The UKSI Female Athlete Health and Performance Team share 10 highlights for IWD

The UK Sports Institute (UKSI) Female Athlete Health and Performance Team is dedicated to supporting female athletes right across the high performance community.

This International Women’s Day (IWD), and with just months to go until the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, we asked members of the team to share their highlights from the past year:

1. “I run a weekly clinic at Bisham Abbey for female Olympic and Paralympic athletes across the network and they can be referred by their CMO [Chief Medical Officer] for any female athlete issue, so that could be menstrual, pelvic or breast health, or symptoms related to female hormones that are affecting training and performance. I also see athletes around pregnancy and following pregnancy, on their return to training. I’m delighted we’ve been able to evolve this service so that it can be delivered remotely, enabling us to support more athletes than ever before in the build-up to Paris.” – Dr Kate Hutchings, Clinical Lead

2. “Launching a female-focused podcast just before Christmas felt like a huge moment for our team and we were extremely proud to be able to share that with the athletes we support, as well as the wider public.” – Dr Anita Biswas, Head of Sports Medicine and Co-Lead of Female Athlete Health and Performance

3. “Perhaps less glamorous, but no less important, we’ve continued to run webinars, roadshows and online education modules, not just for athletes, but for their support teams as well.” – Dr Anita Biswas

4. “Through the prestigious British Academy Innovation Fellowships scheme, we partnered with the University of Nottingham to run a research project to explore how women’s sporting environments – their social and cultural context when training and competing – influenced their experiences of both minor and major injuries. We hope the findings can help to positively shape the experiences of athletes in the future.” – Dr Victoria Downie, Senior Performance Innovation Consultant

5. “In a first-of-its-kind partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University, we recently announced the launch of the Centre of Excellence for Women in Sport. The Centre will support women’s sport and exercise throughout the UK, and across the world, bringing leaders in sport, academia and industry together. We can’t wait to see what the future holds for the Centre.” – Dr Richard Burden, Co-Lead for Female Athlete Health and Performance

6. “We’re also developing international collaborations, working with the Australian Institute of Sport and U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee to improve knowledge generation and dissemination globally. Myself and Anita are currently at the Women in Sport Congress in Sydney, presenting to our counterparts from across the world and strengthening those relationships.” – Dr Richard Burden

7. “We’ve been working to increase breast health education amongst our athlete population and access to high quality sports bras for a number of years. Back in November, we were thrilled to announce that we’re working closely with Panache to continue and enhance this work.” – Fiona Johnson, Senior Performance Innovation Consultant

8. “Our colleagues in the wider Athlete Health Team have continued to work tirelessly, producing informative resources for display at our high performance centres and to share directly with athletes. Our latest resource, all about the menstrual cycle, will be shared imminently.” – Dr Kate Hutchings

9. “Project Minerva got underway within British Rowing, a fantastic collaboration between the UKSI, British Rowing and Manchester Metropolitan University and it was great to see this covered by the BBC.” – Dr Richard Burden

10. “I was delighted to be a guest on Team GB’s Sporty AF series, where I had the pleasure of speaking alongside some of our wonderful female athletes, who shared their own experiences, challenges and highlights with host AJ Odudu.” – Dr Kate Hutchings