Francois Beauchard is the Director of the CREPS Rhone Alpes and has responsibility for both the work of the European Training Centre at Vallon Pont D’Arc and also the work of the Pole Ressource National Sport de Nature. Francois has a background in canoeing and kayaking and has been involved in the management of wild water racing in the European Canoe Association. Francois is currently the chairman of ENOS through which the BOSS project has been developed

Barbara Chiappa is the European projects for Sport and Youth Development Manager in Regione Lombardia.

She has a Master’s degree in communication and innovation strategies and she has developed experience in managing networks and events both at local and international level.

Barbara is also an expert in social media communication and digital strategies

Antoine Le Bellec is the project manager for the project. Antoine works since 15 years for the French sport Ministry. He is an expert of outdoor sports for the Pôle Ressources National des Sports de Nature (PRNSN). He has had extensive involvement in the development of a sustainable approach and innovative techniques for monitoring trails and other outdoor sports facilities. He is now involved on a range of EU and national projects.

He is a kayak and mountain instructor, and participates in the education and training of young people for a local association. He is also involved in the presidency of a natural site classified Natura 2000.

Dr Barbara Eigenschenk works in TUM as a researcher in the Department of Sport and Health. She has an extensive experience and background in research in the fields of sport management, sport tourism, sport and environment and quantitative methods in empirical social research. She has also been managing director for sustainability at IFB Deggendorf and therefore brings a strong knowledge of research approaches and sustainability issues. Barbara is an active rock climber and her PhD was in the tourism impact of the top climbing sites in Europe.

Dr Andreas Thomann works in TUM as a researcher in the Department of Sport and Health but is also responsible for professional ski instructors training in Germany. He has a strong background in leadership training and brings particular skills and knowledge in the value of volunteering and social engagement through sport. He is a UIAGM professional mountain guide and also an examining instructor for the professional ski instructors and mountain guides, club trainers of the German Mountaineering Association

Maxine Gregory will be the lead member of staff from SHU on this project. Maxine is an extremely experienced researcher and project manager, with over 13 years’ experience at Sheffield Hallam University. Maxine has led a number of evaluation projects that looked at interventions designed to enhance school and community sport for young people, along with both community and workplace health and wellbeing projects. She chairs the Outdoor Recreation Research Group (ORRG) and is actively involved in a range of projects supporting people to get more active through increasing access opportunities and creating ‘active environments’. Maxine is also a Social Return on Investment (SROI) accredited practitioner.

Mike McClure from Sport NI will lead on WP4, the dissemination of the results of the project and ensuring that the methodology is made widely available throughout Europe on a free of charge basis.

Mike has very extensive experience in the development, management and promotion of outdoor sports at a local, national and European level. His background is in outdoor and environmental education and he is a very effective communicator having worked in the field of education for over 20 years. He co-authored the Outdoor Recreation Action Plan for Northern Ireland which has been endorsed by the Ministers for Culture, Arts and Leisure, the Environment and for Enterprise, Trade and Industry in Northern Ireland.

Professor Dr Eduard Ingles Yuba from INEFC is a member of the singular research group GISEAFE (Group of Social and Educational Research on Physical Activity and Sport) of Barcelona. He is also the coordinator of the group of experts in activities in the natural environment and sustainability at the INEFC of Barcelona.

Eduard has carried out extensive research on sustainability issues within outdoor sports in partnership with land managers and sports federations and clubs through an extensive consultation process, he therefore has strong relationships with those who arrange courses and practice outdoor sports in Spain. He also lectures on the development of outdoor activities in the natural environment.

Dr Joao Zamith is a director of the Surf Clube de Viana and has a strong background in managing European projects as well as managing the Surf Clube de Viana.

Joao brings added value to the project as he is directly involved in running programmes for participants from grassroots to high performance athletes and as such will be instrumental in providing testing opportunities in Portugal, but also in ensuring that the methodology is practicable and usable.

Professor Dr Juergen Beckmann who is a renowned sports psychologist with specialist experience in managing large scale research projects having been project director at Max-Planck Institute for Psychological Research in Munich. He has also been called on for his expertise in Florida, China and Oslo.

Dr Girish Ramchandani is a Reader in Sport Management at Sheffield Hallam University’s Sport Industry Research Centre. Girish has a PhD in event impact evaluation and was part of the team that developed eventIMPACTS.com – an online toolkit of resources to help event organisers improve their evaluation of the impacts associated with staging sporting and cultural events.

Girish is also a Social Return on Investment (SROI) trained practitioner. Armed with strong quantitative and statistical skills, he has used the principles of SROI to estimate the social value of sport in England at a national level, sport-specific level, facility level and intervention (project) level.

Adrien Forestier is the Project manager for the Union des centres sportifs de plein air (UCPA) based in Lyon.

He has a background in Sports Management Services and UCPA is a French association which aims to make holidays accessible to all children and young people without considering families incomes and disabilities. UCPA is run by corporate bodies divided into three areas: Public authorities, Major youth and national education movements, Sports federations and the French Olympic Committee.

Adrien will be working closely with the National Sports Academy in Bulgaria to deliver the practical testing programme for the project.

Anna Chiara Pisu is the Development of sport activity” officer for the Regione Lombardia – DG Sport and Youth. Her educational training is in communications and she has a Master’s degree in management and communication strategies for cultural goods and events.

Anna is fluent in 4 languages and has previously worked as a communications officer for the European Commission and therefore brings highly valuable communication skills.

Leonardo La Rocca is the Mountain & Sport Observatory Development Manager in Region Lombardia.

His background is in geology and earth sciences and also holds a PHD on Disaster & Risk Prevention. Region Lombardia is acutely aware of the importance of outdoor spots from a tourism perspective but also from a social perspective

Dr Peter Iankov is the key person from the National Sports Academy who will work on the project. Dr Iankov is responsible for the development of programmes for ski training of leaders in Bulgaria and is actively involved in training leaders in the sport. He also is in the process of developing improved opportunities for graduates to find employment in the outdoor sports sector and programmes to increase the opportunities for young people to participate in outdoor sport programmes.

Cecilia works for the Fédération Internationale de Tourisme Equestre (FITE) and is very committed to this project as they have data on the economic value of equestrianism but are keen to evaluate in a collaborative manner the value of the associated social benefits. Therefore this group brings added value to the project by being able to provide testing opportunities in a range of European countries for the equestrian sector.

Arne Strate is the head of Marketing & Communications for the European Outdoor Group (EOG) which is the representative body for the outdoor industry (manufacturers and retailers of equipment). Arne has a very extensive background in sales management and production. He has a broad knowledge of the outdoor sector and is particularly tuned into social media.

Arne is also an enthusiastic climber and skier – so it’s not all just theory for him.

Dr Larissa Davies is a Reader in Sport Management at the Sport Industry Research Centre and will act as Project Director for the SHU team, leading key elements of Work Package 2. Her PhD is in the field of Sports Economics (The Economic Importance of Sport: A case study of Sheffield) and her research interests include the role of sport in local economic development and regeneration and the economic and social benefits of sport.

Larissa also has extensive experience in methodologies used to measure and value sport and cultural activities and she is a member of the Social Return on Investment (SROI) Network which, although based in the UK, works extensively across Europe and internationally.

Professor Dr Filip Mess is a professor and researcher in sport didactics in the Department of Sport and Health at TUM. His research is centred in the field of health promotion through sport but he also supervises the projects in the field of outdoor sports as well as sustainability. He has an extensive level of experience of carrying out systematic reviews and will support the team to gather the evidence of benefits in outdoor sports