***APPLICATIONS CLOSED***

Background & Detail:

COVID-19 has impacted many aspects of children’s lives across Scotland. The Data for Children Collaborative with UNICEF ran a project in 2020 ‘Addressing socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 on children in Scotland: A review of capability and available data sets’. One outcome of that project was a snapshot of the data landscape which highlights the depth and breadth of datasets that could be used for understanding the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19.  
 
Recreational sport has long been understood as a crucial mechanism for improved health and wellbeing, as well as having positive impact on social cohesion, education, and the economy. Holistically, however, little is understood of recreational sport accessibility, uptake, and impact for children and young people across Scotland. The COVID-19 pandemic and its unprecedented impact on society has further complicated our understanding in this field and increases the requirement for action.  

The purpose of this challenge question is to answer three fundamental questions; Where has COVID-19 impacted children’s access to recreational sport in the community? Who has been impacted? And how has COVID-19 impacted the facilities, systems, and opportunities that are aimed at supporting young people through sport in their communities? 

Desired Outcome:

Using data driven approaches, a detailed understanding of the barriers to accessing recreational sport across Scotland, and how this has changed through COVID19.

The outcome needs to provide insight into the practical solutions to promote and increase participation, which the Observatory for Sport in Scotland can use to provide advice on policy change.

The outcome should also highlight the data gaps that exist, and practical solutions to bridging these gaps.

Skill Sets:

Below are the broad skill sets needed to meet this challenge. It is likely that there may be additional skills required. We encourage applicants to propose capabilities that may lie out with the work packages below, as these will also be considered when forming a collaboration.

1. Data Engineering, Collection & Analysis

The primary aim of this project is to acquire, clean, and perform analysis on a broad variety of data coming from numerous sources and give insight into the status of recreational sport, its uptake, and significant gaps. The project may also consider innovative methods for filling data gaps through effective data collection for suitable comparative analysis.

2. Systems Engineering & Mapping

It is assumed that the systems landscape that support sport accessibility is complex and difficult to map. Along with analysis of data, the challenge question will require looking at the systems that underpin the collection of data relating to recreational sport, and the mapping these systems in a manner that can be widely understood.  

3. Data Visualisation & Presentation

The stakeholders who will interact with this work will want the outputs to be visually engaging and informative. This will require visualisation and presentation expertise in close collaboration with skills 1, 2 and 4.

4. Sports, Poverty & Health Policy

This challenge looks to map and analyse the impact of COVID-19 and subsequently provide insight on young people's uptake and access to recreational sport, while evaluating which communities are impacted. The challenge will need to consider the data within the context of policy and the changing landscape before and during the pandemic.

Funding Availability:

The funding available to individual organisations will be dependent on the agreed contribution to the project once the collaboration has been formed and delivery plan approved. 

We welcome applications from all sectors (private / public / third / academia) and encourage submissions from any team looking to do any in kind Data for Good work to develop their expertise. 

If possible, we encourage private sector partners to provide time pro-bono. 

Funding is available at 70% of total contribution with 30% match funded through in-kind contributions.  

This is an experimental development project and VAT will not apply to any agreed funding.

Academic partners will receive 80% FEC. 

Timescales & Deliverability:

We would aim for the collaboration to begin work on a project by 1st May 2022. We envisage that a project addressing this challenge question should take approximately 12 months. 

The deadline for submissions is 25th February 2022 with the first collaboration workshop taking place week commencing 14th March 2022.