Hollin, G. orcid.org/0000-0003-4348-8272 (Accepted: 2025) Who should mark the homework? Concussion, conflicts of interest, and the constitution of expertise. Critical Public Health. ISSN 0958-1596 (In Press)
Abstract
Concussion in sport is increasingly understood as a public health crisis. A key facet of this crisis concerns claims that industry-funded research results in conflicts of interest that fundamentally compromises scholarship. This poses a particular problem for policymakers when adjudicating upon who counts as an expert and what do to with the evidence that they provide. In this paper, I explore these matters in relation to the ‘Concussion in Sport’ report produced by the House of Commons’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee. I ask, first, which stakeholders submit evidence to the Committee and, second, how evidence provided by those stakeholders is marshalled within the report itself. I show that, despite concerns about conflicts of interest, a significant body of interdisciplinary scholarship is submitted to the Committee. The report itself, however, understands academic scholarship as being both deficient and compromised, drawing exclusively upon epidemiological and neuroscientific work. I conclude by suggesting such an approach compromises the committee’s own hope for an increasingly expansive notion of expertise.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2025 The Author(s). |
Keywords: | Concussion; Conflicts of Interest; Dementia; Expertise; Sport |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Sociological Studies (Sheffield) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number Wellcome Trust 222157/Z/20/Z |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 28 May 2025 14:53 |
Last Modified: | 28 May 2025 15:02 |
Status: | In Press |
Publisher: | Taylor and Francis Group |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1080/09581596.2025.2507854 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:227104 |
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