Civic Engagement & Football: A Transdisciplinary Approach

This transdisciplinary programme aims to promote civic engagement throughout academia, as a key pillar of the CIVIS goals.

Football serves as a field of activity of civic engagement in this programme, because of its special meaning for developing local identity. In times of more and more globalization, regional and local identity is becoming increasingly relevant, e.g. with regard to topics such as integration, discrimination, brain drain and identification opportunities for less mobile people in structurally weak areas.

The concrete plan is to investigate with students, using the Ruhr area in Germany as a case study, the meaning of football for the supporters. Furthermore, the role and impact of football clubs, as parts of a local community, for the life of cities and citizens will be analysed, regarding the specific local challenges:

• Physically-materially, in addition to the stadium, its integration into its surroundings, its structural contextualization in a neighborhood, also places specific to football culture, such as pubs, as well as micromaterial structures, such as stickers affixed in public space.
• Emotionally, the meaning of belonging to a club, the expressions, conflicts and the general atmosphere during a match in and outside the stadium.

In the virtual part, the students will be introduced to the definitions of civic engagement and discuss the different types of civic engagement from a comparative perspective, within and outside the university level. They will also approach the concept of identity with its different dimensions (personal, cultural, regional/local, civic) and link it to civic engagement.

After this introductory part, the manifold connections between football and local and regional identification processes will be explored using the examples of the Ruhr area/ Germany, Bucharest/ Romania and Marseilles/ France.

In the last session of this part, students will be introduced to different research methods and to the service-learning (SL) method.

Based on this, students will then define either their research interest or the social need they want to address by designing a service.

In the physical part, the students will have the opportunity to explore the Ruhr area with the focus on football. In mixed teams they will carry out empirical research or SL projects, incorporating the theoretical and methodological input from the virtual part. It is planned that the students will discuss the clubs’ role in the community and raise questions of social justice, especially regarding topics of discrimination, with representatives of local football clubs.

Research ideas and possible service activities will be developed and defined further in this part. Students are free to choose the topics.

The results are to be published as student contributions in an anthology (30-40k characters).

If required, individual virtual meetings will be held after the physical mobility to give feedback and discuss the publication process/ research projects of the students and the distribution of the designed service by the students. 

In this context, students can generate social and scientific added value. Furthermore, this programme contributes to the students’ personal, social, and academic development, while encouraging critical reflection of their experiences. 

The program provides to the students knowledge related to the following fields:

• Civic Engagement
• Identity development
• Local Identity
• Football
• Social Justice

Students acquire knowledge on: 

• Understanding of what civic engagement means and its role in modern European societies.
• A critical perspective on civic engagement and the impact of professional football on life in local communities.
• Being able to contextualize civic engagement and football activities within broader cultural, environmental, political, and economic dimensions of society.
• Application of different theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches in research and community services.
• Learn about conducting an empirical study under supervision in international and interdisciplinary teams.
• Getting to know the process of publication of the results in an English-language anthology.
• Self-reflection with regard to taking responsibility for themselves and contribute to society from a social justice perspective.

The physical mobility session will be held from Wednesday, 2nd April 2025 to Monday, 7th April 2025, in Bochum, Germany. Arrival takes place on Wednesday, 2nd of April.

The programme will include the following:

• Excursion through the Ruhr area - Public transport will be used.
• Meeting with representatives of local clubs and other partners.
• Field research/ community service by students, assisted by faculty, including a visit to a football match.
• Regular presentations and discussions of the project progress by the student teams.
• Social events to experience the local culture.

A more detailed programme will be provided to the participants before the course starts.

The activities and timetable proposed for the training are as follows but may be modified according to the project program and timetable:

Moreover, the online part of the course consists of 4 online meetings:

1. Monday, 03.02.2025, 14:00 – 18:00 CET

• Comparative Perspective on Civic Engagement | University of Tübingen, Germany

2. Monday, 17.02.2025, 14:00 – 18:00 CET

• Civic Engagement in European and Regional Student Identity | National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Greece
• Theoretical Framework Related to Football and Regional Identity | University of Tübingen, Germany

3. Monday, 10.03.2025, 14:00 – 18:00 CET

• Comparison of Romanian, German and French Football Teams: Urban Identity Related to Football Teams | University of Bucharest, Romania together with Dr. Andrei Mihail from the National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA Bucharest); University of Tübingen, Germany & Aix-Marseille University, France

4. Monday, 17.03.2025, 14:00 – 18:00 CET

• Service-Learning Methodology: Social Justice and Football | Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain
• Empirical Methods and Their Linkage to the Theories | University of Tübingen, Germany
  
• Preparation of the Empirical Research/ Community Service | all

Students will apply theoretical knowledge in practice throughout the physical mobility. They will receive direct feedback on their work from the lecturers and if possible, the representatives of the local football teams.

The main assessment will be the evaluation of the submitted articles by the lecturers. 

Motivation Letter

CV

Previous experience in civic engagement is not mandatory but might be considered a plus.

Aix-Marseille Université

• Dr. Valérie Caraguel, OpenLab Coordinator, Innovative Pedagogy, Civic Engagement (CE) and SL
• Dr. Stéphane Mourlane, Contemporary History

National and Kapodistrian University of Athens

• Prof. Philia Issari, Department of Psychology
  

 University of Tübingen

• Prof. Dr. Dr. Olaf Kühne, Department of Geography
• Dr. Timo Sedelmeier, Department of Geography
• Dr. Iris-Niki Nikolopoulos, Head of Transdisciplinary Course Program      
• M.A. Franziska Müller, Civic Engagement and SL

University of Bucharest

• Ass. Prof. Marian Marin, Department of Regional Geography
• Ass. Prof. Radu-Daniel Pintilii, Department of Human and Economic Geography

National University of Political Studies and Public Administration (SNSPA Bucharest)

• Dr. Andrei Mihail, Anthropologist and Coordinator of the Centre for East European Sports Studies (CS Sportul) 

Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Department of Physical Education, Sport and Human Motricity

• Ass. Prof. María Luisa Santos Pastor, SL and Sport
• Ass. Prof. Fernando Martínez, SL and Team Ball Sports
• Adjunct Prof. Ignacio Garoz Puerta, SL and Football

School of Teacher Training and Education

• Prof. Pilar Aramburuzabala, SL

Ruhr University Bochum

• PD Dr. Dennis Edler, Institute of Geography

External partners: 

• Sebastian Tebbe, Social Worker at Fanprojekt Bochum - Streetwork for juvenile and jung adult football supporters
• Elena Müller, Project Manager at the Reporting Center for discrimination in football in North Rhine-Westphalia - Meldestelle für Diskriminierung im Fußball NRW (https://medif-nrw.de/de/)