About EDGE Lab

EDGE Lab is an international, cross-institutional, interdisciplinary research and knowledge translation hub based at the University of Manitoba and University of Nottingham.

We bridge social sciences and humanities with applied clinical and health disciplines to generate new solutions for gender equity in sport and physical activity.

We do this by:

  • Advancing and applying a Gendered Environmental Approach

  • Building interdisciplinary, intersectoral, and community partnerships

  • Developing creative environmental interventions to drive positive change

Impact
Impact

Topic Areas

  • Gendered environments in elite sport

  • Inequities in everyday exercise environments

  • Inclusive youth sport and physical activity

Projects

Guiding Principles

  • Advocacy

  • Altruism

  • Collaboration

  • Ethics of Care

  • Equity

  • Fairness

  • Intersectional Feminism

  • Reciprocity

How it started

Screenshot of text conversation between Joanne and Steph in Twitter DM

Back in 2017, Joanne sent Steph a DM on Twitter after hearing her interview about her research on the gendering of gyms.

The two had a phone call where they discovered they both were having ideas about exploring gendered influences on sports injury risk.

The intersection of Joanne’s clinical insight into ACL injury and Steph’s social theoretical grounding in gender and physical activity was the partnership they needed.

How it’s going

After chipping away at a manuscript off the sides of their desks for years, in 2021 they published “Anterior cruciate ligament injury: Toward a gendered environmental approach” in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

Little did Joanne and Steph know the global response to this paper would change the course of their careers and collaborative research program! It continues to garner international media attention, a high attention score, and repeated mentions on social media.