Your Movement Matters: walking and climbing research
Your Movement Matters is a new research project looking to build evidence around who is using the outdoors and - just as importantly - how. The project is designed to support the development and implementation of diversity and inclusion strategies.
We all know that large segments of the UK population are underrepresented, under promoted and under supported in our outdoor spaces. All The Elements highlights grassroots organisations and individuals who are leaders in diversifying the outdoors in the uk, but it will take more to shift the tide of ‘the outdoors’ as a sector and industry.
One of the biggest issues is establishing where we are starting from, and providing evidence of the need to change. Your Movement Matters aims to gather this evidence in their survey, which asks a wide range of questions about both people and the type and level of activity they take part in.
It will be the first time data is gathered in one place on aspects such as age, gender, ethnic background, sexuality, disability status and faith of those who walk, climb and camp in the UK. The project is run by Leeds Beckett University, and supported by eight major UK outdoors groups.
And what’s good to see is that it will also target those who are not currently participating in outdoors recreation, to better understand what barriers prevent them from taking part. The social media campaign amplifies the call for everyone to take part in the survey - it features recreational walkers and climbers but also people such as Rory Southworth, a Salomon supported athlete and trail runner.
John Cousins, Chief Executive Officer of Mountain Training UK & Ireland, said “We know that we have a challenge with equity and diversity in the outdoors. We have some headline statistics about those who participate less and they are particularly people from an ethnic minority background, women and those with a disability or long-term health condition. When it comes to taking action to change those headline statistics, there’s not enough detail to help us understand what’s making a difference or which groups of people are participating in which activity. This research project will allow us to close the data gaps, establish clear baselines for participation in each style of activity and develop the resources available to support driving lasting change.
Kath Hipwell, Chief Executive of the Association of British Climbing Walls said, “No one is defined by a single characteristic, so the ability to view this data in its entirety will allow us to build a better picture of the individuals who do and don’t participate, in our case, in indoor climbing, and why. This will enable our member climbing walls to better understand the needs of different groups and make relevant adjustments to their offer to make sure everyone is made to feel welcome in climbing and enabled to participate.”
And to encourage you even more to fill in the survey, if you take part you get a chance to win a £100 Ellis Brigham voucher...
Take part in the survey here: https://leedsbeckettsport.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_bDUDNB3Bheq7lpY
For those interested in further statistics and research, check out the resources page for Research on Diversity in the UK Outdoors. It’s also worth checking out the work Steppers UK and United We Climb have done towards this in their own communities, and SportScotland has previously worked with a number of equity groups to highlight some of the common perceptions of the outdoors.
