EAS Cafe

Dear friends of Dual Career,

Dual career represents a tremendous opportunity to empower sportspersons through an effective mentor-mentee relationship, which is the key aim of the ERASMUS+Sport DC MENTOR project (101132309).

On behalf of the EAS Executive Committee, I inform you that the 17th EAS Virtual Cafè on “Dual Career Mentors and Mentees getting ready for the next academic year” will be held on Monday July 7, 2025 (from 12:00 CET).

12:00 Welcome – Prof. Alejandro Leiva Arcas, UCAM, Murcia, Spain

Secretary of the Faculty of Sport at UCAM; Member of the Erasmus+DC Mentor project.

12:10 21st Century skills for dual career athletes – Kivanc Semiz, PhD, RTEU, Rize,Turkiye

Associate Professor of physical education and sport sciences at RTEU with a research focus on dual careers in sport, physical education with digital technology, and the role of social media in shaping perceptions and practices in the field.

12:25 Mentors-mentees interaction: An innovative approach – Gamze Aydin, Project coordinator at Sports Tech Turkiye, Kirklareli, Turkiye

Coordinator of EU-funded projects at Sports Tech Türkiye with an interest in sports technology for dual-career development to empower student-athletes through education and mentoring on new and future skills in the sports industry.

12:40 The DC MENTOR platform: Future skills for dual career – Kamil Kazim Sari, Collective Innovation, Oslo, Norway.

Board Member of Teach The Future (TTF) Global and Member of TTF Turkey Hub, World Future Society, Association of Professional Futurists, and Global Sports Innovation Centers, acting as consultant and investor on sports technology and AI applications in Oslo and Madrid, and satellite-based global connectivity infrastructures in Italy.

12:55 General discussions and concluding remarks

You can join the Zoom Meeting at : https://uni-lj-si.zoom.us/j/95198051181

Information will be available also at www.dualcareer.eu. Feel free to share this information with your colleagues, students, coaches, sports managers, etc. 

Should you have any additional request or question, you can contact me.

We wish you a great week and we look forward to meeting you for this important dual career event!

On May 19, 2025, the 16th EAS Cafè “Sport Innovation: Promoting Employability of Student-Athletes and Sport Professionals” was organized in cooperation with the ERASMUS+Sport COMPATH project (101050955) and attended by approximately 70 participants from diverse backgrounds, including students, academics, and sports professionals.

Mr. Hakon Ege (Colin Collective Innovation, Oslo, Norway) illustrated the aims and outcomes of the COMPATH project (101050955), introduced the speakers, and moderated the discussion on how emerging sports technologies are reshaping career opportunities within the sports industry.

Ms. Eleni Mageirou, MSc (NYSA Sweden, Jönköping, Sweden) presented practical examples on the wearable technologies used in field sport evaluation, which also nurture advanced skills of athletes involved in their personal and team data collections and interpretations. Dr. Christopher James Keating, PhD (ACSM-EP, UCAM, Murcia, Spain) gave an overview of the Esports and EGaming of university Spanish teams participating in national and international competitions, which are provided full logistic, psychological, and dual career support, being eSport athletes officially included in dual career university paths. Finally, dr.  Mauro Mandorino, PhD (Parma Calcio, Parma, Italy) highlighted the opportunities provided by smart science and how technology is used, and data collection is organized at Parma Calcio for shaping professional soccer players performances.

The shared expertise of the speakers inspired attendees to delve deeper into topics of interest and foster meaningful discussions around dual career pathways, making this event a success and looking forward to continuing these valuable discussions in the future.

The event also informed on the upcoming events encompassing the 2025 Bengt Nybelius Scholarship (deadline July 1, 2025; https://www.dualcareer.eu/call-for-papers-bengt-nybelius-scholarship-2025/) and the 2025 EAS Annual Conference to be held on October 6-8, 2025 in Riga, Latvia. These announcements were met with enthusiasm, further underlining the growing importance of dual career initiatives in sport.

Further information about the COMPATH project – Promoting Employability of Young Student-Athletes through ‘‘Competence Hub’’ on Sport Innovationis – is available at https://sportsinnovationshub.com

COMPATH 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 Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

Dear friends of Dual Career,

On behalf of the EAS Executive Committee, I inform you that the 15th EAS Virtual Cafè on “From talent identification to talent support” will be held on Monday March 31, 2025 (from 13:00 CET). You can join the Zoom Meeting at https://uni-lj-si.zoom.us/j/97281335276

13:00 Welcome – Prof. Antonio Figueiredo, University of Coimbra

13:10 Prof. Challenges and opportunities in talent recognition – Prof, Zoran Milanovic, University of Nis, Serbia

13:25 The holistic approach to talent support in Denmark – Mr. Ole Keldorf, Head of Sport at Elite Sports Academy Aarhus, Denmark

13:40 The talent journey: Guidelines for coaches, parents, teachers – Prof. Nenad Stojiljkovic, University of Nis, Serbia

13:55 General discussions and concluding remarks

Speakers:

Prof. Zoran Milanovic Associate Professor at the Sports and Physical Education Faculty of the University of Niš, Serbia, he has published more than 100 papers in international journal. He is a member of International Network of Sport and Health Science (INSHS)

Mr. Ole Keldorf, Head of Sport at Elite Sports Academy Aarhus, Member of the EAS Executive Committee, Coach educator at the Danish Football Association,  Member Advisory Board for Youth Elite in the Danish FE.  Author and Editor of several articles and books and talent development.

Prof. Nenad Stojiljkovic, Vice Dean for Science and International Cooperation at the Faculty of Sport and Physical Education of the University of Nis, expert of designing research process, with more than 40 scientific prublications. Coordinator of the “FIND ME” and Member of the “TALENT” ERASMUS+Sport projects

Moderator

Prof. Antonio Figueiredo, Associate Professor at the Faculty of Sport Sciences and Physical Education of the University of Coimbra, Member of the EAS Executive Committee, expert of youth training and talent identification and development with an emphasis on soccer.

On April 22, 2024, around 90 participants attended the 13^th EAS online Cafè organized in cooperation with the EUSA Institute (https://www.eusa.eu) 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://discoveru.eusa.eu/).

The Cafè was moderated by Mr Andrej Pisl, EUSA Project and Policy Manager, who illustrated how DiscoverU aims to gather information on sport and physical activity opportunities for students in higher education in the partner countries and will share good practice examples for university sport and dual career support.

Ms Filipa Godinho, Pro-Rector of University of Coimbra, Portugal, explained how the European Universities Games held in Coimbra in 2018 had a positive impact on the development of dual career at the local university level, and also inspired the national Decree-Law n.55/2019, which urges all national academic institutions to reinforce their dual career supportive mechanisms and to extend them to athletes who participate in university sport competitions or are enrolled as athletes in the sports service of their university. In particular, she explained that students-athletes can benefit of different dual career support in relation to their sport involvement, spanning from elite to sub-elite and amateur levels.

Ms Marianna Pikul, representative of the International Affairs department of University Sports Association of Poland – AZS, reported the increased participation in the 2022 European Games held in Lodz and the high number of students contributing every year in the organization of a variety of sports events for different age groups (e.g., children, students, families). Furthermore, AZS supports the dual career of elite athletes in higher education, substantiated by the extraordinary representation of student-athletes in the Polish Team participating in the European Games, Universiade, and Olympics. Elite athletes having a success in both their sports and academic paths are good examples and inspirations for youth students in engaging in active lifestyles.

Mr Maté Nagyistok and Mr Lszlo Végh, Project Managers of the European Games 2024 to be held next Juy in Debrece and Miskolc, Hungary, presented the dual career approach of the Hungarian University Sports Federation (MEFS). In particular, Mr Nagyistok illustrated the programme for university students based on a cooperation between the education, sport and work sectors, through a coordinated action between families, educational institutions, and companies. Thus, youth athletes at the beginning of their sport career and elite athletes can benefit from mentoring, tutoring, career guidance, sports scholarships and free housing. In addition, Mr Végh presented how the 2024 European Universities Games to be held in Miskolc and Debrecen intend to go beyond the sport event itself. In fact, the slogan “More than Games” communicates that dual career can be a tremendous tool to engage of university students-athletes as ambassadors to inspire youth in combining active lifestyles, sports, and education for achieving a holistic development and full engagement in society.

In moderating the discussion on the involvement in dual career of different stakeholders and actors, Mr. Pisl highlighted the outcomes of two ERASMUS+ Collaborative Partnerships involving EAS and EUSA: EMPATIA, which developed a multi-lingual educational programme for parents of dual career athletes (https://edu.empatiasport.eu/eng/), and BRAVA-DC, which addressed the relevance of involving the companies in support of the dual career of sportspersons through their corporate social responsibility (https://edu.bravadualcareer.eu/report/).

Finally, Prof. Rajmund Tomik reminded that the call for papers of the 2024 Bengt Nybelius Scholarship is open (https://www.dualcareer.eu/call-for-papers-bengt-nybelius-scholarship-2024/) and invited the participants to send an abstract on their dual career activities and to attend the 2024 EAS Annual Conference “Dual career at school and university – innovative bridges between sport and education”  to be held in Katowice, Poland, next 1-3 of October, 2024 (https://eas24.awf.katowice.pl). In organizing the EAS conference in the 2024European City of Science, it will be a special opportunity to highlight the contribution of dual career of sportspersons for the advancement of a European culture in and through sports on all aspects of life.

The DiscoverU project is funded by the European Union coordinated by EUSA. 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.