Research & Evidence-Led Practice
Informed by Data. Driven by Insight. Committed to Impact.
Why Evidence Matters in Martial Arts
At BMABA, we believe that credible, ethical martial arts instruction can only thrive when guided by more than tradition alone. That’s why we’ve embedded research and evidence-led practice into the core of our strategy — using real-world data, instructor insights, and public feedback to shape policy, inform guidance, and set national standards.
We live in a sector that has long operated on fragmented opinion and informal governance. But as martial arts continues to grow in popularity — particularly among children, vulnerable adults, and underserved communities — we believe the time has come for evidence to lead the way.
Gathering Insight From Those Who Know Best
Our national membership body represents thousands of instructors and clubs across England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. This unparalleled access allows us to collect, analyse, and learn from frontline experience — including regular surveys, anonymised safety audits, and feedback loops with both clubs and students.
Whether it’s understanding barriers to participation, measuring perceptions around club safety, exploring diversity in coaching leadership, or tracking instructor CPD engagement, we use data to identify trends, uncover risks, and tailor support where it’s most needed. These insights help us respond quickly to emerging challenges — and help instructors and clubs do the same.
We don’t just research within the industry — we also work with the broader public, including parents, students, schools, and stakeholders, to understand what trust and safety look like from a community perspective. This ensures our work is grounded in reality — not assumptions.
Putting Research Into Action
Insight is only valuable if it leads to impact. At BMABA, we don’t publish reports for the sake of it — we use data to directly shape the frameworks, training, and policy that support safer, more inclusive practice.
Our evidence-led approach informs our work across a wide range of essential areas:
Trauma-Informed Coaching: We use social research, ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) data, and education sector studies to shape our national qualification in trauma-informed martial arts instruction, ensuring instructors understand the psychological context of behaviour, learning, and emotional regulation.
Serious Youth Violence (SYV): Our CPD programme tackling knife crime and youth violence is shaped by field-level insights and academic research. This includes cross-sector learning from social work, education, and policing to help instructors support at-risk youth.
Disability Inclusion & SEN: We’ve used member data and SEN case studies to shape a practical, specialist training course — the SENCO (Special Educational Needs Coordinator) for Martial Arts — to better support neurodivergent students and those with learning or physical disabilities.
Safeguarding Standards: We regularly review incident reports, conduct trend analysis, and benchmark against national and international guidance to continually refine our safeguarding protocols, minimum expectations, and vetting requirements.
Concussion & Head Injury Management: Clinical guidelines and sport safety data shape our CHIMA (Concussion and Head Injury Management Award), as well as our real-time digital Return to Play system — giving clubs evidence-backed tools for student safety.
Leading Change with Credibility
Our approach to evidence-led practice isn’t just internal — it’s formalised and independently recognised.
BMABA is listed on the UK Register of Learning Providers (UKRLP) and certified through the CPD Group, ensuring that our qualifications, policies, and training meet recognised quality assurance standards. Many of our research-informed initiatives are written to ACCREDDITED framework standards, which align with recognised learning outcomes and structured course validation.
We’re actively working towards an RQF-aligned national qualification for martial arts — a milestone that would mark a new era of formally recognised, evidence-based professionalism for instructors.
Accessible, Real-Time Learning Across Devices
The best research and training should be accessible — so we’ve made our CPD and policy development platform available on browser, tablet, and mobile. That means instructors can access the latest guidance, research-informed frameworks, and practical templates any time, anywhere.
By combining live data analysis with digital accessibility, we ensure our members — and the communities they serve — always have access to the very latest, best-practice approaches.
