The innovative and collaborative BOSS project (Benefits of Outdoors Sports for Society) was initiated by the European Network of Outdoor Sports to provide clear, high quality evidence and a system to quantify the value of the social benefits created by outdoor sport participation programmes. Funded by the European Commission, the aim of the project was to identify insight and to make evidence more accessible to strengthen the delivery and promotion of outdoor sporting activities to all. Implemented over 3 years from 2017 to 2019, this project has involved eleven partners from world leading academic institutions, both central and local government agencies, federations and practical deliverers from 7 european countries.
The key outcomes of the project are the following:
- Findings from the international search for relevant research over the 15 years from 2002-2017 revealed 17,560 studies. After screening by the project partners,133 studies were selected for data extraction providing evidence about the social benefits of outdoor sports.
- An agreed definition of outdoor sports among project partners across Europe
- A toolkit that enable outdoor sports providers and projects to assess the value of the social benefits of their activities using a standardized methodology.