Community Perspectives on Data Sharing and Kinematic Standardisation: Key Findings from Stockholm 2025
The Kinematic Atlas Initiative gathered insights from 95 international researchers during two dedicated sessions at the XXX Congress of the International Society of Biomechanics in Stockholm, addressing critical challenges in human movement data sharing and joint kinematics standardisation. The reverse Q&A format revealed significant community dissatisfaction with current practices and strong support for collaborative solutions to transform the fragmented landscape of biomechanics data into an integrated, interoperable ecosystem that could accelerate scientific discovery and improve clinical outcomes.
Key Findings on Data Sharing
• Community dissatisfaction is widespread : 60% of respondents indicated they were not satisfied with the current state of data sharing in biomechanics, with technical challenges, legal barriers, and lack of standardisation cited as primary obstacles
• Industry partnerships show strong support : 77% favour industrial partners acting as both contributors and users of field-specific data sharing platforms, recognising the potential for massive data contributions while acknowledging complex contractual considerations
• Federated models preferred over centralised repositories : Trusted Research Environments using federated data models emerged as the preferred approach, keeping sensitive data on secure institutional servers while enabling collaborative analysis through protected virtual workspaces
• Funding sustainability remains challenging : Mixed support for various funding models highlights the need for innovative approaches combining grants, industry partnerships, and user fees, with annual platform maintenance costs estimated at approximately $24,000 USD
• Data privacy and misuse concerns dominate : 32% of participants identified data misuse as their biggest concern, followed by privacy/ethics issues (24%), emphasising the need for robust governance frameworks
Key Findings on Kinematic Standardisation
• Existing ISB recommendations show room for improvement : 75% of participants reported not being entirely satisfied with current ISB recommendations, with 28% expressing dissatisfaction
• Strong consensus on harmonisation value : 83% believe it is extremely worthwhile to invest time and resources into harmonising measurement methods, coordinate systems, and joint kinematic computations across research groups
• Implementation challenges acknowledged : While 65% ranked establishing detailed reporting requirements through checklists as the top priority for improving study comparability, practical implementation across diverse laboratory setups remains complex
• Methodology reporting identified as critical barrier : 46% of participants identified insufficient detail in methodology reporting as the biggest obstacle to comparing joint motion data across different research groups
• Flexible frameworks favoured over rigid standards : Community feedback emphasised the need for harmonisation tools that allow documented deviations rather than mandating universal adoption of single methods, recognising that different research questions require different approaches
The complete findings are detailed in the full summary report available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16924850.
Next Steps
The initiative will expand community input through the ISB Newsletter, prepare a proposal for a follow-up session at the World Congress of Biomechanics 2026 in Vancouver, establish targeted working groups, and pursue dedicated funding to maintain collaborative momentum. The findings will directly inform a working proposal to the ISB for new recommendations on data sharing, as well as guide the development of a potential trusted research environment for the human movement sciences.
Action Items
To broaden participation beyond the Stockholm attendees, we are now kindly soliciting input from the wider international community through an expanded survey accessible at: https://tinyurl.com/ub7es8ja. Previous participants are encouraged to respond again, as we are aiming to obtain responses from a larger, more diverse population and, importantly, some of the questions have since been adapted based on insights gathered during the initial sessions.
