A2M2TECH (Doctoral Programme in Advanced Materials&Advanced Manufacturing Technologies) is an excellence doctoral training programme presented by Gazi University (GU) in Turkey as beneficiary and main hosting organisation through the Additive Manufacturing Technology Application and Research Center (EKTAM), the National Center of Excellence for AM. The programme is completed with the participation of other 3 entities as Partner Organisations recruiting fellows: Middle East Technical University, İstanbul Technical University and İzmir Institute of Technology. During the 60 months of duration of A2M2TECH, one single Open Call will be launched for the recruitment of 22 early-stage researchers (ESRs). Excellence in research&education Will be achieved through a complete research&training programme combining cutting-edge multidisciplinary topics in the AM field with a wide range of research&non-research oriented skills, thus impacting on the future career perspectives of the fellows and aligning the programme objectives and results with EU strategies and objectives regarding human resources, research&innovation. A2M2TECH will establish an open, transparent and merit-based procedure for the recruitment with the aim of providing the next-generation of skilled scientists in the bourgeoning fields of Advanced Manufacturing, Advanced Materials&Additive Manufacturing. All the participating organisations in the programme have an outstanding track-record in terms of recruitment and training of doctoral researchers and they all support the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers, thus ensuring the best possible conditions to enhance the potential and future career perspectives for the recruited researchers. In addition, recruited fellows will be provided with the opportunity to carry out secondments in several national&international host institutions with a particular focus on the intersectoral University-Industry collaboration.

Workers with data skills are needed across the breadth of employment sectors and development is one such sector which has become increasingly data driven, e.g. the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals are explicitly measurable and include a target to improve statistical capacity in and of itself. Higher education students studying a range of social science subject areas often aspire to a career in development: a fiercely competitive and rapidly changing sector, with the need for both ‘soft’ (e.g. cross-cultural collaboration) and ‘hard’ skills now emphasised, of which data analysis is an increasingly valued ‘hard’ skill. However, there is often resistance amongst social science students to develop data skills. Students’ resistance has been linked to a lack of confidence, particularly amongst students with a limited mathematical background and/or who have had bad experiences of mathematics teaching earlier in their education. However above and beyond concerns about ability, an additional key barrier to students’ engagement in data education is a simple lack of interest. The aim of this project is to tackle these challenges and resultant graduate skills deficit by creating a team of partner universities to collaboratively develop learning and teaching materials which meet the current and anticipated future data skill requirements of development sector employers and enable lecturers to share expertise. The team is composed of four universities representing geographically and culturally diverse countries: University of Gloucestershire (UK), Gazi University (Turkey), University of Malta (Malta) and UNED (Spain). The learning and teaching resources developed through the project will closely align with the reality of working in the development sector, by exposing students to international collaboration and to working on real and pressing development issues, thus providing a clear link between the lecture hall and students’ desired careers. The specific objectives are:(1) Understand the nature of the current and anticipated future data skills deficit in the international development sector through expert interviews with key employers across partner countries. (2) Develop innovative social science instructor and student learning resources on data skills for international development informed by the findings from objective (1), based on real life scenarios which foster international collaboration between students, and benefiting from the varied expertise of project partners. (3) Pilot and evaluate the resources during a collaborative summer programme for students from across partner countries culminating in a visit to Luxembourg encompassing a tour of EUROSTAT, the European Union’s statistical agency, and an opportunity for students to share project findings and gain experience of international meetings. The pilot programme will include 5 undergraduate social science students from each partner country (20 in total). (4) Refine the materials based on student evaluations and tutor reflections and integrate the materials and collaborative student project work into the degree curriculum of partner universities, as well as making the resources freely available online for the benefit of the wider social science higher education community. The results of the project will be instructor and student handbooks on a new data skills for international development programme. These materials will have been piloted during the project and will be integrated into the curriculum at partner universities and available online for other universities to adopt. The project will also produce an academic peer reviewed paper and a blog on the nature of the data skills deficit in the international development sector. In addition, there will be a website, twitter account, webinar when the materials are launched online and partners will give presentations on the project at conferences so as to ensure the programme reaches a wide range of universities. The impacts of the project included enhanced employability amongst student participants in the summer pilot programme, as well as future students at partner universities who will benefit from this addition to their curriculum and students at other universities which adopt the programme. The project will also have an impact on partner university academics and other academics who adopt the programme by assisting them to broaden their curriculum and to provide specific career guidance to their students. In addition, the project will have an impact on employers in the international development, and more broadly social development, sector by growing the pool of graduates with data skills required for the current and future demands of the sector. Ultimately, this will also be beneficial to the clients of development organisations as the organisations will be better equipped to harness the power of data to further their cause.

<< Background >>The term Martial Arts is often used as general phrase to describe many of the combat arts, which have developed in eastern cultures over the past millennium. If we review the Martial Arts from the original context of a trio of life skills, then we can identify the healing arts such as acupuncture, the self-exploration arts such as yoga, and the vital life skills such as meditation. Martial arts have a rich history, dating back many thousands of years ago. The arts developed not only in the eastern, but also in all parts of the world, with references of these types of combats arts in the writings of the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. In modern times, the combat arts are performed for both exercise and sport. The health benefits associated with martial arts include strengthen and self-efficacy of the elderly, reduced falls, increased exercise capacity, and benefits to the immune system and autonomic nervous system.They are seemingly inappropriate for people with impairments. However, it appears that fencing and judo, as well as arm-wrestling are sport disciplines successfully practised by disabled people. They are a great alternative for those lonely, idle and helpless people. They are however also an opportunity for comprehensive rehabilitation. A sport training has primarily a curative, preventive and psychological function. Practising combat sports and strength sports give people with disabilities the opportunity to be more self-sufficient, assertive and financially independent. Their self-esteem improves due to the sport, they feel important and needed.Martial arts are as a physical and meditative discipline available as complementary strategies able to improve functional capacity, physical performances, postural control of patients suffering from chronical diseases. They can slow their clinical evolution.In Turkey as well as in other Balkan countries, persons with disabilities are generally excluded from education, employment and community life from a young age. Exclusion deprives them of opportunities to engage and develop relationships with others — opportunities essential to their social development and important determinants of health and well-being. Sport is well suited to helping persons with disabilities acquire social skills they may be lacking, but also for rehabilitation purposes. Martial arts teaches individuals how to communicate effectively as well as the significance of teamwork and cooperation, goal-setting, self-discipline, respect for others, and the importance of rules. Whereas many initiatives focus on making martial arts inclusive for them (e.g. MAINCLUSION project), we focus on the actual effects of martial arts linked to an active rehabilitation process, well structured and formally organised in martial arts sports clubs. It is a fact that certain martial arts have an effective complementary strategy associated with medical and rehabilitation care of chronic diseases and larger scale studies confirm this.Martial arts also enables persons with disabilities to take risks and learn how to manage failure and success in a safe and supportive environment. Martial arts teachers, sport trainers, rehabilitation experts in the field of CP, Medical and health personnel, physical, occupational and speech therapists, special education teachers provide important role models and can help persons with disabilities to develop skills they can apply in other aspects of their lives.The benefits of physical activity are universal for all children, including those with disabilities. The participation of children with disabilities in sports and recreational activities promotes inclusion, minimizes deconditioning, optimizes physical functioning, and enhances overall well-being. Despite these benefits, children with disabilities are more restricted in their participation and have lower levels of fitness (Murphy et. al., 2018).<< Objectives >>Our project aims to provide an ECVET based training on how to apply martial arts towards specific rehabilitation of CP (Cerebral palsy) affected people. Why? Cerebral palsy can be debilitating both physically and mentally for an individual. Doctors and researchers alike are constantly searching for new kinds of therapies for people afflicted with such a condition. In fact, martial arts are the total opposite of cerebral palsy with its uncontrolled moves an djerks. Martial arts is all about control of movement and control of power. Hence why martial arts offers the opportunity to counter many effects of CP and ensure a proper engaging and enjoyable rehabilitation. Martial arts thus provides an outlet to release negative energy and counter the rejection these people often faced in their life.For that purpose this partnership will develop the following project results in EN, NL, TR and BG languages:-PR1: MACPTraining handbook and ECVET compliant training course towards martial arts and the different intervention modalities required to apply them in rehabilitation-PR2: Dedicated MACPTraining videos that capture such rehabilitation exercises through martial arts, embedded in an online and mobile applications - for Android and iOS devicesOur target groups are:-Martial arts clubs-Martial arts experts-Rehabilitation experts in the field of CP-Medical and health personnel-Physical, occupational and speech therapists-Special education teachers-Respite, home health aides-Parents/siblings-Volunteer instructors-CP affected people-Personal assistants (including family members, etc.)-Entire communityThe above mentioned participants will participate in the following activities:-as members of the national advisory boards in partners' countries they will meet every six months to discuss the project progress and to provide voluntary a feedback for the development of the project results.-as participants in focus groups for iterative testing - the iterative testing concerns the alpha testing of the draft version of the project results before the actual piloting to validate that the outcomes are reliable and really addressing the preliminary described objectives and that the outputs are reaching the expected impact.-as supporters for reaching as much as possible stakeholders in piloting implementation-as supporters for liaison on policy level-as participants in dissemination and exploitation activities - in each partners' country there will be a national dissemination campaign for information, awareness raising, mainstreaming and exploitation into practiceWhereas many initiatives focus on making martial arts inclusive for them, we focus on the actual effects of martial arts linked to an active rehabilitation process, well structured and formally organised in martial arts sports clubs. It is a fact that certain martial arts have an effective complementary strategy associated with medical and rehabilitation care of chronic diseases and larger scale studies confirm this.The novelty lies here especially in how martial arts can support those affected by Cerebral Palsy, with a range of dedicated exercises, that address e.g. muscle tone and strength, body posture, etc. Our project uses century’s old wisdom with modern 21st century education techniques to train CP affected people so that they can be in control of their bodies, thereby controlling their pain and their emotional and physical difficulties.<< Implementation >>The consortium is characterised by its experience and competences in project management and participation such as:-pedagogy / teaching: P1, P3, P4 have already extensive expertise in the area of pedagogy, sport and teaching, especially in the areas of rehabilitation and inclusion domain, and they will complement with input from their own expertise field, as well as ensure they can adjust the project outcomes to the local country needs.-martial arts: P5 ill bring essential training approaches, content and techniques.-inclusion: Participating NGOs (P2, P3) and SMEs (P4) will bring on board their expertise in the area of inclusion oriented to Martial arts teachers, sport trainers, rehabilitation experts in the field of CP, Medical and health personnel, physical, occupational and speech therapists, special education teachers, but also to young people with social disadvantages as well as those with disabilities.-technical expertise: In addition, the initiating team (P1, P3, P4)has all the technical expertise in-house to develop the mobile/online platform application that will host the dedicated educative videos, making them at the same time visually attractive and accessible both for the beneficiary/end-users, as well as sport teacher/end-users.The initiating team adopted the approach for full participation of selected partners and equality of the efforts in the contribution to the implementation activities. In this regard, the project tasks are distributed even among the partners, taking into account the strengths and expertise of each of them. In terms of responsibilities, following lead responsibilities have been defined per IO, while partners also lead activities under each PR:PR1: MACPTraining handbook and ECVET compliant training course towards martial arts and the different intervention modalities required to apply them in rehabilitation - overall lead by P1 with the support and chapter/content writing by the rest of the partnersTasks:YEAR 1:A1 - Outline and creation of the curriculum (lead by P1, P2 and P4, contribution by all partners)A2 - Outline and creation of the handbook (lead by P2 and P4, contribution by all partners)A3 - Adaptation for training via online learning platform/mobile app in EN, NL, BG, TR (lead by P4, contribution by all, and with support of P3)YEAR 2:A4 - Tryouts with beneficiaries - all partnersA5 - Feedback gathering, optimisation and finalisation - lead by P3PR2: Dedicated MACPTraining videos that capture such rehabilitation exercises through martial arts, embedded in an online and mobile applications - overall lead by P3 with the support and video development by the rest of the partners (at least 4 per partner - 2 videos + 2 testimonials) YEAR 1:A1: Functional analysis requirements of videos and mobile application/online portal (led by P3)A2: Prototype development of videos (led by P3 + contribution of all partners - 4 videos by each partner)A3: Delivery alpha version portal (led by P3 + contribution of all partners)A4: Delivery alpha version mobile app (led by P3 + contribution of all partners)YEAR 2:A5: Delivery beta version portal (led by P3 + contribution of all partners)A6: Delivery beta version mobile app (led by P3 + contribution of all partners)A7: Revisions based on piloting (led by P3 + contribution of all partners)A8: Iterative improvement of mobile app / online portal (led by P3)With regards to the Project management and implementation activities the distribution of responsibilities is the following:A1: Administrative and financial management - lead by P1 + shared participation by all partnersA2: Financial monitoring on 6-months base - provided by each partner and reviewed/approved by P1A3: Establishment of intranet platform - lead by P1 with shared participation by all partnersA4: Quality assurance activities - lead by P4 + all partnersA5: Organisation of dissemination and exploitation activities - lead by P3 + all partners.<< Results >>The project is unique, because it is proposing a range of innovative techniques to stimulate and facilitate the implementation of martial arts as rehabilitation technique. In addition, no projects were identified in Erasmus+ databases that use martial arts as a rehabilitation method. As such the project is new and can contribute with its outcomes to further vocational training (aligned to EQF level 4) for professionals, trainers, teachers and experts in the field of rehabilitation, sport and disability.Our project aims to formalise this and will provide a handbook and ECVET compliant training course (PR1) towards martial arts and the different intervention modalities required to apply them in rehabilitation, whereby dedicated videos (PR2) that capture such rehabilitation exercises through martial arts will be embedded in an online and mobile applications.Project result 1 aims to provide an ECVET based training (curriculum, training modules and accompanied handbook) on how to apply martial arts towards specific rehabilitation of CP (Cerebral palsy) affected people. Martial arts is all about control of movement and control of power. Hence why martial arts offers the opportunity to counter many effects of CP and ensure a proper engaging and enjoyable rehabilitation. Martial arts thus provides an outlet to release negative energy and counter the rejection these people often faced in their life.Initial outline of ECVET compliant modules:Module 1: Specific health benefits of Martial ArtsModule 2: The history of Martial Arts and rehabilitationModule 3: Specific rehabilitation needs towards CP affected peopleModule 4: Applying martial arts to the rehabilitation of CP affected peopleModule 5: The importance of Martial Arts to the sports and health community.Module 6: An ABC to organising CP rehabilitation martial arts exercises and sessionsModule 6: Case studies, illustration how martial arts positively affect rehabilitation of CP affected peopleThe novelty lies here especially in how martial arts can support those affected by Cerebral Palsy, with a range of dedicated exercises, that address e.g. muscle tone and strength, body posture, etc. Our project uses century’s old wisdom with modern 21st century education techniques to train CP affected people so that they can be in control of their bodies, thereby controlling their pain and their emotional and physical difficulties. The material can be also useful for their work with clients with other disabilities such as: Autism Spectrum Disorder; ADD & ADHD; Crouzons Syndrome; Down Syndrome; Sensory Integration Dysfunction ;Spina Bifida; Traumatic Brain Injury (source: David Reicher M.S. Co-Founder Martial Arts Therapy).Project result 2 will consists of at least 10 videos, which will present a captured testimonials by martial art trainers as well as 10 actual rehabilitative exercises (ELEMENTS OF INNOVATION) will be identified and filmed, and shared through the mobile/online platform. The novelty lies here especially in how martial arts can support those affected by Cerebral Palsy, with a range of dedicated exercises, that address e.g. muscle tone and strength, body posture, etc. All videos, testimonials, mobile/online platform will be available in all partner languages, as well as English, so they can be easily transferred to other countries.(See in section annex: Examples of implemented martial arts activities with children with Cerebral palsy).