Author: duponam
Hosted by the Instituto Politécnico de Viseu and coordinated by Fundacion Universitaria San Antonio – UCAM, on May 30, 2023, the Para-Limits Team gathered in Viseu, Portugal to examine the status of reports after completion of the IO4 pilot course, with a focus on the presentation of the Executive Report. As well, was presented the pilot course feedback and respective areas for improvement.
Para-Limits – Dual Career of Student-Athletes with Disabilities as a Tool for Social Inclusion project (EPLUS 400622213) is aimed at enabling high-level sportsmen and women with some kind of disability to successfully complete their sports and university careers without undermining one over the other. The name Para-Limits refers to those high-level athletes, Paralympics included, who seek to break down barriers and display their talent without limits.
During the meeting was discuss the format of the publication of the outputs of the project getting the idea that the most viable option is to publish the course modules in Handbook format in order to fulfil the IO5 of the project.
Financial aspects were mentioned by the coordinator institution and considering the project is coming to an end, final announcements were presented to keep all the procedures suitable with the agency requirements.
Finally, it was informed that the final transnational meeting of the project will take place on June 27th, 2023, at the headquarters of the ONCE Foundation in Madrid, Spain.
The EAS was represented by Antonio Figueiredo and Antonio Pato (physically) and Laura Capranica (remotely).
Para-Limits project 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 Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
On June 1st, 2023, more than 80 participants, including university students from Niš (Serbia) attended online the tenth EAS Cafè “Dual career as European sports diplomacy”, moderated by Prof. Antonio Sanchez-Pato, Director of the Sports Science Area at the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR, Spain) and member of the EAS Executive Committee.
Prof. Sanchez-Pato introduced the theme of the Cafè by offering the definitions of sport diplomacy and examples of this powerful tool to improve the dialogue, relations, and cultural exchanges between communities, to defuse tensions and to build bridges between countries. He also highlighted the role of education of sportspersons whose experiences of a globalized sport environment could help them developing skills useful in the diplomatic arena. Finally, he emphasized the potential of e-learning to support dual career worldwide, especially in considering that some European universities historically have a relevant cultural exchange in other continents, such as Latin America.
The first speaker, Prof. Felipe Rodrigues Da Costa, Assistant Professor at the Physical Education Faculty of the Brasilia University (FEF/UnB) and Coordinator of the Post-graduate Program in Physical Education, summarized the development of dual career in Latin America, starting from his post-doc experience at the University of Coimbra and his cooperation with Prof. Antonio Figueiredo, Member of the EAS Excecutive Committee. He illustrated not only his personal dedication to the development of dual career research in Latin America that resulted in a tremendous increase of scientific contributions during the past few years, but also the capitalization of the good practice of EAS for establishing a dual career Ibero-American network, which resulted in the organization of international seminars and the participation of Brazilian delegates to the EAS conference.
The second speaker, Prof. Karim Chamari, Head of Aspetar Injury and Illness Prevention Program (ASPREV) at Aspetar, Doha (Qatar) presented his difficulties in combining his academic and sport careers as a Tunisian Olympic windsurfer at the Barcelona Games in 1992. Whilst in Tunisia he struggled to have dual career arrangements at academic level, as a PhD student at the University of Montpellier (France) he engaged in personal negotiations with his PhD tutor to have a 4-month break from his research studies to prepare for the Olympic Games. Suffering a sudden end of his sport career due to an unexpected severe pathology, Prof. Chamari benefited from his bio-medical studies to recover his condition. Despite a lack of institutional dual career support, Prof. Chamari’s determination made him a well-prepared coach of professional soccer players and one of the most rewarded outstanding scholars.
In summarizing the general discussion, Prof. Sanchez-Pato underlined the main role of dual career in establishing understanding between cultures, scientific research, and cooperation between organizations. He also urged young researcher to send their application to the Bengt Nybelius Scholarship before July 1, 2023, and anticipated that an EAS survey will be mailed to its internal and external stakeholders to collect their opinions regarding the past and future EAS activities. Before closing the Tenth EAS Cafè, the participants were informed that the next EAS Cafè will be organized in fall, after the Annual Conference to be held in Gaeta next October 2-4, 2023.
Hosted by the Fundacion Universitaria San Antonio – UCAM and coordinated by Collective Innovation AS, on May 29-30, 2023, the COMPATH Team gathered in Murcia, Spain to examine the preliminary findings of a desk analysis of academic curricula encompassing sports-oriented technology and 21st century skills, business world, entrepreneurship and different thinking and literacy methods, and to envisage further progression of the project.
The COMPATH project (101050955) supports the educational, professional, and personal development of young athletes-students (18-25 yrs) through a ‘‘Competence Hub on Sport Innovation’’, thereby contributing to promote quality and new jobs and to driving innovation. Using the potential of sport, COMPATH will contribute to smart growth and employment through the re-usable, transferable and up-scalable results (the content – educational resources and tools; and space – platform) offered to young athletes-students and facilitators responsible for their education and guidance.
In the next months, two surveys will be administered to European academic experts and student-sportspersons aged between 18 to 25 years, respectively. Furthermore, national semi-structured interviews with experts in dual career, sports technology, and/or pedagogy will be envisaged.
Further information will be shared during the next EAS Annual Conference to be held in Gaeta, Italy, next October 2-4, 2023
COMPATH project 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 Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
On May 11-12, 2023 the Talent Team gathered in Palermo, Italy to discuss the outcomes of the desk analysis and best practices report from the participating countries, to participate in the Show your talent event at Regina Margherita high school, to foresee the advancement of the project for the identification of the standards for talented.
TALENT project (101090147) is focused on the integration of youth talents in their school and sports environments through a program that is pre-operational with respect to an actual dual-career programme. With this aim, the “Show your talent!” Event was organized at the Regina Margherita high school in Palermo, with talented students presenting dance, drama, language, music, painting, and sport (taek-won-do) performances. Furthermore, Italian track and field coaches, athletes, teachers, and scholars exchanged their opinions on the difficulty to define the characteristics of a specific talent, to delineate the boundaries and signs for detecting a given talent, and to adopt the proper measures to help youth to expressing their talent.
In the next months, national focus groups will be organized in Italy, Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia to provide insights from coaches and teachers on how to identify and support a dual career of talented youth. Then, a workshop with European dual career experts will take place during the next EAS Annual Conference to be held in Gaeta, Italy, next October 2-4, 2023
Tenth EAS Online Cafè
“Dual career as European sports diplomacy”
Zoom Meeting June 1, 2023 (from 12:00 CET)
12:00 Welcome words: Prof. Antonio Sanchez-Pato
Director of the Department of Sports Sciences. Faculty of Health Sciences, International University of La Rioja.
12:10 – Prof. Felipe Rodrigues Da Costa: “Dual Career in Brazil: research, actions, and the (possible) European Experience”.
Prof. Felipe Rodrigues Da Costa is Assistant Professor at the Physical Education Faculty of the Brasilia University (FEF/UnB) and Coordinator of the Post-graduate Program in Physical Education – PPGEF/UnB. He is the Coordinator of the Research Group on Sports Training and Athlete Career (DuCa), President of the Brazilian Association on Dual Career (ABDC), Member of the IberoAmerican Network on Dual Career, and develops research on dual careers at master’s and doctorate levels. Prof. Da Costa has been working with the theme of dual careers since 2010 when he started his Ph.D. at Gama Filho University in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and participated in the organization of the International Seminar on Dual Careers and other events. He completed a postdoctoral internship at the University of Coimbra, supervised by Professor Dr. Antonio Figueiredo.
12:30 – Prof. Karim Chamari: “Surfing: from the sea’ waves to online research papers’’
Prof. Karim Chamari is Head of Aspetar Injury and Illness Prevention Program (ASPREV) at Aspetar, Doha, Qatar. He is a former elite athlete who participated in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Game in windsurfing. Doctor in Exercise Physiology and University Full Professor, Prof. Chamari is one of the most active Sport Science researchers. He has published 400+ publications in peer-review journals (H-index 66, Scopus) and more than 20 book chapters, particularly focused on football (soccer) science and medicine and Ramadan fasting. He has also an extensive field experience as fitness coach of professional Tunisian Footballers for more than 10 years. Prof. Chamari has been the leader of the Tunisian Research Laboratory ‘Sport Performance Optimization’ of the National Centre of Medicine and Science in Sport, Tunis, Tunisia for 10 years before joining Qatar in 2013.
12:50 – General discussions and concluding remarks
On May 4-5, 2023, the University of Ljubljana and EUSA organized the second face-to-face transnational project meeting of the European project BRAnd Values Alignment through Dual Career (BRAVA-DC, 622824-EPP-1-2020-1-IE-SPO-SCP). The BRAVA-DC project focuses on the Dual Career opportunities of employee sportspersons, which could be valuable for the sustainability and corporate social responsibility strategies and policies of for-profit companies. In raising the awareness of employment challenges and opportunities for dual career sportspersons could be considered also a beakthrough for other atypical employee, such as artists and performers.
During the 2-day hosted by the Faculty of Sport of the University of Ljubljana the partners discussed the findings regarding the views of relevant dual career factors collected from the views of the employee sportspersons and their employers. In particular, the concept mapping was deemed relevant for the development of a dual career framework at the workplace, and the identification of the most relevant factors possessing theoretical and reasonable agreements should inform the new European DC workplace guidelines.
Two graphic students participated to the meeting offering their visual representation of the BRAVA-DC project and the interaction between the members of the project. This unique contribution allowed the participants to further reflections on how visual illustration could summarize effectively the project aims and its development.
During the EAS Annual Conference to be held in Gaeta on 2-4 October 2023, dual career experts will have the opportunity to validate the content and structure of the new European dual career guidelines at the workplace.
On May 2-3, 2023, the EU Sport Forum of the European Commission was organized in Stockholm during the Swedish Presidency of the European Union, also streamed online. Traditionally, EAS participates to this important event with many key sports organisations.
Paulina Modlitba, Member of the board of UN Women Sweden, moderated the welcome session opened by an online message of Mariya Gabriel, EU Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth. Jakob Forssmed, Swedish Minister for Social Affairs and Health, and Tomasz Frankowski, Member of the European Parliament and Co-chair of European Parliament Sport group, who introduced the themes of the event focused on integrity, good governance and gender equality. During the event, also the sustainability of sporting events, the role of sport for physical and mental health, and the development of skills and competences of sportspersons were addressed.
Philipp Lahm and Célia Šašić, respectively Director and Ambassador of the UEFA Euro 2024 event, emphasised the relevant role of sports events in presenting the European sport values and sustainable development.
During the first panel, Viviane Hoffmann (Deputy Director-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture – DG EAC), Bjørn Berge (Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe), Sarah Keane (President of the Olympic Federation of Ireland), Stefan Bergh (President of ENGSO), and Barbara Fuertes (Representative of the Spanish Presidency) discussed the policies, strategies, and good practices on Women in Sport: Form Grassroots to Leadership.
Positive samples of European initiative in sport were granted the 2023 #BeInclusive EU Sport awards, which encompass the categories “Breaking Barriers”, “BeEqual”, and “Sport for Peace”, given to Free Movement Skateboarding (Greece), Kayak Club Zlatorog (Slovenia), amd Youth Line Portugal (Portugal), respectively.
In her key speech Catherine Chabaud, Member of the European Parliament, reported her experiences as a sailor having concerns to preserve the ocean environment and to limit climate changes.
The second panel addressed Integrity in Sport. Olivier Niggli (Director General of WADA), Paquerette Girard-Zappelli (Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer of the IOC), Vincent Ven, Head of Anti Match Fixing of UEFA), and Tine Vertommen (Researcher at Thomas More University of Applied Sciences) debated the role of education and prevention to enhance ethical issues and good governance, and to avoid corruption, doping, and harassment.
Two 3-parallel sessions completed the first day. In particular, dual career of the sportsperson was discussed within the “Sport skills, a lifelong competence” session moderated by Ignazio Cocchiere (Policy Officer, Sport Unit) and panellists Claudia Bokel, former Chair of the IOC Athletes’ Commission) Laurent Petrynka, President of the ISF, Saga Fredriksson, Football player at Malmo FFM, and Sergio Lara-Bercial, Vice President of ICC E. Dual career was also addressed during the beginning of the second day with the two keynote speeches of Maja Poljak and Cédric Van Branteghem, former athletes from Croatia and Belgium, respectively.
Floor van Houdt (Head of the Sport Unit of the European Commission) and Luciano Di Fonzo (Deputy Head of Unit for Erasmus Mundus and Sport of EACEA) illustrated the main events, initiatives and funding opportunities of the European calls is sport. In particular, around 359 Erasmus+ projects are expected to be funded, in addition to the novel mobility actions in sport. The Youth Lab provided some ideas regarding Healthy Lifestyle 4 All, whereas Viviane Hoffmann, Deputy Director-General of DG EAC) of the European Commission offered the closing remarks. More information on the event is available at https://eusportforum2023.eu. You will find all the recording of the plenary session as well as the #BeInclusive Awards here. More pictures of the event can be found here.
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On April 20-21, 2023 The University of Rome Foro Italico (Italy) hosted the EAS Executive Board. During the meeting, the cooperation of EAS with European Institutions consolidated in 2020-2023 have been summarized to provide a basis of the development of the 2023-2026 strategic plan to be discussed and approved by the General Assembly during the 2023 EAS Conference to be held in Gaeta, Italy next October 2-4, 2023.
The roles of three EAS Committees have been discussed. In particular, the EAS Scientific Committee Antonio Tessitore – UNIMED, Chair); Elena Conde, UCAM – Masar Gjaka, UBT) will foster dual career research and select the 2023 Bengt Nybelius Scholarship winners; of the EAS Communication Committee (Cristina Cortis – University of Cassino, Chaur; Piotr Rodak – Academy of Physical Education in Katowice, – Lotte Juhl – ESAA) will work to increase the visibility of the EAS Conference in the EAS website and social media; and the New Generation EAS Committee (Flavia Guidotti – University of Rome Foro Italico, Chair; Sara Seidl, University of Mannheim; Hakon Ege, Collins Innovation) will provide new ideas for the EAS Cafè and other activities.
The development of the ongoing European projects (BRAVA-DC, coordinated by the University of Limerick, Ireland; COMPATH, coordinated by Collective Innovation AS -COLINN, Norway; PARA-LIMITS, coordinated by UCAM, Spain; TALENT coordinated by the Center of Excellence of Split Dalmatia County, Croatia; and SPORTS AS VALUE coordinated by ENGSO, Sweden) and the application to six new proposals have been presented also in light of the new rules of the European Commission.
During a meeting with Prof. Cristina Cortis from the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, the main aspects of the 2023 EAS Conference “Promoting Wellbeing in dual Career” and the cultural programme have been examined. Early registration fees (until August 1, 2023) will be 300 EUR for EAS Members and 450 EUR for non-members (including 150 EUR of 2023 EAS membership). After August 1, 2023, registration fees will be 400 EUR for EAS Members, and 550 EUR for not EAS members (including 150 EUR of EAS membership).
Save the date: the 10th EAS Cafè ““Dual career as European sports diplomacy beyond Europe” will be held on June 1, 2023.
The third Sport4Impact conference was held in Milan at 30 and 31 of March, under the designation “The role of finance and private sectors to design and scale up policies and programs for driving social change through sports”. The event was offered in a hybrid format, with 60 participants on the site and more than 100 remotely in a worldwide range.
During these two days was possible to present and discuss different perspectives how to use sport for a social transformation, having the contribution of European projects representatives and, as well, European and African institutions or organizations that were invited to participate.
The second day (March 31st) was fully dedicated to the financial approach to sport and physical activity initiatives based on a mix public and private resources, what is well identified in the rationale and scope of the Forum:
“Sports is growingly becoming a key lever for public bodies and private organizations to address a wide range of social needs. The role of finance and private sectors is more and more relevant in view of promoting a higher impact of programs fostered by the public sector at local, national and international level.
In the framework of the first Conference held in 2018 and of the second one held in 2021, the third Sport4Impact Conference will provide a dedicated environment to present recent evolutions, cases and tools and possible strategies elaborated by finance and private sectors, in order to facilitate networking and matching between finance and private operators on one side, and public bodies, sport organizations and practitioners on the other side. Special attention will be given to the FIT FOR LIFE Program promoted by UNESCO. The prevention and countering of relevant crimes in sports will be included in the conference agenda as a structural component and precondition for the appropriate and effective use of sports for social impact”.
EAS was invited to participate and was represented by António Figueiredo (Executive Commission member) who gave a contribution based on the mission and future perspectives of the EAS.
REG. NUMBER: Voluntary Organisation registration VO/1270
PIC NUMBER: 913459865
Email: info@dualcareer.eu