The fifth and final two-yearly symposium associated with the long-running Beats (Built Environment and Active Transport to School) research programme brought together researchers and representatives of schools, councils, transport and health agencies.
Lead researcher, adjunct professor Sandy Mandic, said the symposium was an opportunity to share the breadth of research findings from the past nine years.
It also allowed discussions of the latest findings from data collected this year at all 12 Dunedin high schools in the Beats 2 study.
In June, the Beats 2 study team completed collecting data on 1828 pupils aged 13 to 18 years.
It covered everything from how they travel to and from school and general activity levels to school bag weights and screen time.
The Beats 2 study was a follow up to the original Beats 1 study in 2014-15.
Beats 1 has generated 34 scientific papers so far, drawn international attention, and is recognised as having real-world applications for the planning of cycling and walking infrastructure.
Among its key findings were only a third of pupils used active transport (walking and cycling) to and from school, fewer than a fifth were meeting basic activity guidelines, and they were spending an average of five hours a day on screens.
Prof Mandic said the Beats 2 study, known as a "natural experiment", asked a new cohort of rangatahi many of the same questions as the original.
It also closely focused on factors such as school bag weights, the impact of school neighbourhoods, and the long term effect of cycle skills training.
The follow-up study allowed researchers to compare the two studies to see what changes there may have been in the intervening years.
"We did not do the data collection during Covid-19 lockdowns, only while pupils were at school, so that has affected the data somewhat," Prof Mandic said.
The results indicated that only one-fifth of adolescents were meeting basic activity guidelines, and fewer than that were meeting screen time guidelines of under two hours of recreational screen time a day.
The study of the impact of cycle skills training showed that only a third of young people who had received the training at primary and intermediate school felt more confident to cycle to school.
"It showed that the training is not sufficient on its own, and that it should be only one component of encouraging young people to be more active," Prof Mandic said.
"Overall, there has been very little change in the activity levels among young people between the two studies — it is still a major issue."
The researchers had gathered data on the impact of changes to cycling and walking infrastructure, but this was still to be analysed next year.
She said the Beats research team had funding for the "natural experiment" until September, 2023, after which the project would wrap up.
"There are still lots of findings to deliver, and we are looking forward to working on that."
By then, the Beats research programme would have been running for 10 years.
"It has been an absolutely incredible learning journey for all of us.
"It is incredible to reflect on the number of people involved and the friendships we have made."
