March 2023
In the scope of the project A Self-employment Career Option for Elite Athletes: Innovative Sport-focused Entrepreneurship Bootcamp (ELCAMP), on February 22, EAS organised in Rome two focus groups with the aim to evaluate curriculum for entrepreneurship education.
The purpose of the curriculum is to promote entrepreneurship education through the introduction of entrepreneurial competencies in the curriculum of sports sciences.
The following module titles are covered in this curriculum:
- Entrepreneurial Knowledge
- Entrepreneurial Attitude
- Entrepreneurial Management
- Entrepreneurial Social and Opportunity Making Competence
- SportsTech – Sport Technologies
The focus group participants praised the efforts of the project partners to help empower DC athletes to gain new knowledge in the field of sports entrepreneurship and thus help athletes to enter the labor market more easily.
Focus group participants praised the efforts of project partners – The Collaborative Partnership is coordinated by Collective Innovation AS (Norway) and includes the Hogskolen I Molde (Norway), Olimpijski Komite Slovenije Zdruzenje Sportnih Zvez (Slovenia), Fundacion Universitaria San Antonio (UCAM, Spain) Lietuvos Sporto Universitetas (Lithuania), Mobile Adventure Spolka Z Ograniczona Odpowiedzialnoscia (Poland), and EAS as Partners – to help DC athletes acquire new skills in sports entrepreneurship, making it easier for athletes to enter the job market.
Focus group participants provided some substantive recommendations for further work, which can be summarized in the following recommendations for improving the curriculum:
- Interactive tasks should include scenarios,
- level of knowledge of the participants should be indicated in the entry level.
- a definition of the terms is suggested (i.e. What is self-consciousness?).
- some modules will require more than 8 hours , therefore is recommended to split two moduls into three).
- The order of the modules could be changed in a logical way
- Because arget groups are different in some modules – they must be defined and coherent.
- to specify the Olympic- Paralympic.
- The introduction is perhaps too lengthy, some references are missing.
- Economic and budgetary issues should be made clearer.
The next and final step of the ELCAMP project will take place on March 29 and 30 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, where a piloting seminar and a two-day workshop will be organised, as well as the preparation of the online test.
Bengt Nybelius, together with Risto Keskitalo, the founder of the European Athlete as Student Network (EAS), was a brilliant mind, who settled the objectives and the structure of the organisation in 2004. He passed away in 2011, and EAS decided to establish a scholarship to carry on the legacy of his work. Therefore, we are happy to announce the Call for Paper of the “2023 Bengt Nybelius Scholarship”
Aims of the Bengt Nybelius Scholarship
The aim of the Bengt Nybelius Scholarship is to facilitate the integration of outstanding scholars and young researchers in the area of dual career.
Eligibility to the Bengt Nybelius Scholarship
Regardless the nationality and country of residence, researchers up to 40 years of age could be eligible for the Bengt Nybelius Scholarship.
Requirements to apply to the 2023 Bengt Nybelius Scholarship
Applicants must submit as first author an original manuscript related to the scope of EAS. Manuscripts must not contain information presented in other manuscripts published elsewhere.
The manuscript should be written in English, between 15 and 30 pages double-spaced in Arial font size 11, including title page, abstract, introduction, methods, results, discussion, conclusions, acknowledgments (if applicable), references, tables, figures and legends, and statement of conflicts of interest.
Manuscripts must be accompanied by a cover letter, stating clearly why the work is considered suitable for the Bengt Nybelius Scholarship and explaining the importance of the study.
Selection of the 2023 Bengt Nybelius Scholarship Winner
The Board of EAS will consider the quality of submitted manuscripts and notify the winner by July 31, 2023. The winner has to summarize her/his work with a 15-minute oral presentation in English at the 2023 Annual EAS Conference in Gaeta, Italy, October 2-4.
EAS will arrange travel, accommodation, and registration of the Bengt Nybelius Scholarship winner.
Application to the 2023 to disseminate Bengt Nybelius Scholarship
To be considered for the 2023 Bengt Nybelius Scholarship applicants before July 1st, 2023 (midnight CET) must submit by e-mail to info@dualcareer.eu, including:
- A copy of the manuscript (PDF)
- An abstract, 1 page, about 2400 characters
- Curriculum vitae and list of publications (if there are others)
Requests of further information, if needed, could be addressed to info@dualcareer.eu. We are looking forward to receiving your application!
On behalf of the Board of EAS
Laura Capranica
On February 27th the ninth virtual EAS cafè focused on the dual career from the educational and employment perspectives and the human rights of the sportsperson. The event attracted more than 100 participants, including university students from Niš (Serbia). Prof. Antonio Tessitore from the University of Rome Foro Italico moderated the event.
The first speaker, Dr Köle Gjeloshaj (Vice President of the Panathlon Wallonie Brussels, strategic coordinator for the Féderation Wallonie Brussels in the context of the Belgium EU Presidency 2024 in the department of the International Relations, and scientific collaborator of the Université libre de Bruxelles), highlighted the relevance and intriguing nature of the title of the event, particularly in relation to its novelty within the international sport environment.
He focused on the framework and approach of the IOC and other major international sports organizations in relation to the safeguard of human rights, the human resources management, and the dual career support for elite sportspersons (i.e., the IOC/Adecco Athlete365 Career+ programme). In particular, Dr. Gjeloshaj stressed the need to establish a legal framework that should guarantee the rights of elite athletes as workers and/or as students within different parallel and/or transition career trajectories and a lifelong learning perspective. Furthermore, in considering the relevant competencies and skills developed through and during an elite athletic career, the employment sector should further recognize the value of sportspersons as workers, which could also be a concrete action from the corporate social responsibility perspective.
The second speaker, Dr Giovanni Di Cola (Special Adviser at the International Labour Organization, ILO) presented current practices and recommendations in relation to the advancement of decent work in sport. Concrete examples have been presented (i.e., the IOC sustainability strategy; the UEFA sustainability strategy), which highlighted the need to adopt a comprehensive approach to guarantee appropriate and sustainable working policies and conditions in the sport sector. To meet the needs of a complex and rapid development of sport environment, Dr. Di Luca claimed that there is an urgent need for major sports organizations to take actions and accelerate the processes. Major recommendations included the focus on athletes’ working conditions and collective bargaining, the acceleration of sustainability in sport, the reinforcement of dual careers though competencies and skills recognition and development, and the review of traditional models adapting to evolving environments and conditions within the sport sector.
Following the general discussion addressing the main themes discussed during the Cafè, both speakers emphasized the urgent need of a cooperation between organizations for concrete and effective actions accelerating the policy development and implementation processes of the recognition of the rights of elite sportspersons as students and workers,
In closing the event, President Laura Capranica informed that the tenth EAS Cafè will be organized in April/May and that the University of Cassino and Lazio Meridionale will organize the 2023 EAS Conference in Gaeta (Italy). Finally, the President invited young researchers to apply to the Bengt Nybelius Scholarship.
On February 20-22, 2023, for the first time the transnational meeting of the ERASMUS+ Collaborative Partnership “BRAnd Values Alignment through Dual Career (BRAVA-DC, 622824-EPP-1-2020-1-IE-SPO-SCP) was organized in presence. Hosted by the University Roma3 – Italy, and coordinated by the University of Limerick – Ireland, the partners from the University of Ljubljana – Slovenia, the European Platform for Sport Innovation (EPSI) – Belgium, the Elite Sport Academy Aarhus (ESAA) – Denmark, the Human Age Institute Foundation (FHAI) – Italy, the University of Niš – Serbia, the European University Sports Association Institute (EUSA) – Slovenia, and the European Athlete as Student Network – Malta) had the opportunity to share the preliminary findings of the concept mapping for the development of dual career guidelines of the employee-sportspersons (e.g., athletes, coaches, referees, physical trainers, and sports managers).
The concept mapping has been developed based on a literature review and a solid eminence-knowledge encompassing 22 semi-structured interviews, five national focus groups, and a survey with 39 dual career experts validating the clarity of 50 factors aiming to facilitate appropriate Dual Career brand alignment strategies and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies.
In the past months, employee-sportspersons, managers at sport and corporate levels, and dual career experts unanimously graded and sorted the final list of 50 factors. After having agreed that the main targets of the guidelines were the employees, the managers, and the policy makers at national and international levels, the BRAVA-DC Team discussed the methodological approach of the qualitative-quantitative data interpretation of the concept mapping, and analyzed preliminary findings. In March the concept mapping data collection will be completed.
In the next two months another face-to-face meeting will be organized in Slovenia to finalize the guidelines and to create a web-based platform dedicated to the employees, employers, and governing bodies.
More information is available at www.bravadualcareer.eu
REG. NUMBER: Voluntary Organisation registration VO/1270
PIC NUMBER: 913459865
Email: info@dualcareer.eu