EU Projects

Dear Dual Career Friends and Colleagues,

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season embracing the best of this year to renew our good will towards the dual career of the sportspersons.

In 2024, EAS continued the successful experience of virtual cafes to allow the dual career community to hear the experiences and visions of experts and testimonial regarding “Students-Athletes Facing the Olympic Games”, “University Sports – From Active Lifestyles to Dual Career”, and “Military Sport: Dual Career Opportunities and Challenges”.

During this year, EAS implemented fruitful partnerships with International Organizations in Sports by signing a Memorandum of Understanding with the European Network of Sport Education (ENSE) and with the Associacao Brasileira sobre Dupla Carreira Esportiva (ABDC), and by participating in the 18th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers Responsible for Sport, the celebration of the EUSA 25th Anniversary, the Erasmus+ BeActive Award, and the Erasmus+ Infoday. Furthermore, the Italian Scientific Society of Movement and Sports (SISMES) presented a Recognition Plaque to President Laura Capranica for her commitment to the advancement of dual career in Italy.

During the Annual General Assembly held in Katowice, Poland, the past and future actions of EAS were discussed and the 2025 EAS Conference to be held in Zagreb, Croatia (October 1-3) was presented.

Furthermore, EAS endorses the creation of the “University Research Network of Dual Mentoring for High Level Athletes-Students” (RUMDE) funded by the Superior Council of Sports of the Government of Spain, composed of 8 universities and 20 researchers. Its objective is to design a dual mentoring model valid for all Spanish universities adapted to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA).

The EU-funded ERASMUS+Sport Collaborative Partnerships and Capacity Building

Through oral presentations and distribution of the projects’ flyers, EAS disseminated to scholars and policy makers the aims and progresses of the following ongoing projects at international conferences (ABDC, Sao Paulo, Brazil September 15-17; SISMeS, Chieti-Pescara, Italy, September 20-22; 2024 Ministerial Conference of EPAS Council of Europe, October 8-10, Porto, Portugal; ENSE Forum, Tirana, Albania, November 2-3). Furthermore, the EAS activities have been reported in the EAS website and summarized as follow:

COMPATH (101050955). On February 26, NYSA hasted in Stockholm (Sweden) the project meeting to discuss the future phases for creating new opportunities for young professionals in the sports industry (https://www.dualcareer.eu/discover-how-our-compath-project-supports-the-sports-industry-by-empowering-young-sports-professionals/), and on September 17 PESG hosted in Zagreb (Croatia) during which the gamification-based digital “Competence Hub” platform has been introduced and thematic workshops for student-athletes have been planned (https://www.dualcareer.eu/report-from-the-compath-project-meeting/). Further information is available at https://sportsinnovationshub.com

DC Mentor (101132309). On March 1, the kickoff meeting of the DCMentor project took place in Oslo (Norway) to discuss tools and solutions that will aid athletes in balancing dual careers, including life skills, future skills, and 21th century skills (https://www.dualcareer.eu/we-are-starting-the-dc-mentor-project/). The second project meeting was held in Katowice (Poland) on September 30 to summarize the completed outputs and to plan future steps, including the possibility to develop a specific module on “Mental Toughness” module (https://www.dualcareer.eu/report-from-the-dc-mentor-project/). Further information is available at https://dcmentor.eu

DiscoverU (101134052). On April 22, the 13^th EAS online Cafè has been organized in cooperation with the EUSA Institute to address the role of university sports for enhancing sport participation and active lifestyles of university students, which is the focus of the ERASMUS+ Cooperative Partnership DiscoverU (https://www.dualcareer.eu/the-eas-eusa-cafe-university-sports-from-active-lifestyles-to-dual-career/). On May 30-31, the Croatian Academic Sports Federation organized in Porec (Croatia) the second project meeting as part of the 2nd International Scientific Conference 4 Healthy Academic Society, during which the undertaken and future activities have been summarized (https://www.dualcareer.eu/discoveru-project-meeting-held-in-porec/). To highlight the importance of collaboration and involvement of educated youth for the development of future leaders encouraging the active lifestyles of university students the project partners gathered at the University of Debrecen (Hungary) on July 13 as part of the “EUSA Forum 2024: Synergies in university sport development” (https://www.dualcareer.eu/third-transnational-meeting-of-the-discoveru-project-in-debrecen-miskolc-hungary/). During the 2024 EAS Conference in Katowice (Poland), Andrej Pisl (EUSA Institute) presented “DiscoverU – Discovering University Sport and Supporting Dual Career” highlighting the aims and opportunities of the project (https://eas24.awf.katowice.pl/fcp/BGBUKOQtTKlQhbx08SlkTUQFQX2o8DAoHNiwFE1wZDyEPG1gnBVcoFW8SBDRKTxMKRy0SODwBBAEIMQheCFVAORFCHzY/25/public/conference_book-2.pdf). Further information is available at https://www.eusa.eu/search?s=discoverU

Find Me (101134043). On February 15, 2024, the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education of the University of Nis (Serbia) organized the kick-off meeting of the FIND ME project with the primary aim to structure an evidence-based European platform specifically tailored for sportspersons looking for the best option dual career to enroll at university level in Europe (https://www.dualcareer.eu/the-project-find-me-university-dual-career-opportunity-has-been-launched/). The second transnational meeting was held at the University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy) on September 5-6 to discuss the content and structure of the FIND ME platform (https://www.dualcareer.eu/new-steps-for-dual-career-athletes-find-me-project-partners-gathered-in-italy/). From November 22-24, the partners gathered in Iasi (Romania) as part of the international conference Football of the Future-Between Science, Society and Sports (https://www.dualcareer.eu/awareness-raising-activity-event-find-me-erasmus-project/), during which Nenad Stojiljkovic (University of Nis) presented the project as part of his keynote speech “Dual career of football players across the Europe”. The meeting allowed to share the progression of the scientific evidence on sportspersons’ opinions on dual career measures at university level. During the 2024 EAS Conference in Katowice (Poland), Nenad Stojiljkovic (University of Nis) presented “FIND ME: University Dual Career Opportunities” highlighting the aims and outcomes of the project (https://eas24.awf.katowice.pl/fcp/BGBUKOQtTKlQhbx08SlkTUQFQX2o8DAoHNiwFE1wZDyEPG1gnBVcoFW8SBDRKTxMKRy0SODwBBAEIMQheCFVAORFCHzY/25/public/conference_book-2.pdf). Further information is available at https://findmeproject.net.

Smart Start for DC (101133555). The Sports School PESG (Croatia), coordinator of the project, organized the kick off meeting in Zagreb on March 25-26 to discuss the key elements and project phases necessary to produce quality outputs for supporting the development of dual careers of young student athletes (14 – 19) through strengthening their transversal/transferable skills. On July 5-6, MindSpin hosted the second transnational meeting in Nicosia (Cyprus), during which the educational modules developed from the outcomes of desk search, semi-structured interviews and surveys were discussed (https://www.dualcareer.eu/second-transnational-meeting-of-smart-start-for-dc-in-cyprus/). During the 2024 EAS Conference in Katowice (Poland), Renato Vuk (PESG) presented “Smart Start for DC – encouraging the dual career of young high school athletes” highlighting the aims and opportunities of the project (https://eas24.awf.katowice.pl/fcp/BGBUKOQtTKlQhbx08SlkTUQFQX2o8DAoHNiwFE1wZDyEPG1gnBVcoFW8SBDRKTxMKRy0SODwBBAEIMQheCFVAORFCHzY/25/public/conference_book-2.pdf). Further information is available at https://www.eusa.eu/search?s=discoverU

Sports as Value (101093451), on June 25 the Montenegrin Olympic Committee hosted a project meeting in Podgorica (Montenegro) in conjunction of the Olympic Day organized with UNHCR and local clubs, during which local children and children from refugee backgrounds participated together to different sports tournaments. During the 2024 EAS Conference (October 1-3) in Katowice (Poland), Faton Tishukaj and Florian Miftari (University of Prishtina, Kosovo) presented the Societal Impact and Development of Grassroots Sports in the Western Balkans: Insights from the ‘Sports as Value’ Project (November 2024 the Kosovo Olympic Committee hosted in Pristina (Kosovo) the European Sport Platform on “Values of Sport: Building Bridges in a United Europe” (https://www.engso-education.eu/european-sport-platform/), encompassing also the final conference of Sports as Value project (https://www.dualcareer.eu/final-conference-of-sports-as-value-in-pristina-kosovo/). In building the capacity of sport managers and coaches in the Balkan region for promoting the positive impact of grassroots sports and the values in and through sport, best practices collected in Albania, Bosnia&Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Portugal, and some other Member States have been presented. Further information is available at  https://www.engso-education.eu/sports-as-value/

Talent (101090147). On June 3-4 the Center for Social Innovation hosted in Nicosia (Cyprus) the 4th project meeting https://www.dualcareer.eu/transnational-partners-meeting-iof-talent-project-n-nicosia/ to develop a cloud-based education for creative sport talents following the finalization of the Methodological Handbook with Standards for the Detection and Assessment of the Potential of Talented Children in Sport https://talent-edu.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/3.2.-Methodology-Handbook.pdf. During the 2024 EAS Conference in Katowice (Poland), Antonio Scardina (University of Palermo) presented The Identification of Standards by Teachers and Coaches for Talent Recognition and Promote Dual Careers. Results from Talent Project (https://eas24.awf.katowice.pl/fcp/BGBUKOQtTKlQhbx08SlkTUQFQX2o8DAoHNiwFE1wZDyEPG1gnBVcoFW8SBDRKTxMKRy0SODwBBAEIMQheCFVAORFCHzY/25/public/conference_book-2.pdf). Further information is available at https://talent-edu.eu

Upcoming events

April 16-17: Under the Belgian Presidency of the European Union, the Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture of the European Commission will organize the 2024 EU Sport Forum in Liege (Belgium) The event will bring together policy maker and representatives from sports organizations to discuss challenges and envisage opportunities for the European Sport.

April 22: 13^th EAS Cafè “University Sports: From Active Lifestyles to Dual Career”

EAS Conference

May 14, 2025, 17th Plenary meeting of the EPAS Consultative Committee, Strasbourg, France.

October 1-2025, the 2025 EAS Annual Conference will be held in Zagreb (Croatia) to share the advancement and outcomes of EU-funded dual career projects, best practices of dual career at local, regional, and national levels, , and the recognition of researchers awarded the Bengt Nybelius Scholarship (https://www.dualcareer.eu/call-for-papers-bengt-nybelius-scholarship-2024/)..

Special thanks to the Executive Committee and the Members of our Network for their proactive attitude in the recruitment of new EAS members and the advancement of the European dual career culture. I strongly encourage you to keep disseminating the EAS activities for the benefit of sportspersons as students and workers.

Prof. Laura Capranica,

EAS President

From November 22 to 24, the 10th International Conference of the Universitaria Consortium in Physical Education, Sports, and Physiotherapy, titled “The Football of the Future – Between Science, Society, and Sports”, was held in Iași, Romania.

The conference represented an opportunity to increase the awareness of the FIND ME ERASMUS+Sport Project(101134043) focused on the implementation of dual career of sportspersons at university level.

Beatrice Abalasei, Dean of the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași, welcomed the authorities, the Deans and Representatives of Romanian and International universities, the speakers, and the participants. Laura Capranica, President of EAS addressed the three main reasons to focus on dual career and a good practice for universities: First, education and sport are human rights to allow talented sportsperson to pursue their holistic development; second, the relevance of educated athletes for the social, economic, and policy sectors in different countries; and third, dual career athletes are crucial to deliver a positive image and values of their university. As a good practice, she presented the informal consortium of Italian Universities the UniSport Italy, which succeeded in fostering the national dual career guidelines in agreement with the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI), the Italian Paralympic Committee (CIP), and the Italian Sport University Federation (CUSI) despite the Italian “laisser faire” approach to dual career.

The conference was structured into five sections and three working groups. One of the working groups focused on “Implementation of Policies and Strategies of Dual Career in the European Union,” an awareness-raising event under the “FIND ME: University Dual Career Opportunities” Erasmus+ project (ID: 101134043), where EAS is one of the partner organizations. Prof. Beatrice Abalasei, Dean of the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași introduced the FIND ME project, and project leader Nenad Stojiljković from the University of Niš (Serbia) highlighted the benefits and opportunities for higher education institutions to increase the visibility of their dual career policies and to cooperate with sports bodies, with special regard to football.

In the following days, Beatrice Abalasei, Dean of the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași welcomed the participants to the meeting of the FIND ME project. Raluca Mihaela Onose presented the outcomes of the National Report for Romania, deriving from the semi-structured interviews and the focus group. Andrea Fusco from The University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy) illustrated the progression of the scientific evidence on “Sportspersons’ Opinions on Dual Career Measures,”.

Matteo Perissinotto (OKKAM, Italy) clarified the development of the FIND ME platform and the group discussed the development of an online tool to collect the student-athletes’ feedback of their university dual career services and policies. Finally, Burak Calışkan from Collective Innovation AS, Oslo (Norway) presented the outcomes and next steps of the overall dissemination, communication, and networking.

The wonderful hosts of the FIND ME meeting also offered a tour to explore the Iași’s historical heritage.

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 November 21 the Final Conference of the Sports as Value project has been held in Pristina (Kosovo) under the framework of the European Sports Platform “Values of sport: building bridges in a united Europe”, hosted by the National Olympic Committee of Kosovo.

In involving 9 partners from 8 countries from the EU and the Balkan region, the ERASMUS+Sport Capacity-Building project “Sports as Value”coordinad by ENGSO aimed to build the capacity of sport clubs, organizations and federations for integrating positive values fr  om the grassroots to the elite sports practice in a structured, dynamic, and systematic way.

The University of Pristina in cooperation with EAS collected novice data through several surveys administered to different stakeholders of sport organizations in the Balkan countries. In sharing good practices in value-based approaches, the individuals’ development in and through sports has been envisaged including dual career of sportspersons.

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.

As part of the DC Mentor project, the project partners held a meeting on 30^th September in Katowice, Poland. The meeting was highly productive in terms of reviewing the project’s current status, completed outputs, and planning future steps.

The meeting began with an opening speech by Aneta Lemiesz. Following that, Gamze Aydin from Sportstech Türkiye provided an update on the outputs completed so far and the ongoing tasks. Håkon Ege from COLIN shared a draft version of the platform developed within the scope of the project, while Rıdvan Cakir from Sportstech Türkiye presented the modules’ interface and structure in detail.

Throughout the meeting, the project partners reviewed each module individually and discussed areas needing improvement. They provided valuable feedback on how the modules could be adapted specifically for young athletes.

One of the key topics of the meeting was the “Mental Toughness” module. It was discussed that this module should be kept separate and its content addressed more specifically.

The meeting also addressed how the platform would be structured, how the modules would function, and innovations to enhance user experience. It was announced that each module would include an “Assessment” section at the end, and participants would receive a certificate after completing the training modules. Videos and PowerPoint presentations will also be included on the platform alongside the modules. All partners will deliver the content related to their modules by the agreed deadlines and continue contributing to the project as it progresses.

At the end of the meeting, there were discussions on dissemination strategies.  Additionally, various interactive activities and blog posts were planned for the local promotion of the project.

This project aims to support the academic and athletic development of student-athletes. The educational modules developed within the scope of the project will contribute to enhancing both their personal and professional skills.

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 Compath Project meeting we held on 17^th September in Zagreb, with the participation of all project partners, was completed. The meeting started with an opening speech by Renato Vuk on behalf of PESG. Vuk briefly mentioned the work done so far in the project and outlined the general flow of the meeting and the topics to be discussed. Following this, Håkon Ege from COLIN introduced the gamification-based digital “Competence Hub” platform, which will be developed within the scope of Work Package 3, aimed at sports innovation. Ege explained that this platform is designed to foster and share innovative approaches in the world of sports. Access to the platform will be provided via https://portal.sportsinnovationshub.com, and after registering, all participants had the opportunity to explore its features and usage details. During this review, Resul Erhan, the representative of MOBAD, gave a comprehensive presentation about the technical details of the platform, providing information on its infrastructure and technical operation. Additionally, Ege mentioned that the platform would be ready for testing within a week, and partners would be able to provide feedback on it.

The second session of the meeting continued with a detailed review of the tasks within Work Package 4. In this session, Håkon Ege from COLIN gave a presentation about the tasks, roles, responsibilities, and the contributions of project partners under this work package. The distribution of modules among project partners was also clarified during this presentation. Each module was distributed according to the expertise of the project partners, and the roles and responsibilities of each partner were detailed. These modules will be added to the project’s digital learning platform to create educational content focused on sports innovation.

In addition, various local and international events under Work Package 4 were outlined in the second session. Under this work package, it was planned to organize local training seminars for trainers, teachers, and experts in five countries (Norway, Poland, Croatia, the United Kingdom, and Sweden). Guidelines, checklists, and feedback forms to be used in these seminars were presented by Ege to all partners. It was also agreed that local thematic workshops would be organized for student-athletes in these five countries, with a deadline for completion set for October 20, 2024.

Another important event discussed was the international workshop to be held in Oslo. This workshop, scheduled for October 28-29, 2024, will host 12 young participants. Each project partner will be responsible for sending a designated number of participants to this international event.

The topic of testing the digital platform was also addressed. It was decided that the platform would be tested by a total of 120 young athletes from eight countries, with 15 participants from each country taking part in the digital learning activities. This testing phase was considered a critical step in terms of platform functionality and user experience. Finally, community-building activities were planned, with six hybrid (physical/digital) meetings and various webinars to be organized throughout the project. These events aim to raise awareness in the field of sports innovation and reach a wider audience.

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.

Based on the collaboration between EAS and the Italian Society of Movement and Sports Science “SISMES”, on September 20, 2024, President Laura Capranica and dr. Enrico Montaperto from the Directorate of Education of the Italian University Ministry (MUR) co-moderated the symposium “International and National Policies for Dual Career” at the XV Annual SISMeS Conference held at the University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy https://www.sismes.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Programma-SISMeS-2024-Chieti_per-sito.pdf.

Navy Captain Roberto Recchia, Secretary General of the International Council of Military Sports (CISM), addressed the opportunities and challenges of military sport in the athlete’s path during and after their sports career. Dr. Andrea Carletti, presented the activities of EPAS-Council of Europe towards an ethical, inclusive, and safe sport, including the focus session on “Dual Career: Effective Strategies and Future Directions” to be held during the 18th Council of Europe Conference of Ministers Responsible for Sport of the Council of Europe to be held in Porto next October 10, 2024. Prof. Paolo Bouquet (University of Trento) reported the Italian experiences in promoting dual career through the Unisport Italia network, including the recent survey on the dual career policies and provisions offered by 56 higher educational institutions (HEI). Prof. Pascal Izzicupo (University of Chieti-Pescara) reported on the guidelines for HEIs of the More Than Gold (https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/projects/search/details/603346-EPP-1-2018-1-LV-SPO-SCP) and the differences in the HEI-experts’ and student-athletes’ perceptions of the quality of policies and provisions in Italy, Malta, Norway, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain carried on as a deliverable of the FIND ME https://erasmus-plus.ec.europa.eu/projects/search/details/101134043 ERASMUS+ Collaborative Partnerships. Finally, dr. Flavia Guidotti (University San Raffaele-Roma) presented the dual career paths of Italian female soccer players who recently achieved a sport professional status.

At the end of the Symosium, Prof. Angela Di Baldassarre, SISMEeS President (University of Chieti-Pescara) and Prof. Cristina Cortis SISMES Youth Committee (University of Cassino and Southern Lazio) presented a Recognition Plaque to President Laura Capranica for her commitment to the advancement of dual career in Italy .

This event was a tremendous opportunity to reflect on several aspects of dual career of the sportspersons in different context and to envisage further collaborations.

The SISMeS conference represented an opportunity to inform more than 500 Italian scholars on the expected actions and future outcomes of the ongoing ERASMUS+ Collaborative Partnerships COMPATH, DiscoverU, DCMENTOR, FIND ME, SMART START for DC, and TALENT, and the Capacity Building project Sports as Value

The IV International Scientific Conference “SIDUCA” was held in São Paulo from September 16 to 18, 2024, held in the Brazilian Paralympic Committee Center, a modern training center which is house for all the Paralympic sports. The conference was organized by the Associacao Brasileira sobre Dupla Carreira Esportiva (ABDC), under the patronage of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee and the Brazilian Sports Ministry.

The President of ABDC, Prof. Felipe Rodrigues Da Costa welcomed more than 90 Brazilian students, scholars and researchers, 11 key lecturers, and 4 international guests from Europe and South Korea. llustrated the European and South Korean approached to dual career: Professor Laura Capranica, President of EAS  from Foro Italico University of Rome (Italy), who shared insights into the importance of European cooperation through the EAS network and the ERASMUS+ projects; Professor António J. Figueiredo Member of the EAS Executive Board from University of Coimbra (Portugal), who presented the opportunities to the conciliation of educational system and sports talents in light of the Portuguese 2019 decree law; Professor Cristina Lopez-de-Subijana from INEF Madrid (SPAIN), who presented the athletes’ challenges of the sport career trajectories in light of economic aspects, till the transition from sports to labor market; and Mr. Ha Gel Lee from the South Korean Paralympic Committee, who illustrated the national dual career programme supporting para-athletes. At the end of each day, the short presentations of young researchers substantiated the vivid Brazilian dual career discourse.

The last day, Dr. Iziane Marques, National Segretary for Sport Excellence (SNE) presented the policy agenda for the support of athletes and their transition to the labour market, including the development of national guidelines expected in the next months with the cooperation of national experts and scholars and Prof. Lopez-de-Subjana and Antonio J Figueiredo as European experts.

The conference represented a tremendous sport diplomacy opportunity through raising the awareness of the outcomes of past EU-Funded Projects, and the expected actions and future outcomes of the ongoing ERASMUS+ Collaborative Partnerships COMPATH, DiscoverU, DCMENTOR, FIND ME, SMART START for DC, and TALENT, and the Capacity Building project Sports as Value.

Further information is available at https://www.dcbrasil.org