The Cyprus Anti-Doping Authority (CyADA) in collaboration with the Anti-Doping Organisations of Poland and Portugal and academic institutions in Poland, Portugal and Italy have been awarded a European Union grant for fostering synergies between National Anti-Doping Organisations (NADOs) and promoting anti-doping education programmes and initiatives in tertiary education. The grant was awarded following a successful application to the Erasmus+ Sport 2023 programme of the European Education and Culture Executive Agency.
The project is led by Cyprus Anti-Doping Authority (CyADA), Cyprus and the partnership also includes:
- Anti-Doping Authority of Portugal (ADoP), Portugal
- Polish Anti-Doping Agency (POLADA), Poland
- University of Trento, Italy
- Academy of Physical Education in Krakow (AWF), Poland
- University of Lisbon, Portugal
What is the purpose of Project EPCS-TE?
Project EPCS-TE stems from the need to better understand how tertiary education institutions, such as Universities, can effectively promote clean sport education and values. International organisations such as the Council of Europe have made significant efforts to this end. The Recommendation of the Monitoring Group of the Council of Europe on Anti-Doping Education Guidelines for Tertiary Education Institutions specifically mentions: “tertiary education institutions have a responsibility to provide high quality training to the new specialists in the field of sport, therefore have a crucial role to focus on the knowledge, understanding, skills, behaviour and attitudes regarding anti-doping”, and that “the proper implementation of the Anti-Doping Education Guidelines for Tertiary Education Institutions will contribute to influencing the careers of both young talents and high performance/elite level athletes towards clean sport behaviour” (Rec 2016, 2). Our project also recognises that Universities can effectively collaborate with NADOs in further promoting anti-doping education. Given this context, the specific objectives of project EPCS-TE are to:
- Map existing policy documents, practices, and empirical evidence on anti-doping education in tertiary education institutions.
- Identify needs with regards to clean sport education in tertiary education institutions in four European countries (Cyprus, Italy, Poland, and Portugal).
- Develop a framework for the Partnership for Clean Sport in Tertiary Education in four European countries (Cyprus, Italy, Poland and Portugal).
- Provide guidelines for the implementation and evaluation of the Partnership for Clean Sport in Tertiary Education.
Dr Michael Petrou, President of CyADA and coordinator of the EPCS-TE Project said “We are grateful to the European Commission and the European Education and Culture Executive Agency for supporting this important initiative. Through this project, we aim to actively engage tertiary education institutions in widely promoting anti-doping education through their activities, such as embedding anti-doping education in the curriculum or supporting anti-doping education professional qualifications. The key contention of project EPCS-TE is that tertiary education institutions can serve as anti-doping beacons, promoting anti-doping values, attitudes, norms, and behaviours to the future generations of sport and non-sport professionals, parents, and active citizens.”
