Purpose Generations Uniting through Sport (GUS) stimulates mutual understanding between youngsters and elderly people with sports activities. The project aims to promote intergenerational relations and increased physical activity by setting up an innovative and sustainable program. The concept for the GUS program is to identify, recruit, train and support a cohort of experienced practitioners. These professionals and volunteers will facilitate local-scale collaboration projects between youngsters and elderly people to increase their participation in physical activity and sport. The program will bring together young and old beneficiaries, through trained practitioners. The aim of the current research was to generate a state of the art overview of available evidence and practices that facilitate the development and implementation of intergenerational programs. Methods The literature search consists of two parts. One part focuses on identifying scientific literature on working principles within intergenerational programs. The search will be performed in Google Scholar, Pubmed and PROSPERO and is restricted to literature from the year 2000 onwards and languages used within the consortium. Main search terms are ‘adolescent’, ‘elderly’, ‘intergenerational’, ‘activity’/’program’ and synonyms of these terms. The second part of the search is performed within the project consortium and focuses on good practices from national and local settings. Searches will be performed in grey literature and through personal networks in France, Spain, Bulgaria, United Kingdom and Slovenia. Literature analysis focuses on activities, target groups, involved stakeholders, behavioral change models, barriers and outcomes/impact. Results The literature search results in a set of principles for programs and activities tailored towards generations uniting through sport/movement in Europe. More specific, it synthesizes behavioral change models incorporating methodologies that motivate youngsters and elderly people to exercise together and reduces some of the motivational and structural barriers to intergenerational programs. Conclusions The final results and conclusions will be presented at the conference.
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This article discusses some characteristics of the educational framework of the programme and tries to compare the results of the programme as reported by graduates with the 'professional competencies for Sustainable Development’, as formulated by DHO (the organisation for Sustainable Higher Education in the Netherlands). Because of the strong international character of the programme (students from more than 50 different countries in all continents of the world graduated since 1996), a specific issue of concern is the applicability of the Dutch Sustainable Competences in an international setting, and the implications for the teaching and learning approach. The experiental learning theory and the learning styles as defined by Kolb (1984) and the cultural dimensions as described by Hofstede (2009) are used to check this. Results from short online interviews with graduates all over the world illustrate the results of this comparison.
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Previous research has suggested that professional youth work settings empower socially vulnerable youngsters, strengthening their personal development and social participation. It is expected that youth work can prevent personal and social problems of youngsters, which may have longer term positive social returns. How the underlying methodical way of acting of youth workers contributes to prevention-focused outcomes remains unclear. This article presents a four-wave longitudinal cohort study (16 months) that investigated longitudinal associations between 12 individual methodical principles that youth workers apply in interactions with youngsters and four prevention-focused outcomes: prosocial skills, self-mastery, social network and civic participation. The sample consisted of 1,597 Dutch youngsters with a mean age of 16.5 years (SD = 3.60). Findings: Linear mixed models analysis found that all individual methodical principles were longitudinally associated with one or more outcome. The strongest associations were observed with regard to prosocial skills and civic participation. Depending on the outcome measure, methodical principles seem to be more effective for boys, for youngsters who participate for 3 years or longer in youth work settings and for youngsters between 10 and 19 years old. With regard to the effect of methodical principles on improving self-mastery, 9 of the 12 principles appeared to play no positive role in increasing self-mastery of youngsters. Applications: This study provides youth workers with a better understanding of which methodical principles are positively associated with prevention-focused outcomes as well as reinforcing the evidence-based practice of professional youth work.
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The DPP4CD project, “Digital Product Passport(s) for Circular Denim: From Pilot to Practice,” focuses on delivering pilot and scalable Digital Product Passports (DPPs) in the circular denim industry. This aligns with the upcoming European Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR), making DPPs mandatory for textiles from 2027. A DPP for circular denim should clearly detail material composition, production methods, repair records, and recycling options to meet EU rules like ESPR, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS). It combines dynamic lifecycle data into a standard, interoperable system that boosts traceability, cuts SME admin burdens, and supports sustainable, circular practices. Led by Saxion and HvA, the multidisciplinary project is based on a real-world Dutch use case with MUD Jeans, a leader in circular denim. The project combines circular economy principles with existing digital technologies, working with partners such as tex.tracer, Tejidos Royo, bAwear, Denim Deal, MODINT, EuFSI and, GS1 Netherlands. Instead of developing new tools, the project applies scalable technologies (augmented DPP extension) and methods e.g. blockchain, life cycle assessments, and traceability standards to denim supply chains. The project defines legal, environmental, technical, and user requirements for DPPs in circular denim and designs a modular, data-driven, and ESPR-compliant system that integrates offline and online components while ensuring interoperability, affordability, reliability, accountability, and scalability. It develops a data framework for material tracking, supported by interoperable digital solutions to improve data-sharing and transparency. A pilot DPP with MUD Jeans will cover the full lifecycle from production to recycling, enabling scalable DPP. The project aims to address societal challenges related to circularity, ensure scalable and implementable solutions, and create a digital platform where knowledge can be developed, shared, and utilised. By combining circular practices with digital technologies, DPP4CD will help textile businesses transition towards sustainable, transparent, and future-proof supply chains.
My research investigates the concept of permacomputing, a blend of the words permaculture and computing, as a potential field of convergence of technology, arts, environmental research and activism, and as a subject of future school curricula in art and design. This concept originated in online subcultures, and is currently restricted to creative coding communities. I study in what way permacomputing principles may be used to redefine how art and design education is taught. More generally, I want to research the potential of permacomputing as a critical, sustainable, and practical alternative to the way digital technology is being taught in art education, where students mostly rely on tools and techniques geared towards maximising productivity and mass consumption. This situation is at odds with goals for sustainable production and consumption. I want to research to what degree the concept of permacomputing can be broadened and applied to critically revised, sustainable ways of making computing part of art and design education and professional practice. This research will be embedded in the design curriculum of Willem de Kooning Academy, focused on redefining the role of artists and designers to contribute to future modes of sustainable organisation and production. It is aligned with Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences sectorplan masters VH, in particular managing and directing sustainable transitions. This research builds upon twenty years of experience in the creative industries. It is an attempt to generalise, consolidate, and structure methods and practices for sustainable art and design production experimented with while I was course director of a master programme at WdKA. Throughout the research I will be exchanging with peers and confirmed interested parties, a.o.: Het Nieuwe Instituut (NL), RUAS Creating 010 kenniscentrum (NL), Bergen Centre for Electronic Arts (NO), Mikrolabs (NO), Varia (NL), Media Arts department at RHU (UK), Media Studies at UvA (NL).
The postdoc candidate, Sondos Saad, will strengthen connections between research groups Asset Management(AM), Data Science(DS) and Civil Engineering bachelor programme(CE) of HZ. The proposed research aims at deepening the knowledge about the complex multidisciplinary performance deterioration prediction of turbomachinery to optimize cleaning costs, decrease failure risk and promote the efficient use of water &energy resources. It targets the key challenges faced by industries, oil &gas refineries, utility companies in the adoption of circular maintenance. The study of AM is already part of CE curriculum, but the ambition of this postdoc is that also AM principles are applied and visible. Therefore, from the first year of the programme, the postdoc will develop an AM material science line and will facilitate applied research experiences for students, in collaboration with engineering companies, operation &maintenance contractors and governmental bodies. Consequently, a new generation of efficient sustainability sensitive civil engineers could be trained, as the labour market requires. The subject is broad and relevant for the future of our built environment being more sustainable with less CO2 footprint, with possible connections with other fields of study, such as Engineering, Economics &Chemistry. The project is also strongly contributing to the goals of the National Science Agenda(NWA), in themes of “Circulaire economie en grondstoffenefficiëntie”,”Meten en detecteren: altijd, alles en overall” &”Smart Industry”. The final products will be a framework for data-driven AM to determine and quantify key parameters of degradation in performance for predictive AM strategies, for the application as a diagnostic decision-support toolbox for optimizing cleaning &maintenance; a portfolio of applications &examples; and a new continuous learning line about AM within CE curriculum. The postdoc will be mentored and supervised by the Lector of AM research group and by the study programme coordinator(SPC). The personnel policy and job function series of HZ facilitates the development opportunity.
