NBS' newly established Research Institute is continuing the School's leadership in evidence-informed practice across all programs, and contributing to a growing body of research on the life-changing impacts of dance.
History: Building a Research Institute
For more than 30 years, research and evaluation has increasingly informed program development and health and well-being initiatives at NBS. For example, eating disorder prevention interventions for dancers have been developed and successfully implemented at NBS (Piran, 1999; Bar, Cassin, & Dionne, 2017). Similarly, the role of a Nurse Practitioner at NBS was recently established to align with best practices for the care of young athletes (Ziegler, Kim, Bar, 2021). Studies of NBS’ community dance program for people with Parkinson’s disease have found both short and long-term health benefits for this population (e.g., Bearss, McDonald, Bar, & DeSouza, 2017; Bearss & DeSouza, 2021), and research has also demonstrated how NBS’ community dance program for people living with dementia fosters social inclusion (Herron, Bar, Skinner, 2022; Kontos et al., 2020). NBS' Research Institute will build on this well-established history of knowledge creation and translation of promising dance practices.
In 2022, NBS received the designation of Research Institute from the Government of Canada. This designation will support our continued collaboration with dance researchers in the community and also allow NBS to take the lead on its research priorities.
Partnership with Trent University
NBS and Trent University have been partners in research since 2016. In support of NBS’ Research Institute, Trent University has generously provided NBS with access to their research policies and resources.
