The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has awarded grants totalling EUR 900,000 to six projects to carry out multi-disciplinary classification research as part of efforts to further enhance the integrity, credibility and fairness of Para sport competitions.
The grants, provided through the IPC’s Sport for Mobility programme and funded thanks to a grant from Toyota Mobility Foundation, have been awarded to projects that cover intellectual, physical and vision impairments classification and range in duration from 12 to 31 months.
World Rowing and the University of Edinburgh have received a grant to examine how impairment characteristics relate to key performance determinants across the PR1, PR2, and PR3 sport classes. The research aims to identify the optimal sport class structure. This will support the development of clear, objective thresholds for athlete classification and help ensure that the system remains transparent, equitable and based on robust scientific evidence.
To support this work, the research team will collect data throughout 2026 and 2027. Para rowers will take part in physical assessments and ergometer‑based performance testing.
World Rowing is proud to be among the recipients of the IPC Classification Research Grants, in partnership with The University of Edinburgh. This achievement is about far more than funding—it is about the collaborative spirit, expertise and commitment to advancing Para Sport.
A huge thank you to Martine Verheul, Georgios Machtsiras, Simon Goodey, Rebecca Orr, Roberto Nahon, Judy Morrison, Jodie Cameron and Daniela Gomes whose dedication and expertise helped shape this project.
Dr. Mike Peters PLY, IPC Chief Executive Officer, said: “As part of our commitment to advance classification systems and processes across the Paralympic Movement, we are delighted to award Classification Research Grants to six outstanding projects as part of our Sport for Mobility programme.
“The standard of applications received for these grants was exceptional. It has been fantastic to witness so many sport federations working hand-in-hand with academic institutions to strengthen the scientific base that supports decision-making processes in classification. Naturally, we are indebted to Toyota Mobility Foundation for their support of classification, which is the cornerstone of Para sport.”
Tea Cisic, IPC Classification Director, said: “Congratulations to the first-ever recipients of IPC Classification Research Grants under this framework, six tremendous projects that will further improve the scientific base behind Para sports’ classification systems across the different eligible impairments.
“We are pleased to see the growing interest in classification research, the spread of member organisations and scientific community applying for the grant as well as the competitiveness in respect to the quality of the research proposals. In addition to assessing the quality of the proposals, we were tasked with balancing it against our priorities and the funding available.”
For more information please visit:
www.paralympic.org/classification