EAS Cafe
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.
“Military Sport: Dual Career Opportunities and Challenges”
December 9, 2024 (from 13:55 CET)
13:00 Welcome
Roberto Recchia, Italian Navy Captain, Secretary General of the International Military Sports Council (CISM) since May 2022. He accomplished his academic degrees in Maritime & Naval Science at the University of Pisa and in Political Sciences at the University of Trieste, has been the Principal Staff Officer of the NATO Naval Mine Countermeasures Force and Commander of the Italian Navy’s historic and iconic training ship Amerigo Vespucci, which is Ambassador of UNESCO and UNICEF.
13:10 Nina Christen, Swiss sports shooter and athlete of the Swiss Armed Forces, Olympic bronze and gold medalist (Tokyo 2020) with a CISM World Record at the 54th World Military Shooting Championship (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 2023), and flag bearer for Team Switzerland in Paris 2024. She was awarded the CISM Athletes of the Year 2023.
13:25 Maruša Štangar
Slovenian judoka and athlete of the Slovenian Armed Forces, two-time Olympian (Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024), 5th place at the Military World Games (Wuhan 2019). She achieved a Master’s degree in Food Science at the University of Ljubljana, awarded with Certificate of distinction for academic achievement.
13:40 Alberto Arpino, Italian fencer and athlete of the Italian Firefighting Corp, gold medalist at the FISU University Games (Chengdu, 2021) and Master’s degree graduate in Management and Business Consulting at the San Raffaele University of Rome defending a thesis on dual career. He received the “Excellent Athlete, Excellent Student” and “Alfiere della Repubblica” awards.
13:55 General discussions and concluding remarks
On April 22, 2024, around 90 participants attended the 13th 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.
Dear friends of Dual Career,
On behalf of the EAS Executive Committee, I inform you that the 13th EAS Online Cafè “University Sports – From Active Lifestyles to Dual Career” will be held on April 22, 2024 (from 12:00 CET).
The webinar is organized in cooperation with the European University Sport Association (EUSA) and EUSA Institute as part of the 36-month “Discovering university sport and supporting dual career (DiscoverU)” project, co-funded by the European Union:
Speakers:
Andrej Pisl, Projects and Policy Manager of the European University Sports Association & EUSA Institute; coordinator of the DiscoverU project
Filipa Godinho, Pro-Rector for Sport of the University of Coimbra and Director of the University Stadium of the University of Coimbra; Sports Director of the European University Games Coimbra 2018; former FADU President
Marianna Pikul, AZS International Relations Department, Volunteer coordinator of the European Universities Games Lodz 2022
Laszlo Vegh, MEFS representative, Project Leader of the European Universities Games Debrecen-Miskolc 2024 & Mate Nagyistok, Junior Project Manager of the European Universities Games Debrecen-Miskolc 2024
To attend the event, please register at
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8zTDrVPST-SnwYB395Ynfg#/registration
“University Sports – From Active Lifestyles to Dual Career”
April 22, 2024 (from 12:00 CET).
The webinar is organized in cooperation with the European University Sport Association (EUSA) Institute part of the 36-month “Discovering university sport and supporting dual career (DiscoverU)” project, co-funded by the European Union.
By sharing good practice examples and implementation of sports and educational activities, DiscoverU aims to promote and support dual career in higher education to a large student population.
You can register to the event at:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8zTDrVPST-SnwYB395Ynfg#/registration
The DiscoverU project is funded by the European Union coordinated by ENGSO. 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.
Looking forward to meeting you again, We wish you a nice week!
“Students-Athletes Facing the Olympic Games”
March 11, 2024 (from 12:00 CET).
Moderator
Prof. Dr. Beatriz Gomes, Professor of Biomechanics at the University of Coimbra, Portugal, and member of the Executive Board of the Portuguese Olympic Committee. Former Olympic athlete of Cannoing in two olympic games (Beijing, 2008; London, 2012) and World Champion in the K1 Marathon, 2009.
Participants:
Gévrise Émane, French Olympic judo medalist and three times world champion, working for French sport institute (INSEP) as life coach for athletes, she is Vice-President of the Judo French Federation, and TV and radio consultant.
Andy Criere, Spanish surfing athlete qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and student of Business Administration and Management at the at the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR), Spain.
David Di Veroli (TBC), Italian fencer qualified for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and student of Economics and Management at the Italian LUISS Guido Carli University.
Looking forward to meeting you again, I wish you a nice week!
On January 26-27, 2024, the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) hosted the EAS Executive Board. During a two-day meeting, Ole Keldorf, Antonio Figueiredo, and Laura Capranica proposed activity plans of New Generation Committee (Next GEN EAS), the Scientific Committee, and the Communication Committee, respectively.
Updates on the participation of EAS in the ERASMUS+ Capacity Building Sports as Value (101093451 to build the capacity of sport managers and coaches in Balkan region to promote values in and through sport) and in the Collaborative Partnerships (COMPATH, 101050955 – Promoting Employability of Young Student-Athletes through ‘‘Competence Hub on Sport Innovation’’; Talent, 101090147 – Cloud-based education for creative sport talents; DC MENTOR, 101132309 – Enhancing Athlete Employability through Career Mentorship and Education; DiscoverU, 101134052 – Sport and physical activity opportunities for students in higher education; SMART START for DC, 101133555 – To encourage the dual career of young high school athletes aged 14 and 19; FIND ME, 101134043 – to structure an evidence-based European platform specifically tailored for dual career at university level) were shared.
The Board approved unanimously the 2024 activity and financial reports and envisaged the organization of three online cafès (March, June, and November 2024), the first one dedicated to “Students-Athletes facing the Olympic Games Students. Furthermore, the visit of the EAS ExCom Members Ole Keldorf and Risto Keskitalo to the Academy of Physical Education Katowice (Poland) was planned to prepare the 2024 Annual Conference.
On February 27, 2024, the Academy of Physical Education Katowice (Poland) Vice Rector Rajmund Tomik and the Director of international Relations Piotr Rodak welcomed Ole Keldorf and Risto Keskitalo and showed the venue of the 2024 EAS Annual Conference to be held on October 1-3, 2024. The co-operation between EAS and the host was sealed with Rector Grzegorz Juras.
During the well-prepared meeting, the Conference programme and the practical arrangements have been defined to provide the best opportunities for a EAS members to have a great time in Katowice.
The celebration of the 20th anniversary of the EAS Conference in Katowice, the European City of Science in 2024, is a special opportunity to highlight the contribution of dual career of sportspersons to the advancement of a European culture in and through sports on all aspects of life. In fact, the Conference is dedicated to “Dual career at school and university – innovative bridges between sport and education”
Further information of the 2024 Conference is available at https://eas24.awf.katowice.pl
Coordinated by the University of Limerick (IRE) in cooperation with EAS (MLT), Elite Sports Academy Aarhus – ESAA (DEN), European University Sports Association Institute – EUSA (SLO), European Platform for Sports and Innovation – EPSI (BEL), Human Age Institute Foundation (ITA), Roma Tre University (ITA), University of Ljubljana (SLO), and University of Nis (SRB), after three years the Brand Values Alignment through Dual Career (BRAVA) project, co-funded by the European ERASMUS+Sport Programme (622824-EPP-1-2020-1-IE-SPO-SCP), has come to its end. On December 12, 2023, EPSI hosted the last transnational meeting of BRAVA-DC in Brussels (BEL) to discuss the achieved outcomes and to foresee further development in the dual career of the employee-sportsperson. Despite the pandemic challenges, the consortium successfully accomplished important steps in uncovering the evidence and eminence of the dual career at the workplace, which were summarized in scientific contributions, and a report with 16 guidelines and an evaluation tool available at https://edu.bravadualcareer.eu.
In the afternoon, more than 30 in-person and 100 online participants attended the Final Conference of BRAVA-DC, which was organized in conjunction with the 11th EAS online Cafè. Alberto Bichi (Director of EPSI) welcomed the participants on behalf of the hosting organization and project consortium, and Prof Ciaran Mac Donncha (Coordinator, University of Limerick) illustrated the main outcomes and findings of the project.
Dr. Kolë Gjeloshaj (Strategic coordinator at the European Fair-Play Movement – EFPM), previous Chair of the International Fair-Play Committee – CIFP) Scientific Committee, Scientific Collaborator at the Institute of Sociology of the Université Libre de Bruxelles and Vice-President of the Panathlon Wallonie-Bruxelles and Belgium) emphasized the relevance of values for dual career, which need more reflections and future actions.
Navy Officer Florentia Sfakianou (Olympian and Public Affairs Officer at International Military Sports Council – CISM), presented the dual career opportunities offered by military sports to actual and former athletes and the efforts of CISM in organizing one of the largest global sports events.
Dr. Ignazio Cocchiere (Policy officer in the Sport Unit of the European Commission’s department for Education, Culture, Youth and Sport – DG EAC, and soccer player) highlighted the European values and priorities in the field of sport, including the importance of dual career from the viewpoint of the EU and Sport Unit. He also offered his personal dual career experience as a professional football player in Italy, Switzerland and Belgium, and as an employee at the EU institutions.
More information on BRAVA-DC project is available at www.bravadualcareer.eu.
December 12, 2023 (from 13:55 CET)
13:30-13:55 Online connections
13:55 Welcoming of participants/speakers
Alberto Bichi (Director EPSI)
Prof. Ciaran Mac Donncha, University of Limerick (IRE) Coordinator of the BRAVA DC Collaborative Partnership
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.
REG. NUMBER: Voluntary Organisation registration VO/1270
PIC NUMBER: 913459865
Email: info@dualcareer.eu