On May 28th, 2026, UBC’s School of Kinesiology, the UBC Exercise, Kinesiology and Health Seminar Program and UBC’s Centre for Sport and Sustainability hosted a screening of a short documentary film entitled ‘Changing Gears’ and a presentation by the filmmakers.
Changing Gears is a collaborative documentary film that traces the stories of three community-based organizations in Canada, Nicaragua, and Uganda that use bicycles to promote mobility justice, ‘development,’ gender equity and climate action. The film is available to watch for free on the Sport and Sustainability Media and Education Resource!
A presentation that accompanies the screening featured critical reflections by filmmaker Keiron Cobban and researcher Lyndsay Hayhurst on their journey using documentary filmmaking as a tool for social and policy change in the development of Changing Gears.
Drawing on their experiences conducting digital participatory action research (DPAR) within movement, sport, development, gender, and mobilities justice studies – research that was the foundation for Changing Gears – they argued that documentary film can disrupt conventional researcher-researched power relations while generating new forms of knowledge. In particular, they showed how pairing DPAR with documentary filmmaking attempts to reorient dominant logics of knowledge production by foregrounding relationality, context, co-creation, and lived experience. They concluded by considering how documentary filmmaking – through DPAR approaches – can both enrich and unsettle dominant paradigms for understanding sport and movement as tools for mobility justice and ‘development.’
Speaker Bios:
Lyndsay Hayhurst is a qualitative, feminist participatory action researcher who works collaboratively with community partners on issues of social justice and inequities in/through sport/leisure/recreation in a variety of contexts. She is a Tier 2 York Research Chair in Sport, Gender and Development, and Digital Participatory Research and the Director of the DREAMING Sport Collaboratory (Digital participatory Research in Equity, Access, Mobility, Innovation aNd Gender in Sport). She is an Associate Professor in the School of Kinesiology and Health Science at York University in Toronto, Canada. Her work critically examines equity, inclusion, mobility justice, and climate justice, particularly with/for equity-owed groups, including women (*cis and trans) and gender-diverse youth. She is co-author of Sport, Gender and Development: Intersections, Innovations and Future Trajectories (with Holly Thorpe and Megan Chawansky, 2021). She has published extensively in leading journals such as Women’s Studies International Forum; Mobilities; Third World Quarterly, and the Sociology of Sport Journal. She also co-directed and executive produced Changing Gears (2024), a documentary on bicycles, development and mobility justice, screened globally in partnership with the UNEP. Her work informs policy, advocacy, and curriculum development in sport, physical culture, and social justice for a variety of local, national and global sport for development organizations.
Keiron Cobban is a multidisciplinary visual artist and storyteller whose work explores the intersection of sport, art, and community development. With a Master’s degree in Development Studies from York University, his research and creative practice focus on how grassroots initiatives foster social change in marginalized communities. Through photography and film, Keiron tells stories shaped by community, creativity, and everyday life. His recent documentary explores how bicycles can support mobility, create opportunity, and play a role in community development. He brings years of experience in creative production and community-based work to conversations on storytelling and development.
Lyndsay Hayhurst presenting on her experience combining research with documentary film.
Keiron Cobban discussing the filmmaking process.
Keiron and Lyndsay answering questions from the audience.
Keiron Cobban and Lyndsay Hayhurst with the CSS’s Brian Wilson and Jeanette Steinmann.
Watch the trailer below: