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18th ANNUAL CONGRESS OF THE »EUROPEAN COLLEGE OF SPORT SCIENCE«
Between 26th and 29th July 2013, the 18th annual European College of Sport Science (ECSS), entitled "Unifying Sport Science" was held in Barcelona, Spain. The congress was attended by a record number of participants (3,112) from 75 countries worldwide. It consisted of 4 plenary sessions, 143 invited speakers, 465 oral and 1,228 poster presentations where participants presented their latest research findings in the fields of sport, kinesiology, sport nutrition, physiology, neuroscience, physiotherapy, sport training, as well as sport pedagogy, sport management and engineering. The elite location of the Olympic Ring up on the Montjuic Hill offered an additional motivation for active participation in a number of sessions, as well as networking among young scientists and global leaders in individual research areas.
A competition among young researchers called "Young Investigators Award (YIA)" takes place at the ECSS every year. There were 538 young researchers registered for this year's competition. A preliminary assessment of the submitted scientific papers was made and only a half of them were granted an oral presentation at the congress. In this framework, I presented a paper entitled "Cognitive Training during 14-day Physical Inactivity Improves Dual-task Walking" where I came, together with co-authors, to some very interesting conclusions. We found that cognitive training (with spatial navigation, working memory and executive functions) can reduce deterioration of sensorimotor function that occurs during the prolonged inactivity or immobilization. The 10-minute presentation was followed by another 5 minutes of in-depth questioning by
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the members of the ECSS Scientific Committee which announced four finalists, who presented their study once again on the last day of the ECSS congress. With my presentation, I was awarded second place and a prestigious award in my research field. All the YIA finalists receive the opportunity to participate in the YIA winner community where you can meet the winners from previous years, as well as gain numerous networking opportunities at the ECSS congresses.
After the official closure of the 18th annual ECSS congress a social program with delicious local food and excellent live music was organized at the Olympic Ring by a local institution.
No scientific achievement is a work of only one single individual. Therefore, I would like to thank my mentor, Professor Rado Pišot, Ph.D., and co-mentor Professor Vojko Kavčič, Ph.D., for all the effort they put into the bed rest study. I would like to thank the entire IKARUS team and the head of the IKARUS team Professor Boštjan Šimunič, Ph.D., with whom we worked continuously for several months in the hospital of Valdoltra, Slovenia. Finally, special thanks go also to Professor Romain Meeusen, Ph.D., and his team at the VUB, Brussels, Belgium, who helped me with good practice examples and motivation for optimizing my scientific paper as well as the presentation.
The next ECSS congress will be held on 2nd July 2014 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Uroš Marušič
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18. LETNI ZNANSTVENI KONGRES »EUROPEAN COLLEGE OF SPORT SCIENCE«
Od 26. do 29. junija 2013 je v Barceloni v Španiji potekal 18. letni kongres European College of Sport Science (ECSS), ki je največji znanstveni kongres na področju športne znanosti na svetu, z delovnim naslovom »Zedinimo znanost v športu«. Udeležilo se ga je rekordno število raziskovalcev (3112) iz 75 držav celotnega sveta. Kongres je zajemal štiri plenarne sekcije, 143 vabljenih predavanj, 465 ustnih in kar 1228 predstavitev na plakatih, kjer so udeleženci predstavili svoje najnovejše izsledke raziskav s področja športa, kineziologije, športne prehrane, fiziologije, nevroznanosti, fizioterapi-je, športnega treniranja pa tudi športne pedagogike, managementa in inženiringa. Elitna lokacija Olimpijskega obroča na hribu Montjuic je ponudila še dodatno motivacijo za aktivno udeležbo na številnih sekcijah ter spoznavanje in mreženje med še neuveljavljenimi znanstveniki, ki svojo karierno pot šele ustvarjajo, ter tistimi, ki so v samem svetovnem vrhu specifičnega raziskovalnega področja.
«T
Vsako leto na kongresu ECSS podelijo nagrado za mlade raziskovalce imenovano »Young Investigators Award (YIA)«. Letos je bilo prijavljenih 538 mladih raziskovalcev. Po predhodnem ocenjevanju oddanih znanstvenih prispevkov nas je možnost predstavitve raziskave v kategoriji YIA dobila le polovica. Sam sem predstavil prispevek z naslovom »Cognitive training during 14-day physical inactivity improves dual-task walking«, v katerem smo s soavtorji prišli do zanimivih zaključkov. Ugotovili smo namreč, da je s pomočjo umo-vadbe (vadbe možganov s treningom prostorske navigacije, delovnega spomina in eksekutivnih funkcij) možno zadržati strm upad senzomotoričnih funkcij, ki nastopi po večdnevni neaktivnosti oz. imobilizaciji. Pred-
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stavitev je trajala deset minut, čemur je sledilo še pet minut poglobljenih vprašanj s strani komisije v kategoriji YIA. Znanstveni odbor ECSS je nato razglasil štiri finaliste, ki smo za namen končne razvrstitve svoje študije ponovno predstavili zadnji dan kongresa v kongresni dvorani. Vesel sem, da sem si s svojo predstavitvijo opravljene študije prislužil drugo mesto in s tem prav najprestižnejšo nagrado na svojem raziskovalnem področju. Nagrada mi je odprla vrata v skupnost raziskovalcev (YIA winner community), ki so v prejšnjih letih zmagali, in možnosti srečevanja in mreženja na naslednjih ECSS kongresih.
Po izjemnem zaključku in uradnem zaprtju 18. kongresa ECSS je sledil bogat družabni program, ki so ga priredili domači gostitelji s številnimi lokalnimi dobrotami in odličnim glasbenim izborom na zgoraj omenjenem Olimpijskem obroču.
Noben znanstveni dosežek pa ni delo enega posameznika. Zato se želim zahvaliti svojemu mentorju prof. dr. Radu Pišotu in somentorju prof. dr. Vojku Kavčiču za ves trud pri izpeljani študiji. Prav tako gre zahvala celotni ekipi IKARUS-a ter predstojniku izr. prof. dr. Boštjanu Šimuniču, s katerimi smo nepretrgoma delali več mesecev v Ortopedski bolnišnici Valdoltra, Slovenija. Nenazadnje gre posebna zahvala tudi prof. dr. Romainu Meeusenu in ekipi iz Bruslja, ki je s primeri dobrih praks in z motivacijo vplivala na optimizacijo znanstvenega prispevka in predstavitve.
Naslednji kongres ECSS bo potekal od 2. do 5. julija v Amsterdamu na Nizozemskem.
Uroš Marušič
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