Physical activity needs to be available to all levels of society

OVER a hundred academics and activists who are dedicated to boosting the health and well-being of Yorkshire people via physical activity assembled at the University of Huddersfield for a special conference.

And organisers ensured that they would not spend the whole day seated, listening to lectures and presentations, because the event featured a vigorous dance workshop that got all 130 delegates on to their feet.

They also heard lectures that explored the links between poverty and lack of physical exercise and the need to understand the social dimension.

The event was the third annual conference of the Yorkshire and Humber Physical Activity Knowledge Exchange (YoHPAKE).

One of its founders is Dr Kiara Lewis, who is the University of Huddersfield’s Acting Head of Department of Allied Health Professions, Sport and Exercise.  The aim of the organisation is to a bridge the gap between research and practice in physical activity and sport. 

The third annual conference began with a welcome from Professor Jane Owen-Lynch, who is the University’s Pro Vice-Chancellor for Teaching and Learning.

Causes of lack of exercise

The keynote address was given by Brunel University’s Professor Tess Kay, a social scientist who has been working in sport and leisure research since the 1980s.

Her talk was titled Poor People! Why Physical Activity interventions need to recognise the impacts of austerity and deprivation.

“It was a really insightful and interesting presentation that created a lot of interest,” said Dr Lewis.

“She spoke about how we need to know about people’s lives before we can help them.  We shouldn’t just be telling them what to do but we have to understand the real barriers and obstructions that prevent people being active.”

The conference closed with a talk by Professor Paul Bissell – the University of Huddersfield’s Dean of Human and Health Sciences – who described his research into the “social gradient” that results in obesity being most prevalent among the least well-off.

The YoHPAKE conference included a poster exhibition plus workshop sessions and a description of the organisation’s new knowledge hub, from Nicola Corrigan who is Public Health England’s Yorkshire and Humber Health and Wellbeing Programme Manager (Healthy Weight and Physical Activity).

Midway through the day came physical activity for the delegates, in the shape of a bhangra workshop conducted by Hardeep Sahota, an expert in this Indian dance form and a research fellow of the University of Huddersfield who has authored a book on the subject.