As part of their ongoing work to promote inter-sectoral collaboration on the promotion of physical activity, the I-PARC 2021 annual conference took place recently via zoom. This event had Irish and international speakers addressing the broad areas of the opportunities presented by COVID-19. The presentations included a focus on best practice in the areas of health, community sport participation and the built environment.
If you missed the I-PARC 2021 conference you can catch it again by:
- Go to www.-i-parc.ieon along the top and register as a member for free
- Click on the I-PARC Conference 2021 using your email address and password to access the recordings and pdfs from each day.
What is I-PARC?
The Irish Physical Activity Research Collaboration (I-PARC) applies insight, intelligence, and innovation to the challenge of getting more people in Ireland to become more active, more often.
Building capacity for effective delivery of interventions
I-PARC has developed three toolkits:
- A Systems Approach toolkit – what are the enabling contexts that promote physical activity?
- Evaluation Toolkit – how do we measure effective physical activity interventions?
- Implementation toolkit – what are the criteria for effective implementation of physical activity interventions?
These toolkits will be available as part of capacity building workshops later in the year.
A number of research articles are currently under review in peer-reviewed journal to disseminate the learnings from the HRB-funded research project to develop I-PARC. The HRB-funded research project was led by Principal Investigators Dr Catherine Woods (University of Limerick) and Dr Fiona Manseragh (Department of Health) with collaborators Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport, Department of Education & Skills, Health Service Executive, Sport Ireland, University of Ulster, Waterford Institute of Technology, University of Edinburgh, Amsterdam UMC and University of Sydney.
Get involved in IPARC?
To learn more about I-PARC or to stay up-to-date on the work to increase participation in physical activity in Ireland become a member by registering free here or follow us on twitter @IPARC_1.
Why is I-PARC needed?
Although the health benefits of physical activity are well known, insufficient numbers of children (14%; CSPPA, 2018), adults (46%, HI Survey, 2019) and older adults (33%, TILDA, 2016) achieve the recommended levels. Addressing this challenge requires a systems approach, consequently I-PARC brings together researchers, policy makers and practitioners from the world of Physical Activity both in Ireland and internationally to effect real change. I-PARC aims to inspire the best use of evidence, effective delivery and supportive environments for improving activity levels in Ireland.
