About 2025 - ICSE

ABOUT ICSE

More Than a Conference

The International Conference on Sport and Education (ICSE) serves as a podium for academic research and a dynamic platform to exchange best practices, spark debate, and explore the practical use of Education Through Sport (ETS).

Sport instills universal values like fairness, teamwork, equality, discipline, inclusion, perseverance, and respect. It supports a healthy lifestyle and provides a shared framework for learning life skills, fostering personal wellbeing and nurturing the soft skills that encourage responsible, active citizenship.

ICSE showcases and reflects on how sport is expanding traditional educational models, introducing new tools and methods. The platform promotes an integrated, cross-sector approach to Education Through Sport, encouraging adoption by stakeholders and delivering tangible societal impact.

ICSE Through the Years

For everyone invested in Sport and Education, ICSE is an annual international conference exploring global research, sharing best practices, and analyzing the cross-sector impact of Education Through Sport. Each edition highlights a unique theme: ICSE 2021 emphasized sport for personal and social growth; ICSE 2022 integrated sport into formal education with new pedagogical methods; ICSE 2023 launched the Sport Tourism Symposium, linking sport with regional and cultural tourism; and ICSE 2024 broadened the focus to digital innovation, sport career pathways, and youth engagement.

The annual podium raises awareness, shares knowledge, and drives the discovery and adoption of fresh ways to translate the language of sport into practical models.

Each year, the event strengthens the platform, connecting stakeholders across disciplines — user groups, developers, policymakers, researchers, sport clubs, NGOs, universities, authorities, sport suppliers, and social enterprises — to build new bridges and lasting impact.

Step Into the Story

Leadership

At the heart of the International Conference on Sport and Education (ICSE) are its founders, Maria Grazia Pirina and Roberto Solinas of Mine Vaganti NGO. They combine academic expertise, global networking, and a deep commitment to sport as an educational and social catalyst. Maria Grazia, Vice President and European Project Manager, has over 14 years of experience designing and managing international projects under Erasmus+, Horizon Europe, and more. She leads a diverse team of 50+ professionals, building partnerships with universities and ensuring ICSE stays a dynamic platform for innovation and impact.

Roberto Solinas, Founder and President, is a European expert in Education Through Sport (ETS) with over 15 years in social entrepreneurship, intercultural dialogue, and sustainable project management. He has designed numerous international projects that bridge local communities and global networks, showing how sport fosters inclusion, citizenship, and social change. Together, Maria Grazia and Roberto drive ICSE’s mission to “use sport to build a better world,” uniting researchers, educators, and institutions to advance education and community development through sport.

Projects & Research Collaborations

The International Conference on Sport and Education (ICSE) is more than an annual gathering — it drives European collaboration and innovation. Each year, it brings together researchers, educators, policymakers, NGOs, and institutions to share research and best practices in Education Through Sport (ETS), sparking ideas that grow into real projects, many supported by the ERASMUS+ programme.

Past editions have tackled topics like sport’s role in personal and social development, innovative teaching, sport tourism, digital tools, and youth engagement — turning research into practical solutions for communities. By linking academic insights with action, ICSE shows how sport can enrich education, strengthen communities, and deliver real benefits across Europe.

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Schoolyard4sport

The purpose of the REVITALIZE THE SCHOOLYARDS as valuable sporting resources for the community” project is to study, create, test anddisseminate a strategic administrative mechanism managed by municipalities and designed to stimulate local partnerships between sportsorganisations and schools in order to co-govern, take care and regenerate the schoolyards, as valuable commons to expand and improvethe supply of recreational sport practices, in a capillary way and through replicable and sustainable financing scheme.

Multisport Community Experience

MCE is a social-innovation sport project based on collective “movement” activity and competition. This project aims at activating a new user experience, new sense of belonging, new emotions, new relationship and healthy competition and a compelling motivation for a physically active and healthy living.

Sport Trainers Squared

It is known that migrants are underrepresented in sport activities at different levels. According to the White Paper on Sports (2007) “the accessibility of sport activity needs to be ensured for all citizens the specific needs and situation of under-represented groups must be addressed”. The participants of the "Sport trainers squared" project will determine methods that can be used to prepare migrants to become sport trainers.

SAYN

The project SAYN-SPORT FOR ACTIVATION OF YOUNG NEET aims to develop an educational methodology to help youth workers empower young NEETs. The phenomenon of youth unemployment is very widespread in Europe and in the partner countries. It can have very dangerous consequences for young people, such as psychological disorders, social exclusion, and proximity to juvenile delinquency.

EWWS

The general objective of the “European Week of Winter Sport” project is to encourage the participation in sport and physical activity while raising awareness about climate change and promote sustainability through the creation and the implementation of the European Week of Winter Sport. The priority that the project addresses the most is "Encouraging healthy lifestyles for all," with a focus on promoting physical activity and sport as a tool for health.

and many more!

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Event Sponsors & Support

With sincere gratitude to our Sponsors and supporters, ICSE 2025 is made possible through your valued contributions. Support from academic, research, corporate, institutional, educational, and association partners is always welcomed and vital to our shared mission.

Discover our current sponsors and supporters here below and connect with us if you wish to get involved in organizing or supporting future ICSE initiatives.

Your help in promoting ICSE 2025 within your networks is truly appreciated. For promotional materials or support, please contact the ICSE 2025 helpdesk — and feel free to share our website, mailings, and social posts with your community.

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