Expected outcomes

There are a number of expected impacts of this project that differ in their scope and timing. Firstly, this project will directly impact the participating organisations and their representatives in several ways. They will gain new insights and knowledge about good practices in the implementation of SCforH and other similar HEPA promotion initiatives, because multiple discussions about this topic will be held during the course of the project. The team members that are less experienced in project work, will have an opportunity to learn from experienced project leaders. This project will also help in bridging the gap between sport-related research and practice. The team members from sports organisations will have an opportunity to get insights from the academics about research methods and improve their understanding of scientific approaches to sport and HEPA promotion. Equally so, the team members from tertiary education and research institutions will have an opportunity to learn from the representatives of sports organisations about the challenges for efficient sport and HEPA promotion within the practical context. The project partners will also benefit from the mutual exchange of information about the varying contexts and practices in promoting sports and HEPA in different countries, with the emphasis on the knowledge exchange between the European and Australian project partners. All this will have positive effects on the realisation of different tasks during the project lifetime. The knowledge gained within the project has the potential to positively impact the project partners even after the project lifetime, because this knowledge is likely transferable to their future projects. Another clear long-term benefit for project partners is that they will strengthen their existing collaborations with other project partners, because the project will serve as a platform for an organised engagement in joint work and team building. They will also broaden their collaborative networks; for example, with those that are new to the SCforH consortium.

Secondly, a number of expected impact of the project refer to organisations and individuals that are not directly involved in the project. Given that we will distribute the SCforH online learning tool to more than two thousand stakeholders in the sport and HEPA promotion sector in 36 European countries, we expect the project will have a large overall impact. We expect it will result in the increased awareness and implementation of the of the SCforH guidelines among sports organisations and sports clubs in Europe. We also expect it will result in increased awareness and knowledge about the SCforH guidelines among national policymakers in the area of health and sport, HEPA promoters, and the course and subject coordinators responsible for the organisation and/or delivery of units related to HEPA promotion in tertiary education institutions in Europe. We also expect that the SCforH online learning course will be implemented in the curricula of units related to HEPA promotion in a number of tertiary education institutions in Europe, which would further facilitate sustainable implementation of SCforH guidelines.