EU Projects

On June 30, 2022, the University of Limerick –  Ireland (coordinator) organized the third online meeting of the ERASMUS+ Collaborative Partnership “BRAnd Values Alignment through Dual Career (BRAVA-DC, 622824-EPP-1-2020-1-IE-SPO-SCP), which involves as Partners the University of Rome3 – Italy,  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).

In considering that BRAVA-DC focuses on the enhancement of a dual career of employee-athletes and employee-sportspersons (e.g., coaches, referees, physical trainers, and sports managers) in business-oriented companies, in the past months a solid eminence-knowledge was collected from 22 semi-structured interviews and five national focus groups. This precious information shed a light on the actual dual career in the workplace, and it helped to foresee suggestions on how to facilitate appropriate Dual Career brand alignment strategies  and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies. At present, a list of 50 statements has been identified, which is currently under an evaluation of dual career experts who are going to grade them for clarity. In the next months, a concept mapping methodology will be used to identify the most relevant and feasible aspects to develop a European framework and guidelines for DC.

The BRAVA-DC Team appreciates the precious contribution of DC experts and CSR managers and invites to follow the development of the project at the 2022 EAS Annual Conference to be held in Cartagena (Spain) on September 28-30, 20220 (https://eventos.ucam.edu/85445/detail/eas-conference-2022.html)

On May 12, 2022, participants from 17 different countries attended the final conference of the EU-funded project STARTING 11 (60313-EPP-1-2018-1-NL-SPO-SCP), coordinated by the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (AUAS, Netherlands) in cooperation with the partners EAS (Malta) CREPS Toulouse (France), German University Sport Federation (Germany), Sportlycee Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (England). Starting in 2019, the project aimed to implement the EU Guidelines on Dual Careers of Athletes through the empowerment of dual career service providers. The event was held at the Amsterdam Olympic Stadium with the purpose to launch the STARTING11 toolkit, which is freely available at https://starting11.eu/toolkits/.

The Conference was opened by Dennis van Vlaanderen (organizer) and Rector Geleyn Meijer, followed by presentations on the EU dimension of dual careers (Wolfgang Stockinger, TW1N; co-organizer) and on the STARTING11 toolkit (Emma Vickers, TASS; Pascal Schaul, Sportlycee Luxembourg; and Nicoleta Pana Digital Society School Amsterdam). Three parallel workshops allowed the participants to get acquainted with selected tools. Finally, Florencia van Houdt (European Commission – DG for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture), Larissa Klaassen (paralympic cycling), David McDermott (Liverpool John Moores University, and Laurent Carnol (National Olympic Committee Luxembourg) participated in a round table on the future of European dual career, moderated by Cees Vervoorn. The participants had also opportunities to network, and to get acquainted with the dual career of world-class athletes (Larissa Klaassen, paralympic cycling; Cees Juffermans, short track; and Johan Kenkhuis, swimming) in the Athlete-Student Stories area, and to walk through the iconic Olympic stadium.

EAS was represented by President Laura Capranica and Board Members Laurence Blondel and Ole Keldorf, who also acted as a co-leader of a workshop.

For the second year, the European Commission and the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) organised online the info day of the Erasmus+ Sport funding opportunities for sports organizations, educational institutions and agencies on the 2021 to 2027 priorities: Encouraging healthy lifestyle for all; Promoting integrity and values in sport; Promoting education in and through sport; and Combatting violence and tackling racism, discrimination and intolerance in sport.

On January 31, Ms Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth and Mr Tomasz Frankowski, Member of the European Parliament opened the event, Mr Yves Le Lostecque, EACEA Head of Erasmus Mundus & Sport Unit, and Ms Gaël Broze, EACEA Head of Sport Sector illustrated the objectives and structure of Erasmus+ Sport, Ms Florencia van Houdt, Head of Sport Unit of DG EAC, European Commission moderated a round table on program priorities.

On February 1, 2022, Mr Luciano Di Fonzo, Deputy Head of Erasmus Mundus & Sport Unit, EACEA moderated technical sessions on application and submission procedures, and funding mechanisms, illustrating in detail the expected work-package structure of proposals, the most frequent mistakes, and the evaluation process.

The streaming of the event is available at: https://www.eacea-events.eu/erasmusplussportinfoday2022/

According to the “Motion for a European Parliament Resolution on EU Sports Policy: Assessment and Possible Ways Forward”, Collaborative Partnerships could have opportunities to implement the EU Guidelines on Dual Career of athletes and to extend them to all sport staff engaged in structured sport.

Therefore, EAS invites its Members to develop proposals for supporting athletes and sport staff in combining their sport careers with education and jobs. In considering its consolidated experience in EU-funded projects, EAS will be happy to cooperate in innovative proposals and to help applicants establish fruitful consortia.

In particular, the deadlines for funding opportunities are:

Small-scale partnerships in the field of sport: 23 March

Cooperation partnerships in the field of sport: 23 March

Not-for-profit European Sport Events: 23 March

Capacity building in the field of Sport: 7 April

On September 29, 2021, the University of Limerick –  Ireland, coordinator of the ERASMUS+ Collaborative Partnership “BRAnd Values Alignment through Dual Career (BRAVA-DC)” (622824-EPP-1-2020-1-IE-SPO-SCP), organized online the second project meeting with the partner’s University of Rome3 – Italy,  University of Ljubljana – Slovenia, European Platform for Sport Innovation (EPSI) – Belgium, Elite Sport Academy Aarhus (ESAA) – Denmark, Human Age Institute Foundation (FHAI) – Italy, University of Niš – Serbia, European University Sports Association Institute (EUSA) – Slovenia, and the European Athlete as Student Network – Malta).

The project progression was discussed, including the achievements, future actions, and dissemination activities. In particular, the primary focus of BRAVA-DC is on the enhancement of a dual career of employee-athletes and employee coaches in business-oriented companies.

To define a solid basis for supporting dual career in the workplace and facilitate appropriate brand alignment strategies and Corporate Social Responsibility policies, the scientific literature was analysed. In particular, a conceptual manuscript on dual career elements to be aligned to successfully manage sustainable strategies and practices of corporate brands has been awarded the 2020-2021 Bengt Nybelius Scholarship and will be presented at the 2021 FISU World Conference on December 13-14, 2021.

A further collection of information on the athletes’ and coaches’ needs and barriers of dual career at the workplace was planned. This collected evidence- and eminence-based information will be used to develop a European framework and guidelines.