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The second transnational meeting of the FIND ME project, a significant initiative financed by the European Union for dual career athletes at the university level, was held on September 5-6 in Chieti, Italy, hosted by Universita Degli Studi Gabriele D’annunzio Di Chieti.

This meeting marks a crucial stage of the project, bringing participants together to advance the project’s development. Important steps were taken regarding the content and structure of the FIND ME platform, and all work packages within the project were evaluated in detail.

The opening of the meeting was conducted by Pascal Izzicupo from the host institution, Chieti-Pescara Gabriele D’Annunzio University. In his opening speech, Izzicupo discussed the importance of the project and the contributions of the participants.

Nenad Stojiljković from the University of Niš Faculty of Sports and Physical Education provided a general presentation of the project. Stojiljković gave detailed information about the project’s overall goals, the progress made so far, and future plans.

Another significant part of the meeting was the presentation by Pascal Izzicupo on the opinions of Experts and Sport-Academics (S-As) regarding Dual Career support services under WP2. Izzicupo provided valuable insights into the current services for dual career support across Europe and the improvements needed in this field.

One of the key moments of the meeting was the detailed presentation of the FIND ME platform by Matteo Perissinotto from OKKAM s.r.l. Perissinotto provided comprehensive information about the platform’s functionality, user experience, and operations, explaining the platform’s processes in detail to the partners. Project partners engaged in productive discussions on how the platform could assist athletes in balancing their academic and athletic careers.

The Collective Innovation team, responsible for dissemination activities, shared the results of social media engagement achieved so far. The project’s social media strategies and plans for reaching wider audiences were discussed in this section. Burak Caliskan shared plans for upcoming dissemination activities with the participants, presenting strategies to enhance the project’s impact.

After the meeting, participants had the opportunity to explore the historical beauty of Chieti. The meeting concluded with a pleasant dinner featuring pizza and pasta, after a museum visit showcasing the university’s rich cultural heritage.

We are excited to open a new door to the future of dual career athletes with the FIND ME project.