SLOfit data are used to determine global fitness trends and health risk
The SLOfit research team participates in several international research groups and projects.
The SLOfit research team participates in several international research groups and ongoing projects. Data from the SLOfit database has been disseminated across many forums, from newspaper articles, TV and radio reports in the national media, in addition to international scientific articles published in the highest-ranking journals. Some key projects are outlined below for those interested in the scope of SLOfit’s research interests.
Ongoing international cooperation summary
We have been actively involved in the World Federation of Physical Education Teachers (FIEP) since 1985, and in the European Federation of Physical Education Teachers (EUPEA since 2012). In both federations, we advocate for systematic regulation of physical education in the school system. Examples of good practices from Slovenia are often highlighted. Since 2007, the SLOfit team has been working with the Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI, World Health Organization) on obesity monitoring. Also using SLOfit data, the World Health Organization has taken an important step in its fight against childhood obesity by launching the Commission to End Childhood Obesity, which has produced a final report that places greater emphasis on physical fitness, physical activity, and physical performance based on best practices for monitoring children's physical activity development.
Since 2014, we are part of the NCD Risk Factor Collaboration research group under the auspices of the Imperial College of London, with whom we jointly publish influential global public health statistics.
In 2015, we joined the international research group Active Healthy Kids Global Alliance, which today includes over 57 participating countries from around the world. This group aims to improve conditions for active lifestyles among children and adolescents on a global scale by producing national analyses of children's physical activity in different regions, globally.
Since 2020, we have been coordinating the international network FITBACK, which supports the development of physical fitness monitoring systems on the school, municipality, regional, and country level using an effective top-down and bottom-up approach.
Between 2012-2016, we have been participating in global forums on physical education GoFPEP, which discusses the challenges and possible solutions for increasing children's physical activity. Slovenian examples of good practices, (especially SLOfit), often evoke many questions and quiet admiration or surprise among the many forum participants.
In 2008, the World Health Organization invited SLOfit researchers to join the HEALTH walking and cycling working group, which developed an online tool to assess the economic value of mortality reduced by regular walking and cycling. Today, this tool is used around the world to calculate the feasibility of building public infrastructure for walking and cycling.
For two years (2002-2003) we participated as curriculum consultants to UNICEF regarding the renovation of the schooling system in Kosovo; this collaboration led the elaboration of curricula for physical education in primary and secondary schools. As consultants in the field of physical education at the Council of Europe, we participated in the evaluation of the situation of physical education in Lithuania and in the elaboration of the Declaration on Physical Education adopted at the Ministerial Conference in Warsaw in 2002.