WADA Calls for Contributions for ‘Unintentional Doping’ Research Project
The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is pleased to launch a Call for Contributions for its Unintentional Doping Research Project.
WADA’s Taskforce on Unintentional Doping invites everyone, including athletes, athlete support personnel (e.g., coaches, physicians, parents), anti-doping practitioners, academics, and policymakers to share their personal experiences, professional opinions, research evidence, and examples of emerging practices regarding unintentional doping. WADA’s aim is to better understand the causes and consequences of unintentional doping so they can develop preventative strategies for athletes, athlete support personnel and anti-doping organizations.
Deadline: 23 June 2025
Unintentional Doping
Unintentional doping occurs when an athlete or athlete support personnel unknowingly breaks an anti-doping rule. These cases can have wide-ranging and at times life-changing consequences, making this topic crucial to understand. Unintentional doping is particularly distressing for athletes and their support personnel/entourage.
The goal of the Call for Contributions is to get a deeper understanding of the nature of unintentional doping, which involves determining the scale of the problem and understanding the scenarios that could lead to unintentional doping. For more details, please visit the Unintentional Doping page.
Professor Susan Backhouse, Chair of the Taskforce, said: “Unintentional doping is a complex behavioral problem, which, at its core, means it cannot be resolved by any one organization or in isolation. This is why engaging the whole community on this issue is so important. It was encouraging to see the importance of the work of the Taskforce highlighted at WADA’s Annual Symposium, as well as the common theme of collaboration, which will be crucial for addressing this issue. The Call for Contributions is a key component of the Taskforce’s commitment to developing a better understanding of unintentional doping and ultimately, how we can work towards preventing it.”
WADA’s Director of Education, Amanda Hudson, shared: “WADA is pleased to announce the next steps of this crucial social science research project. This Call for Contributions underlines WADA’s commitment to seek input from athletes and the wider anti-doping community to help inform the work WADA does. WADA’s goal is simple—we aim to reduce the incidence of unintentional doping in order to better protect clean athletes. I encourage everyone who has experience with or constructive thoughts about unintentional doping to contribute to this research project to better inform the work of this Taskforce. WADA wishes to thank the Fonds de recherche du Québec for supporting the social science research that is fundamental to anti-doping efforts and making this project a reality.”
Make a submission
To participate in the Call for Contributions, please fill in the form by clicking on the link below.
- Submissions are open to everyone.
- Submissions can be made anonymously.
- Submissions can be made in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, and Russian.
Share your thoughts and experiences
Partagez vos réflexions et vos expériences
Comparta sus reflexiones y experiencias
Поделитесь своими мыслями и опытом
These contributions will support the goal of the Taskforce in proposing an evidence-informed approach to the prevention of unintentional doping.
Privacy and confidentiality
The Call for Contributions on Unintentional Doping is powered by SurveyMonkey. You can review Survey Monkey’s privacy policy here. All contributions will be reviewed confidentially by the Taskforce in line with WADA’s Privacy Policy and the International Standard for the Protection of Privacy and Personal Information. Those making submissions can also provide their contact information should they be willing to contribute further to the Unintentional Doping Research Project.
About the Taskforce on Unintentional Doping
WADA’s Taskforce on Unintentional Doping is a research-focused Working Group that is responsible for providing expert advice, recommendations, and guidance on developing an evidence-informed approach to the prevention of unintentional doping. The work of the Taskforce is co-funded by WADA and the Fonds de recherche du Québec with which WADA renewed a Memorandum of Understanding in 2022.
The work of the Taskforce is part of a multi-pronged approach to the matter of unintentional doping. As it relates to contamination specifically:
- In 2018, WADA formed a Contaminants Working Group that is responsible for providing expert advice, recommendations and guidance with regards to prohibited substances that are contaminants.
- On 27 March 2025, WADA’s Executive Committee approved creation of a new WADA Working Group on Contaminations (WGC), which will be responsible for conducting a global review on sources of contamination leading to adverse analytical findings (AAFs) and anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs) in sport. It will also provide guidance and recommendations to the ExCo on potential improvements to the regulations and processes to further take into account the risk of such contaminations, while also maintaining an efficient anti-doping system.
The three Groups will work together in a coordinated and complementary fashion.
(This article was first published on WADA’s website on 3rd April)
