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. 2025 Jun;55(6):1329-1338.
doi: 10.1007/s40279-025-02210-9. Epub 2025 Apr 29.

The Welsh Institute of Performance Science: A Decade of Integrated Knowledge Translation in Elite Sport

Camilla J Knight  1   2 , Kurtis Pankow  3 , David A Shearer  4   5 , Joy D Bringer  5 , Brian R Davies  6 , Owen C Lewis  6 , Stephen R Woodfine  7 , Liam P Kilduff  3   4
Affiliations

The Welsh Institute of Performance Science: A Decade of Integrated Knowledge Translation in Elite Sport

Camilla J Knight et al. Sports Med. 2025 Jun.

Abstract

Sport science researchers and practitioners have noted a gap between research and practice for some time. Although several solutions have been proposed, few recommendations have been made for researchers to follow that are based on successful, long-term sport science research programmes aimed at translating research into practice. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to outline a decade of work completed by the Welsh Institute of Performance Science as an institute for sport-based integrated knowledge translation. The aim is to provide a framework for other researchers and institutes to follow when engaging with organisations for long-term research-to-practice partnerships. In addition to outlining the development and functioning of the Welsh Institute of Performance Science to guide others, limitations of the approach used are also presented and considered to facilitate the future development of sport-specific models of knowledge translation, ensuring that the excellent research conducted across the disciplines of sport science effectively impacts the work of practitioners.

Plain language summary

In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on addressing the gap between research and practice within sport science and sport medicine. To date, however, there are few published examples detailing exactly how academic research might be integrated within sports organisations. This article explains how the Welsh Institute of Performance Science has attempted to do this using an adapted knowledge translation approach. Specifically, based on a decade of work, it is apparent that Welsh Institute of Performance Science has helped athletes, coaches, sport organisations and researchers engage in a collaborative process that gets research into the hands of practitioners and makes a substantial contribution to practice while still benefiting researchers.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Funding: No sources of funding were used to assist in the preparation of this article. Conflicts of Interest/Competing Interests: All authors (with the exception of Kurtis Pankow) were involved in the development and subsequent work of the WIPS. No authors receive any financial compensation for their work with WIPS. Sport Wales (which employs Brian R. Davies, Owen C. Lewis and formerly Joy D. Bringer) provide the funding for WIPS, which is paid to Swansea University (which employs Camilla J. Knight, Kurtis Pankow and Liam P. Kilduff) and University of South Wales (which employs David A. Shearer) to hire WIPS research assistants. Ethics Approval: Not applicable. Consent to Participate: Not applicable. Consent for Publication: Not applicable. Availability of Data and Material: There are no data associated with this article. However, WIPS annual reports are available from: https://www.swansea.ac.uk/sport-exercise-sciences/astem/wips/ . Code Availability: Not applicable. Authors’ Contributions: All authors (with the exception of KP) have been involved in the development and subsequent work of the WIPS. KP and CK conceived the idea for the article. KP wrote the initial draft. CK and LK revised the original manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Knowledge to action process. Reproduced from Graham et al. [12] with permission
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Original performance domains addressed by the Welsh Institute of Performance Science (WIPS) team. Reproduced from [22], with permission
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Welsh Institute of Performance Science (WIPS) integrated knowledge translation model. Reproduced from [22], with permission
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

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