Category: Featured Blogs

In this featured blog, PhD Student Kevin Volf provides an overview of a recently published study, of which he is lead author, which is the first to apply the Physical Activity Environment Policy Index (PA-EPI) monitoring framework to assess the extent of implementation of government policies and actions: If you’re reading this you probably agree…
Read more

As part of a three-year Marie Curie Fellowship funded by the European Commission, Associate Professor Aurélie van Hoye and Professor Catherine Woods (PAfH, University of Limerick) set out to develop a tool to support the design and implementation of health promotion policies and actions by sports clubs. In this blog, Marie Curie Fellow Aurélie Van…
Read more

Get Ireland Walking, in collaboration with a research team from South East Technological University, set out to investigate how useful systems approaches can be to Get Ireland Walking’s national and local walking promotion work in Ireland. This blog outlines one research study conducted by Dylan Power, Dr Barry Lambe, and Prof Niamh Murphy which investigates…
Read more

Whole-of-school physical activity initiatives have been identified by the International Society for Physical Activity and Health (ISPAH) as one of the eight investments that work for physical activity. However, research shows that they can be challenging to design and to implement, particularly at scale. Ireland’s Active School Flag (ASF) programme is a whole-of-school physical activity initiative…
Read more

Whole-of-systems approaches – involving communication and alignment between organisations working across sectors and disciplines – are increasingly prominent in public health and health promotion. Notably, The World Health Organisation’s Global Action Plan for Physical Activity (GAPPA) is a global call to action for governments to adopt whole-of-systems approaches to address physical inactivity. Get Ireland Walking –…
Read more

Sport England’s research highlights “The Enjoyment Gap”, which limits women’s involvement in physical activity. This research shows that the pandemic and cost of-living crisis have had a disproportionate impact on women. As a result, women have less to spend on weekly budgets and less time to spend on themselves, which has impacted negatively their physical…
Read more

April 6th marks World Day for Physical Activity. The World Day for Physical Activity is promoted through the WHO and Agita Mundo – World Physical Activity Network, a group of international governmental and non-governmental institutions who strive to disseminate the benefits of adopting a more active and healthy lifestyle by doing some physical activity daily.…
Read more

A qualitative systematic review from I-PARC was published in the International Journal for Behavioural Nutrition and Physical Activity in September 2021. The aim of the review was to report on facilitators and barriers of implementation for interventions which promote physical activity in community-based settings. A secondary aim was to provide recommendations to improve implementation identified…
Read more