Moving Bodies Lab Postdoctoral Research Associates, Emily Davis and Kate Marks, write:
Emily Davis and Kate Marks, Postdoctoral Research Associates in the Moving Bodies Lab, recently presented their work at the International Conference on Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise (QRSE) at the University of Toronto, Canada. This multi-day conference brought together global researchers working in qualitative research and sport and exercise sciences, spanning across career stages and research interests. Durham University’s Department of Sport and Exercise Sciences was well-represented, including current President, Dr Toni Williams, and past President, Professor Brett Smith.
Kate kicked off the conference with a pre-conference workshop, co-led with Brett (Co-Lead Narrative Practices Lab), focused on ‘Analysing Qualitative Data: Glowing with Transgressive Data’. This workshop provided a critical context to analysing qualitative data. Against that context, which we described as simultaneously one of ‘rise and proliferation’ and ‘shallowing and narrowing’, the idea of transgressive data was explored. Transgressive data is data which falls outside typical, predefined categories in qualitative research and requires alternative interpretive approaches to understanding. The approach focussed on in this workshop was ‘Data Glow’ used by Kate with the Moving Intersectionality project. This is inspired by the work of Manchester based academic, Professor Maggie Maclure, feminist new materialism, and post-qualitative inquiry. The workshop is interactive and is an invitation to collaboratively expand how we might do qualitative analysis in the sport, exercise and health sciences.
Later in the conference, Emily presented some of her research related to developing dance-centred research methods, ‘Movement Interviews: Appreciating the Form and Function of Dancing with Multiple Sclerosis’. Her work spoke to wider interests shared during other conference sessions around further exploring the potential of arts-based methods and creative practice in qualitative research in sport and exercise sciences. Emily’s work contributed to this growing area of interest, providing a tangible example of arts-based and movement-centred research practices for meaningfully engaging and capturing lived experiences of living and dancing with multiple sclerosis (MS).
Kate also presented research from Moving Intersectionality. This project draws on intersectional co-production and post-qualitative inquiry to understand the embodied physical activity experiences of multiply marginalised people. Drawing on co-produced findings this work is addressing social workers’, health workers’ and sports organisations calls for resources to support intersectional promotion of physical activity.
Following the conference, Emily also visited Canada’s National Ballet School, attending their dance for Parkinson’s and dance for dementia sessions, along with hearing further about their ongoing research project, ‘Sharing Dance’, engaging older adults across Canada in meaningful dance experiences.
Emily and Kate are grateful to have had the chance to start building international bridges between their work in the medical humanities and sport and exercise sciences through QRSE.
