NEWS
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.
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.
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.
As we celebrate the 2023 Easter, the EAS Executive Committee expresses its deep appreciation to the Members of our Dual Career family for their commitment to help athletes, coaches, managers, and volunteers combining their sport and academic/work careers. This renewal time will fortify our common hope and collective efforts to reaffirm sports and education/work as fundamental rights to enrich the lives of sportspersons. We take advantage of this special occasion to update you on the most recent EAS activities.
Meeting future challenges
In the first months of 2023, the EAS Executive Committee started working at the at the 2023-2026 strategic plan and established three new Committees: New Generation EAS to be responsible of new ideas for the EAS Cafè and their organization; the Scientific EAS Committee to be responsible of fostering dual career research and selecting the Bengt Nybelius Scholarship winners (Antonio Tessitore – Chair; Lukas Linner Halmstad University, and Elena Conde, UCAM; and the EAS Communication Committee to be responsible of communication on the EAS website and social media.
The EAS Cafès
Organized at the end of February, the first EAS cafè of 2023 focused on “Dual Career from Education to Work: Human Right of the Sportsperson” and received a great appreciation. The next Cafè will be organized in May and will address the “Dual Career and Sport Diplomacy”.
European Projects
EAS is cooperating in the following ongoing ERASMUS+Sport projects and participated in several applications to the ERASMUS+Sport 2023 Call.
ELCAMP – Coordinated by Collective Innovation AS (Norway), on March 31 the ELCAMP completed its journey with a special course for international elite athletes in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The aims of the ELCAMP project have been to support athletes and Paralympic athletes to start, develop, implement, and scale their business ideas through an innovative entrepreneurship bootcamp curriculum. Further information is available at https://www.bootcampforathletes.com/
BRAVA-DC – Coordinated by the University of Limerick (Ireland), on February 20-22, 2023, for the first time the project partners have met in presence in Rome (Italy) to share the preliminary findings of the concept mapping for the development of dual career guidelines of the employee-sportspersons (e.g., athletes, coaches, referees, physical trainers, and sports managers). Further information is available at https://www.bravadualcareer.eu
PARA-LIMITS – Coordinated by the Fundacion Universitaria San Antonio, on March 30 the project completed the preliminary administration of a innovative course curriculum for the supporting entourage of dual career of student-athletes with disabilities based on evidence and eminence knowledge. Further information is available at https://paralimits.eu
COMPATH – Coordinated by Collective Innovation AS (Norway), the project is progressing its journey towards the development of educational resources to touch both the careers and perspectives of young student-athletes by showing sports-oriented technology and 21st century skills, business world, entrepreneurship and different thinking and literacy methods, with the overall aim to launch the ”Digital Competence Hub on Sport Innovation” where young student/athletes will acquire the skills and competencies to increase their employability in the sports industry.
TALENT – Coordinated by the Center of Excellence of Split Dalmatia County (Croatia), following the kick off meeting organized on February 2-3 this project started it journey towards the creation of a cloud-based education for creative sport talents able to increase the awareness of the identification, the support, and the prevention of drop-out of talented youth through an integrated campaign involving teachers, parents and coaches.
SPORTS AS VALUE – Coordinated by ENGSO (Sweden) on March 30-31 the partners of this project participated in the kick-off meeting in Tirana (Albania) to build the capacity of Western Balkan sport clubs, organisations and federations to integrate positive values into the sport practice at the grassroots level. In a structured, dynamic and systematic way, the aim is to build strong communities and peaceful societies through sport and promotion of EU values in a historically fragmented region.
Build up academic research work in the field of dual career
The prestigious Editorial Dykinson (first quartile of the Scholarly Publishers Indicators) will publish a book on dual career and the 2022 EAS Conference. Contributions related to dual career research, new trends in dual career, European policies concerning dual career, dual career projects, and teaching, training, and mentoring student-athletes should include an abstract (150-200 words), 3-5 keywords, and a manuscript (5-12 pages) to be submitted by 24 April 2023 to easconference2022@ucam.edu
The 2023 Bengt Nybelius Scholarship
The call for applications for the 2023 Bengt Nybelius Scholarship has been posted on the EAS website. Before July 1, 2023, candidates up to 40 years of age have to submit an original manuscript as first author and their curriculum vitae to info@dualcareer.eu. The winner will have to summarize her/his work with a 15-minute oral presentation in English at the 2023 Annual EAS Conference in Gaeta, Italy, October 2-4. Further information is available at https://www.dualcareer.eu/call-for-papers-bengt-nybelius-scholarship-2023/
Cooperating with European Institutions in sport and education
Fruitful partnerships with the European Commission, the Council of Europe, the European FairPlay Movement, and Sport4Impact have been consolidated through the participation in relevant events organized onsite and online. On January 31, the European Commission invited EAS to contribute to the 2023 Erasmus+Sport Info Day in Brussels (Belgium). On March 31 EAS attended in Milan (Italy) the 3rd International conference of Sport4Impact on the role of finance and private sectors to design and scale up policies and programs for driving social change through sports. On April 24 the Council of Europe invited EAS to participate in Paris (France) to the technical meetings in preparation of an educational toolkit promoting the human rights of transgender and intersex athletes in sport, which will follow the dedicated webinar.
Getting stronger together
We sincerely thank you for reaffirming your determination to work together by renewing your 2023 EAS membership and for your proactive commitment to expand our community by engaging new members. through the link http://www.dualcareer.eu/membership
Save the date
April 24, 2023 – submission of scientific contribution to the book on dual career and the 2022 EAS Conference to easconference2022@ucam.edu
May 2023 – 10th EAS online Cafè (tbc)
July 1, 2023 – deadline for submission of application for the 2023 Bengt Nybelius Scholarship to info@dualcareer.eu
October 2-4, 2023 – EAS Annual Conference and General Assembly to be held in Gaeta, Italy
EAS is inviting you to follow our official dual career website and social media to keep informed on the ongoing activities. We greatly value your contribution to the European Dual Career culture, and we will be happy to disseminate your activities.
We wish you and your loved ones all the best for the health and the peace.
On behalf of the EAS Executive Committee
Laura Capranica
President
On March 30-31 the 2023, the kick-off meeting of the Erasmus+ funded project “Sport as Value”, coordinated by ENGSO in cooperation with the Olympic Committees of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, the Confederacao do desporto de Portugal (PSC), The University of Pristina, the Organizzazione per L’educazione allo Sport (OPES), and EAS. During the next two years, Sports as Values aims to build the capacity of sport clubs, organizations and federations to integrate positive values into the sport practice at the grassroots level in a structured, dynamic and systematic way, as well as to build stronger communities and peaceful societies through sport and promotion of EU values in a historically fragmented region.
The project partners hope to create sustainable, long-lasting partnerships in the Balkan region, with skilled and knowledgeable organizers that will successfully promote the positive impact of grassroots sports and the values in sport which will result in stronger, peaceful, and more connected societies.
Following a research phase to gather knowledge on grassroots sports and good practices on promotion of values in and through sports across the Western Balkan regions, two workshops will be organized to raise the capacity of sport managers, coaches, and volunteers working within the event management department in grassroots sports organizations. After developing new skill sets, joint actions will take place in the four Balkan countries based on the guidelines developed through initial project activities and research.
REG. NUMBER: Voluntary Organisation registration VO/1270
PIC NUMBER: 913459865
Email: info@dualcareer.eu