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World Conference Day 2025

Along with the World University Games Winter, FISU provides the Organizing Committee with the opportunity to host a scientific conference. The objective of the FISU World Conference on Innovation – Education – Sport is to create a networking platform for scientists who will present and promote research on scientific innovations and enhance the sustainable development of winter sports. It is a chance for the young generation of sports scientists to discuss new ideas and arrange projects/cooperative efforts in sports science. 

The title of the conference is The Sprint Generation.  
Sprint as acronym of: Sport- Risk- Innovation- Technologies and will see the participation of illustrious names from the scientific, university and sports worlds, thanks to the involvement of the Piedmontese university network: l’Università di Torino, il Politecnico di Torino, l’Università del Piemonte Orientale e l’Università di Scienze Gastronomiche. 

The FISU World Conference on The Sprint Generation is open to all researchers, PhD students, athletes and the accredited participants of the World University Games Winter. Having a conference take place during the Torino 2025 FISU Games allows many student-athletes to take part in an international academic conference, fostering the academic spirit in the sports arena. 

The event will be held on January 14, 2025 at the Congress Center Torino Lingotto and is open to all researchers, PhD students, athletes and accredited participants of the World University Games Winter. Registration on the website https://www.vivaticket.com/it/ticket/fisu-world-conference/246796

Programme

10:00 / Keynotes lectures
Yannis Pitsiladis
Wearable and telemedicine innovations for Olympic events and elite sport in the age of big data and AI
Daniel Svensson
Risks and potentials of sport in relation to sustainable development
Anna Bjerkefors
"The Swedish Parasport Academy", a synergy project on physical activity, sports, research and education for people with impairment
Maria Carboni
Good fats, bad fats, just fats. Challenges and innovation related to the production of food for sport
New insights in winter sports injuries prevention and management
Exercise and sports greatly improve our life but increasing participation and training intensity in sports and physical activity results in a growing number of injuries. Prevention is a major issue to reduce the incidence of acute and chronic pathologies integrating biomechanical research into practical athletic training.
This roundtable offers a detailed and structured overview of the state-of-the-art in sports injury prevention and management aiming to optimize sports performance while reducing injury risks.
World renowned experts in sports medicine and traumatology will discuss the current most updated knowledge in the field interacting with the audience.
 
Main topics will be prevention techniques, new anatomical and biomechanical knowledge, management of the most common sports injuries and new rehabilitation methods.
The audience will have a unique opportunity to exchange experience, knowledge and ideas with an extremely qualified panel. Each topic will be introduced with a few summarizing slides giving the participants more time to discuss. The entire presentations will be shared with the audience through a QR code.
Gian Luigi Canata
Chair
Lars Engebretsen
Prevention Techniques of Sports Injuries
João Espregueira-Mendes
Knee Anatomic Morphology and Sports Injuries
Maurizio Casasco
Sports Medicine Fighting Sports Injuries
Thomas Patt
ACL Injuries Prevention in Young Athletes
Robert Prill
Update on Rehabilitation Principles
Elizabeth Kon
How to Manage Chondral Injuries
Giuseppe Massazza
Neurocognitive Rehabilitation in Athletes
Franceco Della Villa
Science behind Rehabilitation
Mike Carmont
Trauma Prevention: Role of the Team Physician
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Francesco Della Villa
Scientific Director of Isokinetic Medical Group
Dr. Della Villa is a Sports Medicine physician who graduated from the university of Bologna, Italy. He is currently the Director of the Education and Research Department at the Isokinetic Medical Group, which is a FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence. He oversees research and development as well as education and updating of the whole clinical group. He is a member of various international societies, including ESSKA, ISAKOS and ICRS and serves as a member of the FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence advisory group. His main clinical interests are Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries and other severe lower extremity injuries, from injury mechanism and prevention to return-to-play protocols.
Elizabeth Kon
IRCCS Humanitas Research Center, Rozzano, Milan, Italy
Department of Biomedical Sciences, Humanitas University, Pieve Emanuele, Milan, Italy

Full Professor of Orthopedic and Trauma Surgery, Humanitas University, Milan (Italy) Chief of Translational Orthopedics Unit, Center for functional and biological reconstruction of the Knee, Humanitas Research Hospital, Milan (Italy)  

Director of Residency program in Orthopedic and Trauma Surgery, Humanitas University, Milan  

Director of Bone and Joint course, Medical School, Humanitas University, Milan  

Director of Musculoskeletal pathology course, Physiotherapy School, Humanitas University, Milan  

Director of master’s degree “Regenerative Medicine in Orthopedics” Humanitas University, Milan  

Past President of International Cartilage Repair and Joint Preservation Society (ICRS)  

President of Società Italiana di Artroscopia, Ginocchio, Arto Superiore, Sport, Cartilagine e Tecnologie Ortopediche (SIAGASCOT) 

Robert Prill
Center of Orthopedics and Traumatology, University Hospital Brandenburg/Havel, Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane, Germany

Robert is a physiotherapist from Germany. He finished his master’s degree in physiotherapy in sports at German Sports University Cologne and PhD at Brandenburg University of Technology. Both theses were related to knee injuries and long-term deficits after Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

He is currently the Head of Research at Center of Orthopedics and Traumatology at the Brandenburg University Hospital and Chair of the ESSKA Rehabilitation Committee. He also runs the outpatient clinic for physiotherapy P3 together with is wife. His main interest in research and clinical work is related to athletes with knee injuries.

Thomas Patt
Bergmanclinics Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Since his first steps in his career into orthopedics in the mountains of St. Moritz, Switzerland, Tom is fascinated by this small, but cruciate ligament, which has a size of just a bit more than 1 inch (about 2,5 – 3cm) – the acl. 
 
Tom Patt was trained in Switzerland and The Netherlands, with Dr AU Urfer (St Moritz, CH), Dr P Burkart (Luzern, CH), Professor W Mueller, Prof N. Friederich (Basel, CH), Prof. RK Marti (Amsterdam, NL) & dr. Marcel Driessen (Delft, NL). 
 
After heading a private clinic in Delft / The Netherlands for 9 years, he is now working as a consultant at bergmanclinics, Rotterdam / The Netherlands.  Tom’s professional interests are sports knee surgery, and he has specialized in mainly arthroscopic knee interventions. 
 
Since 2010, his other real orthopedic passion has been prevention of knee lesions in children and adolescents. In this context he is  president of ESMA/ESSKA (2024-26) and co- leads the workgroup for prevention, the GUARDIANS of the ACL (a subgroup of the ACL study group), as well as being member of other European organizations such as the German Knee Society, GOTS, AGA, etc. 
The ESMA/ESSKA risk reducing program “prevention for all” was developed by him in collaboration with Dr. Henrique Jones / Portugal. 
 
Tom is often invited to speak at national and international meetings, in 2024 i.e.: Litouwen, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Czech Republic, The Netherlands & France. 
An acl rupture is a life changing event, especially in the young ones & we should do everything to prevent this from happening at all. 

Gian Luigi Canata
Director of Centre of Sports Traumatology and Arthroscopic Surgery - Koelliker Hospital, Turin (Italy)

Dr. Gian Luigi Canata is Director of the Centre of Sports Traumatology and Arthroscopic Surgery at Koelliker Hospital in Turin since 1995. He has been a member of the Medical Commission of the Italian Track and Field Federation (FIDAL) from 1980 to 2016 and has served as Director of CUS Torino (University Sports Center) Medical Services for over 40 years, and as Board Member of the Institute of Sports Medicine of Turin since 1990. 

From 2001 to 2012, he was engaged as Professor of Sports Medicine at the Turin University, and from 1989 to 2001 as Professor of Kinesiology at the Superior Institute of Physical Education in Turin. 

In addition, Gian Luigi Canata has been Director of the Local Medical Commission for the 2007 Turin Winter Universiade. 

At an international level, he is an active member of several orthopedic societies, among which ESSKA since 1984, the ESSKA – ESMA section since its early foundation in 2016, within which he served as Chair from 2020 to 2022, and ISAKOS since 1995. He is currently ISAKOS Board Member at Large, past Chair of the Leg, Ankle and Foot Committee, and SIAGASCOT delegate for International Societies.  

Gian Luigi Canata has been an invited speaker at medical congresses and courses worldwide, releasing almost 300 lectures. He is actively involved in Orthopaedic Research and Education as an author of more than 100 scientific works (including peer-reviewed articles) and editor of several books including ”Muscle and Tendon Injuries: Evaluation and Management” (2017), “Sports Injuries of the Foot and Ankle” (2019), “Management of Track and Field Injuries” (2022),”Epidemiology of Injuries in Sports”(2022) and “The Running Athlete” (2022). Further, he is also Associate Editor of the ISAKOS Journal since 2021. 

Maria Carboni
Full Professor, Department of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Università di Bologna
Good fats, bad fats, just fats. Challenges and innovation related to the production of food for sport
Lipids are macronutrients, which, in addition to calorie intake, also provide essential molecules, including vitamins, hormone precursors and other bioactive molecules.
 
This makes the topic of ‘dietary fats’ particularly interesting, especially in relation to food formulation and shelf life, as well as the intake requirements for a correct and healthy diet, also also with regard to sports activity.
 
The aim of this presentation is to provide a clarification between physiological needs and dietary quality, without forgetting the technological aspects of food.

Maria Fiorenza Caboni has been a full professor in the field of Food Science and Technology at the University of Bologna since 2008; her research activity focuses on food quality and safety, with a special focus on lipids. She has been involved in and coordinated several scientific research projects. She is the author of more than 200 publications, most of which are in international scientific journals. 

Anna Bjerkefors
Associate Professor, RPT
"The Swedish Parasport Academy", a synergy project on physical activity, sports, research and education for people with impairment
This lecture will provide insights into the “Swedish Parasport Academy,” a collaborative project involving companies, sports movements, the rehabilitation sector, and national and international universities. The aim is to promote physical activity and sports participation for individuals with impairments to improve health, independence, and quality of life.
 
The project generates new knowledge and innovative solutions on the relationship between functional capacity, interface, and performance, as well as how to optimise equipment to maximise performance and minimise injuries. These advancements can be translated into benefits for individuals, various professional groups, and society, particularly in health, sports performance, and technology.

Anna Bjerkefors is an Associate Professor at the Swedish School of Sport and Health Sciences (GIH) and affiliated with the Karolinska Institute. She has a profound interest in research areas such as adapted physical activity, motor control, neuroscience, applied sports science, trunk control, and parasport. Anna’s primary research focus is on understanding the impact of neuromusculoskeletal impairments on daily living activities, leisure time physical activity, and sports, and to optimize the interface with equipment (aids) to maximise performance and minimise injuries. Passionate about translating research into practice, Anna actively implements her findings in the rehabilitation sector and the field of parasport. Since 2022, she has co-led the Swedish Parasport Academy, a synergy project dedicated to creating an innovative environment for physical activity and sports. 

Daniel Svensson
Associate Professor of Sport Science, Malmö University
Risks and potentials of sport in relation to sustainable development
Sport is impacting the environment in many ways, and environmental problems and risks (climate change, extreme weather, pollution, etc.) poses risks for athletes and sport practitioners.
 
Are the ambitions of long-term sustainability and performance possible to unite? If so, what are the main challenges that the sporting world needs to address? The history of sports shows a track record of aiming to improve, and to deliver positive outcomes regarding issues such as gender equality, integration, public health. Can sport also play a part in making the world more environmentally sustainable?

Prof. Svensson conducts research on knowledge issues in sport. He has investigated the historical process of scientization of training methods in endurance sports, and meetings between scientific and experiential knowledge in sports such as football and cross-country skiing. Svensson has a broad interest in issues relating to knowledge, technology and performance in sport, and their implications for athletes and coaches. He has been a Guest Professor at the University of Turin and is also a Research Fellow at the Swedish Olympic Committee. His publications include many books and articles about change and risks in sport and outdoor recreation, including the anthology Sport, Performance and Sustainability (Svensson et al., Routledge, 2023). Svensson is also an engaged and experienced teacher and has worked with a number of courses at Malmö University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, University of Gothenburg and the University of Turin. He has been awarded several prizes for his research and his non-academic writing. 

Yannis Pitsiladis
MMedSci., PhD, FACSM International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical and Scientific Committee Department of Sport, Physical Education and Health, Hong Kong Baptist University
Wearable and telemedicine innovations for Olympic events and elite sport in the age of big data and AI
A growing number of companies are developing or using wearable sensor technologies that can monitor, analyse, and transmit data from humans in real time that can be used by the sporting, biomedical, and media industries. To explore this phenomenon, I will describe and review numerous high profile sporting events where innovations in wearable technologies were trialled: the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games (Tokyo 2020, Japan), 2022/23 adidas Road to Records (Germany) and Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics. These major sporting events represent the first time academic and industry partners have come together to implement real-time wearable solutions during major competition, to protect the health of athletes competing in hot and humid environments, as well as to better understand how these metrics can be used moving forwards.
Despite the undoubted benefits of such wearables, there are well-founded concerns regarding their use including:
1) limited evidence quantifying the potential beneficial effects of analysing specific parameters;
2) the quality of hardware and provided data;
3) information overload;
4) data security and
5) exaggerated marketing claims.
Employment and sporting rules and regulations also need to evolve to facilitate the use of wearable devices. There is also the potential to obtain real-time data that will oblige medical personnel to make crucial decisions around whether their athletes should continue competing or withdraw for health reasons. In order to protect athletes, the urgent need is to overcome these ethical/data protection concerns and develop wearable technologies that are backed by quality science.
The fields of sport and exercise science and medicine provides an excellent platform to understand the impact of wearable sensors on performance, wellness, health, and disease

Professor Yannis Pitsiladis has an established history of  research into the importance of lifestyle and genetics for human health and performance.

Current research priority is the application of “omics” (i.e. genomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics and proteomics) to the detection of drugs in sport with particular reference to recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEpo), blood doping and testosterone.

His most recent research is funded by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the International Olympic Committee (IOC), he is a member of the IOC Medical and Scientific Commission, a member of the Executive Committee and Chair of the Scientific Commission of the International Sports Medicine Federation (FIMS), a member of the Scientific and Education Commission of the European Federation of Sports Medicine Associations (EFSMA), a member of WADA’s Health Medical Research Committee (HMRC), past member a WADA’s List Expert Group and is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM).

He has published over 250 scientific papers, written and edited a number of books and has featured in numerous documentaries (e.g. “Kipchoge: The Last Milestone” is a 2021 documentary film directed by Jake Scott and executive produced by Ridley Scott; “Enhanced” – Documentary Film, 2018. Produced by award winning director Alex Gibney) and popular books (e.g. The Sports Gene: Inside the Science of Extraordinary Athletic Performance; Bounce: The Myth of Talent and the Power of Practice).