Archbishop Desmond Tutu (Emeritus), the Honourary Chairperson of AWEPA, is associated with the Free University (Vrije Universiteit-VU) of Amsterdam via the Desmond Tutu Chair in Youth, Sport and Reconciliation. The programme is split among five professorships, one of whom is Prof. Geert Savelsbergh, known as the ‘football professor’ because of his groundbreaking Human Movement Sciences research into penalty-taking. Through research collaboration with South African universities, the Desmond Tutu Programme at VU is working to strengthen academic standards, and its impact is being felt across the broader society. Prof. Savelsbergh’s initiatives to supervise two Ph.D. candidates will contribute to the development of an academic tradition that is virtually unknown in Africa, and the combined impact will improve local capability to identify and train young sports talents.

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