UK University Assesses the Effects of Lockdown with Fitbit
About the client
The University of the West of Scotland is a modern, career-focused university with roots reaching back to 1897 and five campuses spanning Paisley, Ayr, Dumfries, Lanarkshire and London. Ranked among the world’s top young universities by Times Higher Education, UWS aligns its teaching and research with the priorities of business, government and the communities it serves.
Its work in health, sport and exercise science is a particular strength, with researchers delivering applied studies designed to change practice in the real world — from clinical settings to schools and workplaces.
The challenge
This was one of the more interesting discovery meetings we held during lockdown: an opportunity to help university researchers understand the effects the Covid-19 pandemic was having on the public’s physical and mental wellbeing.
The project was initiated by Professor Nick Sculthorpe and aimed to explore adults’ physical activity levels before and after lockdown, using data from wearable activity trackers such as Fitbit. It was collectively funded by the University of the West of Scotland, the Chief Scientist Office and NHS Scotland.
The technical challenge: gather the supporting information for each participant, have them grant access to their Fitbit data anonymously, convert the collected data to JSON, and deliver it to a secure server on the university campus — stored in a user-accessible format and recorded in real time for researchers to review.
Extensive research turned up no working public example of this anywhere. We committed to delivering it regardless.
Our approach
First, we developed a clean website design that respected the UWS brand and the design system of the main university website. We then built an advanced multi-step form comprising more than 80 collection fields, with extensive conditional logic and repeater fields.
Then came Fitbit access. We registered an application on the Fitbit developer platform and used its OAuth 2.0 protocol to access each participant’s data — held on Fitbit’s servers in California — through a unique authorisation grant flow, embedded via a URL callback carrying the query parameters and authorisation required for the intraday data.
All of that happens within a single mouse click. Behind it sits custom PHP and advanced WordPress automation; in front of it, the participant follows a few simple instructions, presses the Fitbit button, and is connected within seconds:
This remains one of the most enjoyable projects Tecology has completed, and one we are genuinely proud of. If you have a research idea that needs an unusual build, we would love to hear about it.
What we delivered
Project details
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