ESSEPA research illustrates the current state of safeguarding in university sport

The research reveals a paradox: while the frameworks often assume safety, participants on the ground report a fragmented system with unclear reporting and gaps.

LJUBLJANA, SLOVENIA, July 14, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The European Sport Safeguarding Education and Promotion Action (ESSEPA) project, co-funded by the European Union, has finalized the core research phase of its mission to transform athlete welfare in higher education area. By publishing comparative policy analysis and its multi-stakeholder survey results, the project has mapped out the gaps and lived experiences of safeguarding in university sport across Europe.

The research reveals a paradox: while administrative frameworks often assume safety, participants on the ground encounter a fragmented system with unclear reporting pathways and unaddressed vulnerabilities.

Phase 1: State of play and analysis of existing policies
The first phase of the research mapped the existing legal structures and policies across nine European countries. Here are the key findings:
• Fragmented landscape: Safeguarding is rarely integrated into university-specific sports frameworks. Instead, institutions rely on general, non-sport-specific disciplinary codes or broad ethical guidelines.
• Policy vacuums: Most partner countries suffer from a lack of dedicated safeguarding policies and appointed safeguarding officers exclusively for university sport.
• Off-field vulnerability: While direct competition environments tend to be regulated, off-field contexts, such as athlete travel and overnight stays, often remain uncovered by active safeguarding protocols.

Phase 2: Stakeholders survey
To capture the real-world experiences behind these policy gaps, the ESSEPA consortium launched a survey. Based on responses from 240 respondents across 19 countries, including student-athletes, coaches, administrators and volunteers, here are the key findings:
• The safety paradox: While 80% of participants reported feeling generally safe during events, 59% indicated they had personally experienced at least one form of transgressive or inappropriate behaviour in their university sports environment.
• Prevalent misconduct: Psychological violence (14%) and institutional pressure to train or compete through injury (8%) emerged as the most common negative experiences, with coaches and teammates identified as the primary actors.
• Lack of awareness: Deep communication gaps persist. Half (50%) of respondents were unsure if their institution has an active safeguarding code of conduct, and only 48% knew who to contact to report an incident.
• Reporting barriers: When asked what prevents athletes from speaking up, the top barriers cited were fear of negative consequences (24%), the belief that nothing will change (21%), as well as lack of trust in the system (16%).

The path forward: from insights to action
Despite the barriers, the survey proved that the university sports community is eager for change: 79% of respondents expressed an overwhelming desire for safeguarding training, with a clear preference for interactive, hybrid learning models.

These cumulative findings provide a vital empirical foundation for the next stage of the ESSEPA project: developing an innovative, digital safeguarding education and certification platform. This educational curriculum will be directly tailored to the target audiences, preparing student-athletes, coaches, officials, and volunteers to recognize boundaries, protect mental health, and implement active reporting procedures.

The research is also actively guiding the ongoing evaluation and development of the EUSA Safeguarding and Incidents Policy, with the goal of establishing mandatory training, clear contact roles within teams, and standardized reporting procedures across all future European university sports competitions.

Access the Research: The full ESSEPA Research Report on Safeguarding Policies and the ESSEPA Survey Analysis Report are publicly available. For detailed findings, graphics, and resources, please visit the official project website at https://essepa.eusa.eu.

About the ESSEPA project
The ESSEPA project is a 24-month initiative co-funded by the European Union and coordinated by the EUSA Institute (Slovenia). The consortium brings together 10 partner organizations from 9 European countries, combining expertise in sports governance, safeguarding, fair play, research, technology, and event organization:
• EUSA Institute (Slovenia)
• Dspot (Slovenia)
• University of Zagreb (Croatia)
• Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)
• University of Hamburg (Germany)
• European Fair Play Movement (Belgium)
• Albanian University Sports Federation (Albania)
• Portugal University Sport Federation (Portugal)
• University Sports Federation of Liechtenstein (Liechtenstein)
• University Sports Centre of Salerno (Italy)

Contact:
Email: projects@eusa.eu
Website: https://essepa.eusa.eu
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.

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