- Research comes as Bradford Science Festival launches with interactive data exhibition exploring green space, community and wellbeing
- Created by award-winning data visualisation studio Tekja, Living Dots: Nature, People and Place brings to life Born in Bradford research and invites visitors to share their own experiences
- Bradford Science Festival takes place at the National Science and Media Museum and across the city from 25 October – 2 November
NEW research has revealed more than one-in-three Bradford children don’t play outdoors after school, and one-in-five don’t at weekends – raising major concerns about young people’s physical and mental health.
Exploring the lifestyles of some 2,568 local children aged between 7 and 12 years of age from the multi-ethnic ‘Born in Bradford’ (BiB) research programme, the latest findings were unveiled on the eve of the Bradford Science Festival, which takes place across the city during October’s school half-term holiday (October 25 to November 2).
BiB is based at the Bradford Institute for Health Research, part of Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. For more than 20 years, it has broken new ground for in the way it tracks the health, development, and well-being of mothers and children in Bradford from pregnancy onwards, collecting extensive data and monitoring health and educational impacts over 18 years.
The trailblazing study discovered 34 per cent of children don’t play outdoors on school days, while 20 per cent don’t play outdoors on weekends.
Produced by the city’s National Science and Media Museum, the nine-day Bradford Science Festival promises to shine a light on the Future World, with zones across the city uncovering the future of tech, fashion, climate, sound and food.
BiB research work will play a leading role in the festival, inspiring headline exhibition Living Dots: Nature, People and Place which will open in time for the festival on Friday 24 October, remaining open until February 2026. The exhibition transforms BiB research into an interactive journey, exploring how people engage with green spaces across the city.
Created by award-winning data visualisation studio Tekja, the exhibition first invites visitors to share their own experiences and ideas through a questionnaire before revealing broader patterns from existing research through a digital artwork, highlighting the connection between individual contributions and collective insight.
The exhibition’s interactive element encourages visitors to reflect on the impact of green spaces within their community while demonstrating how research can be used as a tool to generate meaningful insights. By responding to the questionnaire, visitors contribute to a living dataset that extends beyond the exhibition itself, helping to show how individual perspectives shape wider understanding.
At the heart of the installation, a striking 3D sculpture visualises existing BiB findings using the same questions, with each response represented as a glowing dot, projected onto layered mesh. Visitors’ shadows in turn become part of the sculpture as they move around it, creating an immersive experience that brings the connection between individual and collective insight to life. The work invites visitors to explore both the personal and collective stories within the data, demonstrating how combining a multitude of smaller, individual contributions can reveal powerful new perspectives on community wellbeing and the shared value of outdoor spaces.
Professor Rosie McEachan, Director of the Born in Bradford programme, said: “This latest study shows how important it is for children’s mental health to get off their screens and play outdoors after school and at weekends.
“We are lucky in Bradford to have many beautiful parks and green spaces, but these findings show that the local streets in which we live are just as important a space for children, and we need to make sure they are safe and welcoming spaces, free from traffic and pollution.”
Amanda Taylor, Co-founder, Tekja, added: “Living Dots is a three-dimensional installation and interactive experience that transforms complex data about people and places into a seemingly living, breathing visualisation. Using data collected from our audience alongside the Born in Bradford survey, the exhibition gives a voice to thousands of people’s collective experience.
At its heart is a constellation of “living dots”, each representing a person’s opinions, hopes, and experiences. Together, they move, react, and connect – revealing the hidden patterns that weave together our individual lives within our communities.
Blending art, science, and technology, the exhibition transforms raw information into an emotive experience. It invites audiences to see data not as abstract figures but as something alive – something we can feel, empathize with, and use to imagine a better world.”
Christopher Whitby, Head of Public Programme at the National Science and Media Museum, commented: “We’re thrilled to be bringing back Bradford Science Festival this October with a programme that is bigger and better than ever, during a momentous year for Bradford. This year’s festival looks to the future, exploring cutting-edge technology across tech, fashion, climate, sound, and food. This year’s headline exhibition, Living Dots, is a testament to that, transforming data taken from Born in Bradford research into an interactive experience that helps us imagine and shape the future of our city.”
BiB’s outdoor play research also highlighted its importance for a child’s social and emotional abilities, and children who play outside more often tend to have better social skills and fewer behavioural and emotional problems.
Researchers also found different patterns of outdoor play throughout the week based on ethnicity, with benefits therefore gained at different times of the week – British heritage children played outside more on school days, while South Asian heritage children played outside more on weekends.
The study also found that children living in less deprived communities benefited more from outdoor play than those in more deprived communities. However, traditional park visits were not associated with improved social and emotional skills, suggesting a need for safer urban environments and play-friendly residential areas, where families can relax, exercise, socialise, and play.
The study suggests that outdoor play benefits social-emotional skills through physical activity, socialisation, and adventurous play.
Lead researcher Dr Mark Ferguson from the University of Exeter said: “Outdoor play is essential for children’s growth and development, and our finding of a decline in playing outdoors is worrying because it is linked to various health issues, including obesity, anxiety and depression.
“Simple measures such as organising outdoor events and creating safe play spaces can make a big difference, but it is important to remember cultural differences and engage with communities to make these initiatives successful.”
Researchers measured social-emotional skills of the children using the total difficulties score, which is created from questionnaires completed by the youngsters’ parents.
Social-emotional skills in children refers to their ability to understand, manage, and express their own emotions and behaviours, as well as interact with the world around them and build positive relationships with others.
- The research involving Bradford children was funded by the GW4 BioMed MRC Doctoral Training Partnership involving Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter Universities. This partnership aims to develop the next generation of medical researchers by offering studentships to both medical and non-medical UK, EU and International students.
