I-PARC update – attendance at conferences and workshops

The past two months have seen the I-PARC team travel to a number of conferences and workshops in order to disseminate findings and discuss the next steps of the project

In August, members of the I-PARC team traveled to the University of South Denmark, Odense, Denmark to present at HEPA 2019. In the spirit of collaboration, Joey Murphy (University of Limerick), Sarah O’Brien (Health Service Executive) and Benny Cullen (Sport Ireland) presented an overview of I-PARC as a team. Conference attendees were interested in how different stakeholders work as part of the collaboration and how I-PARC will be sustained in the future. 

After HEPA 2019, members the I-PARC team met with Prof. Adrian Bauman (University of Sydney; I-PARC research collaborator) to discuss the next steps of the project (featured image shows members after this meeting). This half day meeting looked at ways of sustaining the collaboration beyond the project, the development of the standardised evaluation framework and ways for understanding factors linked to the implementation of physical activity initiatives in Ireland.

At the beginning of September, Joey Murphy and Jemima Cooper (University of Limerick) attended the final day of a Pragmatic Evaluation (see twitter page: @Pragmatic_Eval) course run with Local Sport Partnerships through Sport Ireland. The I-PARC team were invited to give a short presentation regarding the use of pragmatic evaluation concepts as part of the standardised evaluation framework being developed. The day showcased a genuine interest in pragmatic evaluation from those directly involved with coordinating physical activity initiatives across Ireland.

On the 14th of September, Joey Murphy attended the parkrun Ireland conference in Dublin. This day celebrated the parkrun community, including those who participate and volunteer. The importance of partnership, showing evidence of change and the volunteer community was made evident throughout the day. A number of moving testimonials also showed the importance of initiatives such as parkrun for community engagement, maintaining mental and physical health, and making new friends. 

I-PARC will now move forward using the knowledge gained from these three key events.The team are starting to investigate ways of sustaining the collaboration long term, working together to create an effective and usable standardised evaluation framework, and creating surveys to better understand what makes Irish physical activities successful. We are looking forward to the busy months ahead and to sharing the I-PARC findings and outputs with you all.

Thank you for reading.

I-PARC Team