NEWS

On July 2-3, 2026, the University of Cagliari in collaboration with Sardegna Ricerche, the Regional Science and Technology Park of Sardinia, and the Sporting Life and Medicine Laboratory (SLAM), organized in Pula, Italy, the 5th UniCa Sport Scientific International Conference (USSIC). This event represented a meeting point for researchers, clinicians, practitioners, and institutions who believe in the impact of translating cutting-edge sports-related knowledge into real-world.

Whilst the first day was devoted to keynote, oral, and poster presentations related to bio-medical aspects of sports for physical and mental health of the practitioners, the second day encompassed key lectures and round tables on personalized training and on building sustainable pathways for student-athletes. As invited key lecturers, Laura Capranica, president of EAS and Thalia Darnanville, INSA coordinator of the SamEUROPE project presented the “European Sport and Education: An Alliance for Health” and the “SAMEurope: Erasmus+ mobility for dual career students”, respectively. Relevance was given to the EU Funded ERASMUS+ Collaborative Partnerships for universitiies, such as More Than Gold, DiscoverU, Runners for All, and Find Me.

Myosotis Massidda and Filippo Tocco, organizers of the Conference, moderated the round table on dual caree. Alessandra Carucci (Rector’s Delegate for international relationships of the Universty of Cagliari), Laura Capranica (Rector’s Delegate for dual career of the Universty of Rome Foro Italico and EAS President), Thalia Darnanville (INSA, Lyon, France)  Carlo Castagna (Pegaso Telematic University, Italy), Attilio Carraro (Free Uniersity of Bolzano, Italy), Susana Povoas (University of Maia, Portugal), Bruno Perra (President of the Sardinia Region Olympic Committee, Italy), Nardino Degortes (Coach of the Italian national track and field athletes 1984-2002), Fulvia Cappai (basketball player and student of law) discussed the challenges and opportunities of educational institutions and sport bodies in co-constructing a cohesive supportive entourage for sportspersons in pursuing their sport and academic careers.

Further information is available at https://www.ussic.it

The DiscoverU, Find Me, More Than Gold, Runners4All, and SAMEurope projects are 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.