May 2025
On May 15 and 16, 2025, as Member of the Executive Board of EAS Laurence Blondel participated in the final event of the ERASMUS+Sport SAMEurope project (https://www.sameuropeproject.eu) organized by INSA Lyon. SAMEurope aimed to bring together European universities, companies, and sports bodies and institutions to discuss the challenges and opportunities for ERASMUS+mobility of dual career at tertiary education level.
During the first day, an overview of the SAMEurope project was provided and the key deliverables Guide of Good Practices (https://www.sameuropeproject.eu/guide-of-good-practices/) an online platform (https://www.sameuropeproject.eu/platform/) and a sociological study (https://www.sameuropeproject.eu/sociological-study/) for ERASMUS+ mobility opportunities at tertiary educational level have been illustrated. Furthermore, the Tri’Crit’Race sport event has been presented, an an overview of the mission, vision and activities of the EAS network has been offered.
On the second day, hosted at Matmut Stadium, participants explored the INSA Lyon high-level sport programme and joined a round table on how international mobility benefits dual career university students, with insights from athletes, companies, and alumni. The event concluded with the presentation of a sociological study on employers’ perceptions of dualcareer graduates and discussions on collaborations for further improvements of European actions at higher educational level. In fact, it is essential to support dual career university students so they can succeed both in their academic journey and in their future professional careers. The ideas proposed by the SAMEurope project were very well received by the audience, with the actual partners of the consortium expressing their approval and support, and new potential partners showing interest in joining the initiative and the platform.
A final wrap-up outlined key takeaways and the path forward for dual career support in Europe. In fact, this event provided an opportunity to strengthen ties between crucial stakeholders in charge of supporting DC students, from both the sport and the academic environments and it was the right place to address any remaining questions, creating meaningful discussions about the future of SAMEurope.
On May 19, 2025, the 16th EAS Cafè “Sport Innovation: Promoting Employability of Student-Athletes and Sport Professionals” was organized in cooperation with the ERASMUS+Sport COMPATH project (101050955) and attended by approximately 70 participants from diverse backgrounds, including students, academics, and sports professionals.
Mr. Hakon Ege (Colin Collective Innovation, Oslo, Norway) illustrated the aims and outcomes of the COMPATH project (101050955), introduced the speakers, and moderated the discussion on how emerging sports technologies are reshaping career opportunities within the sports industry.
Ms. Eleni Mageirou, MSc (NYSA Sweden, Jönköping, Sweden) presented practical examples on the wearable technologies used in field sport evaluation, which also nurture advanced skills of athletes involved in their personal and team data collections and interpretations. Dr. Christopher James Keating, PhD (ACSM-EP, UCAM, Murcia, Spain) gave an overview of the Esports and EGaming of university Spanish teams participating in national and international competitions, which are provided full logistic, psychological, and dual career support, being eSport athletes officially included in dual career university paths. Finally, dr. Mauro Mandorino, PhD (Parma Calcio, Parma, Italy) highlighted the opportunities provided by smart science and how technology is used, and data collection is organized at Parma Calcio for shaping professional soccer players performances.
The shared expertise of the speakers inspired attendees to delve deeper into topics of interest and foster meaningful discussions around dual career pathways, making this event a success and looking forward to continuing these valuable discussions in the future.
The event also informed on the upcoming events encompassing the 2025 Bengt Nybelius Scholarship (deadline July 1, 2025; https://www.dualcareer.eu/call-for-papers-bengt-nybelius-scholarship-2025/) and the 2025 EAS Annual Conference to be held on October 6-8, 2025 in Riga, Latvia. These announcements were met with enthusiasm, further underlining the growing importance of dual career initiatives in sport.
Further information about the COMPATH project – Promoting Employability of Young Student-Athletes through ‘‘Competence Hub’’ on Sport Innovationis – is available at https://sportsinnovationshub.com
COMPATH is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
On May 16, 2025, the Partners of the FIND ME ERASMUS+Sport project gathered in Oslo, Norway, to participate in the third transnational meeting, hosted by Collective Innovation AS (COLIN). FIND ME aims to support student-athletes by providing a multilingual, user-friendly platform to access dual career opportunities in higher education.
Burak Caliskan and Ege Hakon welcomed the participants and summarized the progression of the project, including the two scientific papers summarizing the evidence- (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2025.1566208/abstract) and eminence-based (https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sports-and-active-living/articles/10.3389/fspor.2025.1507951/full?utm_source=F-NTF)
research necessary to develop a sound FIND ME platform. The Partners agreed to further analyse the findings of the FIND ME survey and semi-structured interview to be disseminated to the scientific community.
Matteo Perissinotto (OKKAM), presented the technical architecture of the platform, including its multilingual and modular design, and highlighted the data gathering based on previous research and stakeholder inputs. Then, the Partners discussed how to engage universities in the project, also considering the resources available at www.whed.net. Nenad Stojiljkovic (University of Nis) proposed to increment the visibility of FIND Me through promotional gadget with the project logo (e.g., bags, notebooks, patches, etc.), whereas partners will keep sharing posts and pictures of the project activities and communication/dissemination.
At the end of the meeting, the Partners had the opportunity to visit the museum of winter sports and the sky jumping trampoline.
More information on the project will be provided during the 2025 EAS Conference to be held in Riga, Latvia, next October 6-8.
FIND ME is funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
On May 14 and 15, 2025, the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) of the Council of Europe (COE) held the annual meeting of its Governing Board and Consultative Committee in Strasbourg, France.
On May 14 the 41 country representatives of Governing board and the 30 sports organisations of the Consultative Committee participated in separate in-camera meetings. The Consultative Committee discussed the activities to promote the European Sports Charter, the implementation of its Term of Reference, and the upcoming events. They also elected Guido Battaglia (Centre for Sport and Human Rights) as a member of the bureau to complete the current mandate.
On May 15 the joint meeting and the launch of the new joint project of the European Union and Council of Europe “Sport for All – Promoting inclusion and combating discrimination against persons with disabilities” took place. The EPAS past activities and the implementation of the 2024-2025 strategy and the draft strategy for 2026-2027 were summarized, whereas the draft guidelines on “safer recruitment in sport: human rights-compliant screening of professionals and volunteers in contact with children”, the Resolution on “Collaborative governing and good governance in sport: supporting a fresh approach to match its societal importance”, and the 19th Conference of Ministers Responsible for Sport, to be hosted by Monaco in November 2026 were discussed. Then, on the lawn of the Council of Europe the participants took part in a training session of blind football.
For the next two years, the new elected Chair of the Governing Board Bureau will be Solene Charuau (France) whereas Ioanna Paraskevopoulou (Cyprus) will act as Vice-Chair, and Antonio Parrilla (Italy), Simon De Coster (Belgium), Marija Jurcevic (Croatia) and Elnur Mammadov (Azerbaijan) as members. Solene Charuau will also act as the Gender Equality Rapporteur.
More information, is available at www.coe.int/epas.
The Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) of the Council of Europe (COE) provided also an opportunity for disseminating the ERASMUS+Sport projects in which EAS is currently collaborating: COMPATH (101050955) https://sportsinnovationshub.com; DC Mentor (101132309) https://dcmentor.eu, DiscoverU (101134052) https://discoveru.eusa.eu, Find Me (101134043) https://findmeproject.net, Smart Start for DC (101133555) https://www.facebook.com/p/Smart-Start-4-DC-61556732943039/, and Talent (101090147) https://talent-edu.eu.
The COMPATH (101050955) Project’s final transnational meeting took place in Oslo on May 6, hosted by Collective Innovation (COLIN), with the active participation of all project partners. The meeting focused on reviewing the project’s progress and discussing the remaining tasks as the project approaches its conclusion.
The meeting opened with a welcome by the host institution, from Håkon Ege by COLIN, followed by updates on the development and piloting of the digital learning modules that form the backbone of the COMPATH platform. A detailed review was presented regarding the assignment of piloting responsibilities for the 12 modules across the project partners.
Each partner is now carrying out localized implementations of the modules based on their expertise and regional needs. The participants expressed overall satisfaction with the progress achieved and the collaborative spirit demonstrated throughout the COMPATH project.
Following this, discussions were held on ongoing and upcoming dissemination activities. For a multiplier event, EAS committed to launch the 16th EAS online Cafè on “Sport Innovation: Promoting employability of student-athletes and sport professionals” to be held on Monday May 19, 2025 (from 13:00 CET), which is central to sharing the project results with wider audiences.
The meeting concluded with reflections from all project partners, reassuring their commitment to disseminating the project’s outcomes and sustaining its impact beyond the project’s official end.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
The 16th EAS Virtual Cafè on “Sport Innovation: Promoting employability of student-athletes and sport professionals” will be held on Monday May 19, 2025 (from 13:00 CET).
Technology plays a relevant role for employabiity in sport, and the key aim of the ERASMUS+Sport COMPATH project (101050955).
13:00 Welcome – Hakon Ege, Colin Collective Innovation, Oslo, Norway
13:10 Wearables, technology and supporting Student Athletes – Eleni Mageirou, MSc, NYSA Sweden, Jönköping, Sweden
13:25 Esports and EGaming of university student-athletes – Christopher James Keating, PhD, ACSM-EP, UCAM, Murcia, Spain
13:40 Smart Science: How Technology and Data Shape Performance at Parma Calcio – Mauro Mandorino, PhD, Parma Calcio, Parma, Italy
13:55 General discussions and concluding remarks
We look forward to meeting you for this important dual career event
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neith er the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
On April 28–29, 2025, a transantional meeting of the ERASMUS+Sport Collaborative Partnership Smart Start for Dual Careers project was held in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. The project is currently in a key development phase, focusing on the creation of a test version of the online platform and the design of MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) tools – free online courses tailored to young people, teachers, and sports coaches. The content will include video materials, interactive tasks, quizzes, and certificates, all aimed at helping students balance their education and sports development.
During the meeting, the participants from the Partner organizations (Sportsko učilište PESG, Croatia; EAS – The Dual Career Network, Malta; Champions Factory, Bulgaria – meeting host; MindSpin, Cyprus; Edirne Kırkpınar Spor Lisesi, Turkey; and APS ASD Margherita Sport e Vita, Italy) discussed in detail the platform’s structure, functionality, visual identity, accessibility, and user experience. Particular emphasis was placed on ease of use, personalized content, and user motivation. Ideas were presented for integrating instructors, customized avatars, and video materials that will be accessible through both the platform and YouTube.
In addition to technical aspects, the team also focused on communication strategy. It was concluded that a strong digital presence is essential, and that social media activities, along with outreach through schools and sports clubs, will play a vital role in the project’s dissemination efforts.
The project team agreed on the next steps, which include pilot testing with young people in partner countries, developing supporting educational materials, and final technical adjustments to the platform. Once completed, the platform will offer digital certificates upon successful completion of the modules, giving learners official recognition for their efforts.
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