Brand Value Alignment through Dual Career - BRAVA

The objective of the BRAVA - Brand Value Alignment through Dual Career – Project was to enhance the European workplace environment so the circumstances and challenges of dual career (DC) athletes and coaches could be recognized and effectively accommodated.

The aim of the three-year project was to build evidence-based knowledge based on dual career employee athletes as well as define and implement new European guidelines that supported dual careers in the workplace, which facilitated appropriate brand alignment strategies and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies that valued dual careers. The project intended to produce publications, guidelines, and strategies on the working experiences, perceptions, opinions, and needs of DC employee-athletes and coaches, as well as brand alignment strategies and corporate social responsibilities.

The BRAVA project convened online for the official kick-off meeting on March 3, 2021. Partners gathered again online in September to discuss ideas and showcase the work done and the steps to come, with a focus on the workshop’s participants: former and current athletes, coaches, and business executives. So far, an examination of scientific literature had been completed, as had interviews with employees and athletes, as well as focus groups with corporate social responsibility and human resources managers. 50 important criteria had been established in the form of statements, and currently, the dual-career specialists were being asked to group these claims and assess their importance and practicality.

The information gathered throughout the research would be utilized to create a guidebook with recommendations for improving the working environment of dual-career athletes and coaches. The project’s communication and distribution were also explored, so that both the targeted public and the mainstream audience could follow the initiative and participate in the essential issues of dual career and corporate social responsibilities.

By the end of the three-year project, partners hoped to create a European conceptual framework illustrating relevant DC workplace factors and factor structures; European DC workplace guidelines for DC support, brand alignment strategies, and CSR policies; a scientific manuscript providing the project’s summary, impact analysis, and conclusions.

Brand Values Alignment through Dual Career (BRAVA) project, co-funded by the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union, was concluded with a hybrid conference “A Talk in Dual Career” that was hosted in Brussels on December 12, 2023.

Over 30 in-person and 100 online participants also had a chance to review the 16 recommendations / dual career workplace guidelines, with the benefits that implementation can provide for both employees and employers.

Prior to the conference, the project partners met for their final meeting.

BRAVA was coordinated by the University of Limerick, and the partner consortium consists of the European Athlete as Student - EAS (MLT), European Platform for Sports and Innovation - EPSI (BEL), EUSA Institute (SLO), Foundation Human Age Institute (ITA), University of Ljubljana (SLO), Roma Tre University (ITA), Elite Sports Academy Aarhus - ESAA (DEN), University of Nis, Faculty of Sport and Physical Education (SRB).

For more information on the BRAVA project, please see https://www.bravadualcareer.eu