World-leading sports science experts will come together with medical professionals from international and professional sports teams in Bath this summer to share cutting edge research on how to keep sportspeople safe and fit.
The International Conference on Injury and Illness Prevention in Sport , taking place at the University of Bath from 17–18 June 2026, will explore the latest evidence, innovations and best practice in athlete health and welfare. It will feature keynote talks, technical sessions and interactive workshops designed to bridge the gap between research and real‑world application.
Highlight issues will include historically under-researched female health issues in sport, as well as athlete mental health and head injuries.
The latest research on bio-banding – grouping young athletes by their biological maturity rather than their age, pioneered by the University of Bath – will also be shared.
Organised by the UK Collaborating Centre on Injury and Illness Prevention in Sport (UKCCIIS), an International Olympic Committee Research Centre of Excellence, the two-day event follows on from the hugely successful inaugural conference in Edinburgh in 2024.
Podium Analytics, an NGO and charity committed to reducing injury in sport, is conference’s Headline Supporter.
Professor Keith Stokes, who is co-organising the conference, is Professor of Applied Physiology at the University and a member of the Centre for Health, and Injury & Illness Prevention in Sport (CHi2PS). He said: “Our aim is to make sport safer while enhancing performance outcomes. Injury prevention and athlete health underpin everything we do in performance medicine, and this conference is about giving practitioners the insight and tools they need to make meaningful improvements both in professional and community sport.”
Dr Debbie Palmer, IOC Research Centre lead, Edinburgh Sports Medicine Research Centre Director (ESMRC) and sports injury specialist at The University of Edinburgh, said: “We’ve built our programme around the real challenges sports practitioners tell us they’re facing, including the mental health pressures on athletes, the gaps in evidence around female athlete health and winter sports, and the complexities of growth and maturation in youth sport.”
Translating research into practice
Designed to meet the needs of both clinical and performance-based practitioners, the event will emphasise translating cutting‑edge research into applied practice.
Alongside Dr Palmer, keynote speeches will be delivered by Professor Roald Bahr from the Norwegian School of Sports Sciences and Professor Kirsty Elliot-Sale from Manchester Metropolitan University.
Sessions already confirmed include:
Growth and Maturation, chaired by Bath’s Professor Sean Cumming, with experts from University College Dublin and Athletic Club Bilbao discussing injury risk and development in youth athletes.
Data‑Driven Innovation in Sport, featuring speakers from the University of Cambridge, Google and the University of Bath exploring AI, wearable sensing and advanced analytics for performance and injury reduction.
Female Athlete Health, chaired by the University of Edinburgh, addressing RED‑S, social media and youth athlete mental health, and long‑term wellbeing of retired Olympians.
Injury Prevention in Winter Sports, with speakers from the International Olympic Committee, Oslo Sports Trauma Centre and British Olympic Association, focussing on novel injury prevention interventions in skeleton and snow-based sports course design.
Advancing Mental Health in Sport, involving experts from the UK Sports Institute and FIFPRO (the global representative organisation for professional footballers) focusing on promoting and supporting mental health in athletes.
Other sessions, on topics including respiratory medicine and performance medicine will also take place.
Strengthening global leadership in sports medicine
The conference will build upon the University of Bath’s international reputation in the sports research. Recent contributions from researchers to the IOC World Conference on Prevention of Injury and Illness in Sport highlighted the University’s impact on issues including head injuries, youth athlete health, and machine learning‑based injury surveillance.
Professor Stokes’ keynote at that event highlighted Bath’s long-standing research leadership in rugby injury prevention, including globally adopted law changes and technology supported monitoring.
See how our research is making rugby safer
Registration
Tickets are now available, including access to all sessions, the conference dinner on 17 June, and the welcome reception and sessions for early career researchers on 16 June.