New research institute to secure children's health
Sedentary behavior, largely provoked by screen-driven entertainment and modern lifestyles, is a major contributor to the alarming prediction that children born this century won’t live as long as their parents.
To help combat this KOMPAN and the University of Southern Denmark are teaming up with the establishing of a new academic institute to study the importance, the development values and the precise effects of play on children's health. The World Playground Research Institute’s central role will be to enable everyone, but in particular planners and politicians, to make sound knowledgeable decisions in regard to providing an environment for societies to grow through inspired and healthy children.
Picture: The collaboration agreement is signed by head of department Jens Troelsen (left) and Connie Astrup-Larsen, CEO of KOMPAN (right) (© Bo Kousgaard - SDU)
Research and private business come together
Based in the Department of Sport Sciences and Clinical Biomechanics at the University of Southern Denmark in Odense, the new Institute is a collaboration between the university and KOMPAN, the leading playground manufacturer. It is a long-term commitment by both parties to address a problem that has been documented and recognized, but largely ignored. Today’s children are on target to become the first generation to take an evolutionary backward step through shorter life expectancy.
The university and KOMPAN have a long history of association, most recently in the development of meaningful outdoor exercise, but the establishment of the World Playground Research Institute brings the cooperation to a new level.
Picture: Professor Jasper Schipperijn who will be leading the institute
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