Jean Monnet Chair for William Gasparini, 2013 Fellow
The European Commission has awarded a second Jean Monnet Chair to William Gasparini, 2013 Fellow of the Institute for Advanced Studies at the University of Strasbourg (USIAS). The chair is entitled "Sports as an intermediary for Europe".
The main objective of the chair "Sports as an intermediary for Europe", which will run for three years from 2020 to 2023, is to develop new research and transmit innovative knowledge on the contribution of sport to the Europeanisation of citizens. It will notably include questioning the working classes’ sense of belonging to - or resistance of - Europe. The Chair, which is unique in the world, will produce scientific findings that will enrich the training courses on sport and Europe at the University of Strasbourg, and will open up to other French and European universities and to civil society.
The sociologist William Gasparini is professor at the University of Strasbourg’s Faculty of Sports Sciences, and member of its Sport and Social Sciences research laboratory. Director of the Doctoral School of Humanities and Social Sciences, he is also a member of the MAKErS Interdisciplinary Thematic Institute for MAKing European Society and of the Jean Monnet Franco-German Centre of Excellence at the university. He had already obtained a first Jean Monnet Chair "School of European Sport Studies" from 2015 to 2018.
His research is based on a post-structuralist and constructivist approach to sport, and focuses on the sociological analysis of the transformations of organisations and policies in sport through the study of their actors. He initially worked on sport organisations and, subsequently, on integration mechanisms via sport before turning his attention to the pro-European usefulness of sport since 2012. In particular, he has directed two collective works and two special journal issues on the links between football and European integration. During his Fellowship at USIAS, from 2013 to 2015, Professor Gasparini led the project The informal Europeanization of Sport. Institutional dynamics and social constructions.
The European Commission awards Jean Monnet Chairs, for a period of three years and on the basis of excellence, to academic-researchers (from all countries of the world) who are specialised in, and renowned for, European studies. Linked to the Erasmus+ programme, the Jean Monnet programme aims to promote excellence in teaching and research on European studies worldwide.
In 2020, of the 1,470 eligible applications for the Jean Monnet programme, 69 chairs were awarded to professors around the world, including four French academics.
More information (in French):
- Web page for the Chair “Sports as an intermediary for Europe”
- Connaitre l’Europe à travers le sport (l’actualité de la recherche, 21/10/20)
- Le sport passeur d’Europe. Sociologie d’une construction européenne (2020-2023)
- William Gasparini obtient une Chaire Jean Monnet
Professor Gasparini will present his Jean Monnet Chair at the information meeting "Projects of Excellence at the University of Strasbourg: European University EPICUR and Jean Monnet Chair", on 04/11/2020.
