Prof. Laura Capranica and Prof. Antonio Figueiredo represented EAS as observers at the 4th meeting of the European Commission Expert Group “Skills and Human Resources Development in Sport” held in Lisbon, Portugal on May 15-16, 2019.
The agenda included three main issues: Dual career; Education of coaches; and Qualifications and skills in sport. At the National High Performance Center of Lisbon the dual career best practices in Portugal and the Portuguese FIFPro Soccer Players.
During the session on Education of coaches, the Guidelines regarding the basic requirements in skills and competences for coaches have been discussed. Then, the advancements on studies on Qualifications, skills, and employment in European sport as well as the best practices in the Czech Republic have been reported. Finally, information on the Portuguese Sport System was provided.
On May 7, 2019 the EAS President Laura Capranica participated to the Bureau of the EPAS Consultative Committee of the Council of Europe (Chair Jens Sejer Andersen, Play the Game; Carlos Cardoso, ENGSO; Paulina Tomczyk, EU Athletes; Annette Wachter, EGLSF; Michael Trinker, EPAS).
It was organized in Paris in preparation of the 13th meeting of the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Sport (EPAS) Governing Board (joint meeting with the EPAS Consultative Committee) of the Council of Europeto be held in Strasbourg next June 5-6, 2019.
During the meeting, the aims and activities the EU-funded projects AMID, Ed-Media, EMPATIA, More Than Gold, SoS, Starting 11 have been disseminated.
On April 25-27, 2019 Grand INSEP hosted the EAS Executive Board in its outstanding facilities in Paris, France.
During the meeting the 2018 activity and financial reports of the Network have been approved, the advancements of the EuropeanCollaborative Partnerships AMID, EMPATIA, DONA, ED-MEDIA, MORE THAN GOLD, STARTING11, and SOS have been illustrated, and the activities in preparation to the EAS 2019 Conference in Falun, Sweden have been agreed.
A special thank goes to Laurence Blondel who also agreed to represent EAS in the AMID project.
On April 23-25 the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance (INSEP) hosted in its wonderful high performance center in Paris, France, the third transnational meeting of the European project Education Model for Parents of AThletes In Academics (EMPATIA).
Coordinated by the University of Ljubljana (SLO), the Partners (European Athlete as Student – EAS – Network, MLT; European University Sports Association – EUSA – Institute, SLO; Ginásio Clube Figueirense, POR; INSEP, FRA; Italian National Olympic Committee, CONI, ITA; Sport Ireland Institute, IRL; University of Coimbra, POR; University of Limerick IRL; University of Rome Foro Italico, ITA) discussed the activities of the EMPATIA project and analysed the contributions of the 483 French, Irish, Italian, Portuguese and Slovenian parents who participated in the concept mapping on the educational needs of dual career parenting.

Based on the parents’ views, the EMPATIA Team is developing and online educational programme for parents supporting athletes as students. More information on the project are available at the EMPATIA website www.empatiasport.eu or follow the project on
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/empatiasport/ and
twitter @EmpatiaSport


On February 26-27, 2019, the coordinator Lithuanian Sports University(Lithuania) hosted in Kaunas the Partners of the EU-funfed ED-MEDIA project (University of Rome Foro Italico-Italy;the European University Sports Association “EUSA” Institute-Slovenia; the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași-Romania; the University of Valencia-Spain; the German Sport University Cologne-Germany; the University of Ljubljana-Slovenia; and the European Athlete as Student “EAS” Network).
The purpose of the project is to proactively act for changes in the attitude towards an athletes’ dual career by deliberately shaping a positive image of athletes as students, as well as encouraging sports organizations to pursue the implementation of the EU Guidelines on Dual Careers of Athletes.
To achieve its aim, the evidence-base and eminence-base knowledge on media coverage of dual careers athletes in the Partner Countries will be the basis for the development of:
Overall, ED-MEDIA intends to boost a qualitatively attitude towards athletes as students and to encourage stakeholders to contribute to the improvement of conditions for athletes at the individual (e.g., the athlete), organizational (e.g., sports organization), and policy levels.
EAS is represented by its ExCom Members Ole Keldorf (ESAA) and Antonio Figueiredo (University of Coimbra).

On February 10-11, 2019, the University of Latvia (coordinator) organized in Riga (Latvia) the kick-off meeting of the EU-funded project More Than Gold (MTG).
The project involves the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iaşi (Romania), the Fundación Universitaria San Antonio (Spain), the University of Coimbra (Portugal), the University of Chieti-Pescara “Gabriele d’Annunzio” (Italy), and the European Athlete as Student network (Malta). Mojca Doupona Mojca Doupona (EAS Treasurer, University of Ljubljana) and Laura Capranica (EAS President, University of Rome Foro Italico) represent EAS in the project, which involves also the EAS ExCom Members Ivis Albertans (University of Latvia) and Antonio Figueiredo (University of Coimbra).

To contribute to the development of a dual career culture in Europe, the project aims to collect and systematize policies and best practices to develop Dual Career Guidelines and Methodologies for higher education institutions (HEI), especially in countries where Dual Career policy is at early stage.

Thus, the MTG academic institutions from countries with partial (Italy) and limited (Latvia and Romania) dual career policies and services will profit from the experience of MTG universities of countries where dual career id well-established (Portugal and Spain). Furthermore, EAS will provide a broad European dual career experience.
On February 19-22, the Lapin AMK University of Lapland hosted the third transnational meeting of the EU-funded AMID project, which aims to promote and implement dual career, especially targeting athletes migrating for sport, academics or both.

The Head of International office of Lapland AMK welcomed the Coordinator (University of Salzburg – AUT) the Partners (University Sport Service Hamburg – GER; Lapland University of Applied Sciences – FIN, University of Ljubljana – SLO, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio – ITA, and EAS – MLT), and the students to be involved in discussions. The Partners have illustrated the recent activities and findings, future steps, schedule, and dissemination activities.

Mr. Juha Dahlström from the Finnish Olympic Committee participated in the meetings of the last two days, which also included a discussion on the opportunity to develop a skill-based educational curriculum for a full recognition of the informal education through sports.