Research helps to inform our operations and strategic approach to sport integrity, both in Australia and abroad.
We are actively involved in research activities and collaborations with our research partners, academic organisations and other industry partners to explore topics and questions relevant to the evolving nature of integrity in the Australian sporting community.
Research partnerships with us can involve:
- the contribution of subject matter expertise
- support or assistance to inform research
- engagement with the wider sector
- funding.
If you would like to partner with us, or to find out more about our research, please contact us at: research@sportintegrity.gov.au
We are currently funding research into these specific areas:
- Investigation of strategies to combat the threat of online abuse in sport
- Understanding the athlete experience of anti-doping
- Positive Behaviours in Sport
- Children's Perception of Safety in Sport Research
We set our research priorities based on our current and identified future needs, and we review them periodically. These priorities help guide our involvement and investment in research projects and aim to inform the wider research community of the areas of particular interest to us.
Integrity Research forms a key area of the Australia National Sport Research Agenda and assists in contributing to the evidence base of the whole sport sector. To read more about this go to the: National Sport Research Agenda | Clearinghouse for Sport website.
The Clearinghouse for Sport Evidence base hosts existing research, information and insights and is the go-to location for evidence to support your decision making in sport.
Our current research priorities
- Understand the prevalence of and contributing factors to doping in Australian sport.
- Investigate prevalence and factors contributing to inadvertent doping in Australian sport.
- Continual improvement of analytical techniques including emerging substances and novel detection technologies.
- Assess the effectiveness of current anti-doping mitigation strategies (education, disruption, anti-doping testing systems, whereabouts).
- Investigate alternate and more athlete-focused sample collection processes.
- Examine the prevalence and scope of abuse in Australian sport, focusing on child sexual abuse and peer-to-peer abuse, including its mechanisms, impacts and prevention.
- Investigate coaches' comprehension of safeguarding and develop strategies to enhance this.
- Investigate how inclusion, diversity, and organisational culture within the sporting environment contribute to creating safe and supportive spaces for all participants.
- Investigate effective approaches to embedding the athlete voice in safeguarding efforts.
Competition Manipulation and Sport Wagering
- The impact of the distribution of sports data to sport integrity.
- Problem gambling among professional athletes and impacts on sport integrity.
- Examine the dual role of Artificial Intelligence in sport as both a potential integrity threat and a tool for mitigating integrity risks.
- Investigate strategies to enhance safety, prevent misconduct, and promote inclusive leadership for women and girls across all levels of Australian sport.
- Examine behaviours, practices, and protocols that foster culturally safe and positive environments for vulnerable populations in sport.
- Explore and understand integrity matters throughout the life cycle of major sporting events, with a focus on effective implementation of best practice through planning, delivery and legacy phases.
- Investigate effective approaches to managing integrity-related complaints in sport by identifying challenges in the current process and exploring potential solutions, with a focus on the interaction between integrity issues and sports governance.
The Positive Behaviours in Sport Study is an annual survey designed to measure Australians’ understanding and demonstration of positive behaviours while they are involved in sport.
The Positive Behaviours in Sport Study began in 2024 and will run for 5 years. A summary of results from the first survey is expected to be published soon.
Check the Positive Behaviours in Sport Study page for future updates.
In 2022, we commissioned Human and Supplement Testing Australia (HASTA) to purchase and analyse 200 sports supplement products available online in Australia. The aim of the survey was to assess the likelihood of athletes accidentally purchasing a product containing one or more World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Prohibited Substances.
- Of the 200 products tested, 35% or around one in three, were found to contain one or more WADA Prohibited Substances. This demonstrates that the risk from sports supplements in Australia remains high.
- 57% of the positive products did not list the prohibited ingredients on their packaging or website, leaving athletes vulnerable to unknowingly breaching anti-doping rules.
- Products marketed as pre-workouts, fat burners and muscle building were the most likely to be contaminated.
The survey results were published in the international journal ‘Drug Testing and Analysis’ on 3 April 2025. Learn more about our involvement.