VISTA 2025 welcomes leading sport ethicist Professor Mike McNamee as keynote speaker

Professor Mike McNamee, a globally renowned expert in sport ethics and integrity, has been confirmed as the third keynote speaker at VISTA 2025, the IPC’s scientific conference dedicated to advancing research and innovation in Para sport. The conference will take place in Cairo, Egypt from 7 – 10 December 2025 and will focus on “Developing Para Sport: Inclusion, Transformation, Health and Performance.” 

At VISTA 2025, Professor McNamee will deliver a keynote titled “Towards a Philosophy of Paralympism”, addressing the absence of a widely accepted philosophical foundation for the Paralympic Movement. Drawing on the method of conceptual engineering, he will explore how a coherent framework for Paralympism might be developed, one that balances values such as athletic excellence and inclusion, and ensures integrity in both competition and institutions.

Professor McNamee holds dual appointments at KU Leuven, Belgium (Department of Movement Sciences) and Swansea University, UK (School of Sport and Exercise Sciences). With over 40 years of interdisciplinary experience across philosophy, sports science, medicine, engineering, and policing, he has shaped the ethical discourse in sport through his research, teaching, and leadership.

He currently serves as Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ethics, Regulation and Integrity in Sport (iCERIS) and leads two Europe-wide graduate programmes: the Erasmus Mundus MA in Sport Ethics and Integrity (MAiSI) and the Marie Sklodowska Curie Doctoral Training Network (DAiSI). His extensive body of work includes over 20 books and 200 academic publications, covering topics such as anti-doping, Paralympic ethics, athlete welfare, and governance.

McNamee said: “I am really looking forward to joining up with the Paralympic scientific community at VISTA 2025 in Cairo.  I am eager to try to navigate the concept of Parlympism in my talk, trying to articulate some key idea that might help clarify what this concept amounts to and how it might balance its commitment to elite sport and the principle of inclusion which has been central to its ethos since the early days of disability sport more generally.  

“Working through these ideas I intend to show how this debate sheds light promoting and preserving the integrity of Paralympic competitions. I hope very much that I can draw on the expertise of this community to help me chart these difficult issues.”

VISTA 2025 is the premier global conference dedicated to innovation, inclusion, and integrity in Paralympic sport. The event will bring together thought leaders, researchers, and practitioners from around the world to shape the future of the Paralympic movement.

Registration for VISTA 2025 is now open. Register now.