As a member of the Research and Insight team, I’m tasked with exploring data ranging from high level statistics to individuals’ experiences to gain a greater understanding of people’s relationship with physical activity in Lancashire and steer the development and delivery of effective initiatives and partnerships.
Why I Do What I Do
The wealth of research demonstrating the beneficial impact of physical activity on people’s lives can’t be argued with and, on an individual level, we all know how good it feels to take part in it (or at least afterwards we do). I think if we can encourage more people to recognise this and live healthier, more fulfilling lives, our communities will also be healthier and happier to live.
Living Our Values
Everyone Counts: I’ve consciously tried to learn more about the barriers different groups of people face to getting active, whether that’s coming from a more disadvantaged social group or having a physical disability. If we start identifying ways to help those with the greatest barriers become more active, we can make it easier for everyone else too.
Influencing Change: I try to practice what I preach – for example, I ride my bike to work as often as I can because we promote active travel. I think critical thinking is really important too when faced with the complex challenges we face in getting people more active.
Forward Thinking: I make an effort to attend relevant webinars and training to help inform my work and consider different approaches or ways of working that could benefit our organization.
My Active Lancashire
Sport has never been my thing but I’ve always enjoyed being active, doing things like hiking, running and cycling. Generally I like things that get me outside more, but I have recently gotten into indoor climbing too. Active travel is also something I personally value and usually where I get most of my active minutes for the week from!
Favourite Green or Blue Space
I enjoy visiting most natural spaces, anywhere I can be active and engage with nature more, but the Forest of Bowland is on my to-do list for this year to visit more and do some cycling around.
A Project I’m Proud Of
In R&I we tend to feed a little into a lot of different workstreams so it’s hard to define a single achievement, but I’m passionate about environmental sustainability so really enjoy working on opportunities to tie this into our physical activity agenda.
Let’s Connect
You can get in touch with me at my email [email protected]
