest challenges for a project like this are visibility and financing.

Please share, to help others find it.

And if you're comfortable, it runs on pay-what-you-can.

www.disabilitydebrief.org/debrief/open...

YouTube video by Loughborough University Guide to Paralympic classification

As the profile of @theparalympicgames.bsky.social continues to grow, we need to get better at explaining classification to our audience.

Here's a wee 2-minute video that I did with
@lborouniversity.bsky.social - using Wheelchair Rugby as an example.

youtu.be/Av7WoeeM0RI?...

📣@theparalympicgames.bsky.social are recruiting:

• Head of Classification
• Classification Research Project Senior Manager
• Classification Manager
• Vision Impairment Classification Manager

Job descriptions and application process are at the bottom of this link: www.paralympic.org/careers