We need your help with ARI8

We've recently published our Sport England Areas of Research Interest (ARIs) that set out the key topic areas where we feel more evidence is needed to help us achieve our mission of tackling inequalities so everyone can enjoy the benefits of sport and physical activity.

One of these ARIs refers to the impacts of the changing climate on people, places and sport and physical activity, that's the one called ARI8.

We know that with greater knowledge of the implications of climate change for the sector we will be able to better develop evidence-based policy, practice and strategies for the future.

Help build our evidence base to inform policy and practice

For this reason we are now also looking to collate existing insight and evidence on how climate change impacts participation in sport and physical activity at grassroots level. Specifically, the impact on:

• participants
• those providing sport and physical activity opportunities (i.e. the workforce)
• the places and spaces where people are active.

We are particularly keen on understanding how people may change their behaviours and how providers are adapting their activity offers in response to the changing climate.

So if you have insight and evidence that can help fill this gap, please get in touch and share it with us by Friday 19 September.

We aim to produce a summary of the existing insight and evidence, as well as identifying where there are research gaps. This knowledge will help to guide policy, practice and future research.

What we’d love to hear about

To help us in understanding ARI8, we invite you to share any evidence and insight you have that addresses the following:

• How climate change (e.g. more frequent and intense weather events) affects attitudes, behaviours and participation in sport and physical activity, for both the workforce and its participants.
• How climate change is impacting facilities, infrastructure and the availability of opportunities to be active.
• How the impacts of climate change and the ability to adapt vary across different audiences (including under-represented groups and those with higher health risks), places, sports and activities.
• How the impacts of climate change on sport and physical activity are likely to evolve over the next five to 10+ years, and how the sector can adapt to these challenges, drawing on lessons from other countries and sectors.
• Additional considerations and emerging areas of research that could enhance our understanding of the relationship between climate change, sport and physical activity.

What types of information are we looking for?

We’re looking for any research produced by our partners, researchers/academics, wider organisations or community groups.

Submitted insight should meet all of the following criteria:

• It must address any of the five research questions outlined above.
• Be predominantly focussed on grassroots (rather than elite) level sport and physical activity.
• Be written in English or expressed visually.

How to share your evidence and insight 

Please share any evidence via the ARI contact form. 

As a reminder, the specific ARI relating to this is ARI8: Understanding the impacts of a changing climate on people, places and sport and physical activity.

By sharing evidence with us, you’ll become part of our ARI network as you'll have helped to build the evidence base and you’ll also be able to select, through the form, whether you’d like to hear about opportunities to connect with others on this area of interest.