From Yorkshire to Greece: Exploring Shared Exercise Challenges and Solutions Together

Having only ever visited Greece on holiday, Sheffield exercise researcher Dr Tom Parkington never expected to find some of the answers to his region’s health issues in a country 2,100 miles away.  

But a new fellowship exchange programme funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) through its Global Health Initiative (GHI) gave Tom a seven-week placement in Greece which enriched his understanding of physical activity and its ability to change lives.  

Thanks to the programme, which is delivered in partnership with Sheffield Hallam University’s Advanced Wellbeing Research Centre (AWRC) and Greece-based nonprofit Regeneration & Progress (R&P), which is funded by SNF, Tom is now bringing his specialist insight of exercise treatment back to the UK, helping people in Yorkshire and beyond enjoy more moments together.  

Tom first came to Sheffield for his undergraduate degree and loved the city so much he stayed on for his master's and postgraduate doctorate. A self-proclaimed “product of Sheffield Hallam,” Tom has continued to work at the University for over a decade across numerous roles and is proud of his research roots in Yorkshire.

“I really enjoy living in Sheffield because it’s got everything you need,” Tom explained. “I’m passionate about outdoor sports, so being able to retreat to the Peak District after work is totally invaluable to me.”

Building on his background in exercise science, Tom’s role as a postdoctoral researcher at the AWRC involves analysing how physical activity can improve quality of life for people with incurable diseases. When a position opened up in the SNF-funded exchange programme to study exercise prehabilitation – preparing people for upcoming treatment like surgery through professional fitness support – Tom immediately applied.

For people with cancer, research has shown that regular activity before, during and after cancer treatment can lead to increased survival and improved recovery. Exercise can reduce the risk of some cancers coming back by up to 66% and the risk of dying of cancer by up to 44%.   

Tom said: “Our mission at the AWRC is to transform lives through innovations that help people move, and I was intrigued to uncover how a different organisation was tackling similar goals in a country like Greece, which I’ve always thought had completely separate problems.”

Tom joined R&P’s Sports Excellence Lab team, which operates under the medical auspices of the 1st Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. The lab runs numerous therapeutic exercise programmes designed to meet the individual needs of each person, including one for those affected by lung disease – the term for a group of illnesses that affect the lungs’ capacity to work properly, which can include lung cancer. These patients had incurable illnesses and needed lung transplants to survive. 

The team wanted to find out how to manage the health of people with lung disease through physical activity so they could become eligible for life-saving lung surgery.

“Walking into the lab for the first time was a surprise, because the lung disease patients required huge cylinders suppling oxygen,” Tom described. “It immediately brought up lots of questions – how does a person attached to such a heavy object get up and move? How can you make sure it’s safe for them to exercise? The team were developing lots of creative solutions to these considerations.”

Using his expertise conducting similar research projects, Tom’s role was to create a method for the R&P team to evaluate the existing programme. With this model, they could test new ideas, receive better results and eventually gain approval from their wider academic circle. From what he observed, Tom believes the team’s pioneering work will have a big impact. 

It was not only the power of prehabilitation that Tom came to appreciate during his time abroad.  

“I learnt that in both Greece and the UK, there are more people on the waiting list for transplants than there are available organs. Seeing patients who were no older than 30 years old desperately needing a new set of lungs really opened my eyes to the importance of not only preparing people for treatment but stopping them from needing that treatment in the first place."

“The team at R&P showed me how in Greece there can be many barriers to exercise. It’s important to give everyone the fair choice to take part in physical activity.” 

Tom discovered that, despite being nearly four hours apart by plane, people in Greece face many of the same obstacles to exercise as those in Yorkshire.

“In the UK, there are some places which are required by local policy to incorporate parks, pavements, cycle lanes and other resources to help people get moving,” Tom elaborated. “In Sheffield, for example, efforts have been made to invest in sport and leisure facilities, which is great to see. However, in Sheffield and across Yorkshire, there are still disparities which mean that people in lower socioeconomic communities often don’t have access to these measures, and there’s definitely more to be done.” 

SNF is an international philanthropic organisation that aims to help create transformative change through the dedication of grants to nonprofit partners across the world. Through its Global Health Initiative, it aims to improve access to quality health care for all.  

During his time in Greece’s capital city, Tom visited the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center, an international, environmentally sustainable public space for expression, culture and recreation. As well as the National Library of Greece and the Greek National Opera, facilities include the 21-hectare Stavros Niarchos Park, one of the biggest green areas in Athens and the largest public Mediterranean garden in the world.  

Tom made sure to make the most of living in a different country. After long days at the lab, he took full advantage of his free evenings and weekends.

Tom said: “I’m a keen traveller, so I visited four of the Greek islands, swam as often as I could and ate lots of really good food! The team at R&P also welcomed me to their city, showing me around the historic sites and even taking me to birthday parties. It was a fantastic trip.” 

Now Tom has returned to the UK, he is working with the R&P team to produce a core set of results that a person should experience after having prehabilitation support. This piece of work will inform exercise innovations run by the AWRC, including Active Together, the research-backed cancer exercise treatment service funded by Yorkshire Cancer Research and designed by Sheffield Hallam University’s AWRC. The programme helps people prepare for and recover from cancer treatment and was recently associated with 10% higher one-year survival rates.

As well as funding the fellowship exchange programme, the £835,000 grant from SNF has enabled Active Together to be expanded and delivered at a dedicated centre in Harrogate.  

Tom concluded: “I value the voices of people who could benefit from prehabilitation, so we’re currently waiting to hear what they think that support should help them achieve. I have high hopes that what they say will shape both current and future exercise treatment services for the better.” 

When asked about his vision of the future, Tom said: “It would be amazing to live in a society where everyone has the opportunity to follow a healthy and active lifestyle. In the unfortunate incident where people become ill, they could then access universal exercise services to prepare them for the road ahead and guarantee they have the best chance of tolerating and recovering from treatment.”