Plennary lecturers
Prof. Dr. ROMAIN MEEUSEN
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Human Physiology & Sports Physiotherapy Research Group – Faculty LK
Prof. Romain Meeusen (PhD) is former Vice-Rector Internationalisation and former head of the Human Physiology Research Group at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. His research interest is focused on “Exercise and the Brain in Health & Disease” exploring the influence of neurotransmitters on human performance, training, rehabilitation. Recent work is on Overtraining, Thermoregulation, Neurogenesis, Cognition, Nutrition and the brain in health & disease. He teaches on exercise physiology, training & coaching and sports physiotherapy. Romain published 550 articles, abstracts, and book chapters in peer-reviewed national and international journals, 21 books on sport physiotherapy, and gave lectures at more than 1000 national and international conferences (Web of Science (02-2023): 377 papers; H-index: 65; >15.000 citations). He is past President of the Belgian Society of Kinesiology, and the Belgian Federation of Sports Physiotherapy. He is former Board member of the European College of Sport Science ECSS (2000-2013), and of the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) (2010-2013). In 2006 he gave the ‘presidents lecture’ at the annual meeting of ACSM. In 2009 he received the Belgian ‘Francqui Chair’ at the Université Libre de Bruxelles on ‘Exercise and the Brain’. In 2017 he received an honorary Fellowship of the society for the promotion of Science in Japan. In 2019 he received the price for ‘Science communication’ of the Royal Flemisch Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts together with the ‘Homo Roboticus team. He was holder of two named lecturing chairs at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (2010-2018), and holds the ‘LIROMS’ research Chair (2021-2025).
Plennary lecture title: “Exercise & the Brain: Let the Children Play !
Prof. Marcela González-Gross, PhD
Department of Health and Human Performance, Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences-INEF. Technical University of Madrid, Spain
Doctor of Pharmacy and Master’s degree in Nutrition from the Complutense University of Madrid. She carried out her PhD thesis assessing nutritional status, biomarkers and physical condition and its impact on the performance of the basketball and football youth teams of Real Madrid CF. As a post-doc, she worked at the Medical Physiology Department of the University of Granada (Spain), the Immunonutrition Research Group at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (Madrid, Spain) and Physiology and Pathopysiology Department at the University of Bonn (Germany). In 2004, she joined the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid as an Associated Professor (Profesor Titular de Universidad), and since 2012, she is Full Professor for sport nutrition and exercise physiology at the Faculty of physical activity and sport sciences-INEF at UPM. She is in charge of the research group on nutrition, exercise and healthy lifestyles (ImFINE). For 30 years she has been analyzing nutritional status and its impact both on functional and cognitive level of healthy subjects and those with risk factors with different levels of fitness and physical activity, especially teenagers and elderly. She is Scientific Manager of Exercise is Medicine® Spain, a founding member of the network EXERNET, Member of CIBERobn, Vice President of the Spanish Nutrition Society (SEÑ) and “Fellow of the international union of nutritional societies (IUNS). She has published more than 395 peer-reviewed scientific articles in JCR journals together with other publications, book chapters, etc. She was a presenter at more than 400 congresses and conferences, between that invited speaker at 200 conferences at national and international events. She has participated in 70 research projects, 32 of them as Principal Investigator. She is responsible for the development of the “Healthy lifestyle pyramid for children and adolescents©”, pioneering the concept at global level, integrating dietary intake, physical activity, sleep, hygiene and other habits. She has tutored 45 Master Thesis and 19 PhD Thesis, all cum laude, most of the European/international Thesis and with awards, both at Spanish and foreign universities. She has received several awards, one of the latest, the Second National Prize for Research in Sports Medicine 2016, given by the Universidad de Oviedo.
Presentation Title: Mediterranean diet and physical activity – challenges on how to get children back to the roots
Keynote lecturers in the section
Assist. prof. Vedrana Sember
Faculty of Sports, University of Ljubljana
Dr. Vedrana Sember is an Assistant Professor and Senior researcher at the Faculty of Sports, University of Ljubljana. Her research focuses on the Assessment of physical activity and physical fitness among Slovenian youth, with an emphasis on understanding the determinants of important health indicators. Since 2016, she is leader of the Slovenian Report Card for Children and Youth, which examines physical activity, fitness, active transportation, active play and school system among Slovenian youth. From 2017 she is evolving within SLOfit team and contributing to the development of policies and programs aimed at promoting physical activity among slovenian youth. Dr. Sember also published over 100 articles from the filed of physical activity and physical fitness.
Presentation Title: Unleashing the Power OF Play: Encouraging Active Play to Achieve High Levels of Physical Activity and Physical Fitness Among Slovenian Youth«
Her presentation will draw on her extensive research to explore the important role that can play in promoting physical activity and health in young people. Her insights could be valuable contributions to the field of physical activity and fitness assessment.
Assoc. prof. dr., prim. Jernej Završnik, Ph.D., MD, councillor
Community Healthcare Center dr. Adolf Drolc Maribor, Slovenia
Assoc. prof. dr., prim. Jernej Završnik, Ph.D., MD, councillor, completed his doctoral studies in the field of Biomedical Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Maribor, where he was also elected to the habilitation title of Associate Professor in the field of Pediatrics. He completed high school in Sioux City, Iowa, and his undergraduate medical education and Master of Science in Medical Sciences at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zagreb. His research interest is mainly focused on pediatric cardiology and preventive medicine. He is very active in many national and international societies and associations, and he was also the president of the assembly of the Medical Association of Slovenia. He currently holds the position of president of the Council for Mediation at the Medical Chamber of Slovenia. He has published over 200 scientific and professional articles, and in the recent period he has published many scientific articles, most of which have been published in journals with a high impact factor. He also actively participated in many national and international conferences as a lecturer, moderator and organizer. He currently holds the position of director at the Community Healthcare Center dr. Adolf Drolc Maribor and is also active in teaching and research at Alma Mater Europaea – ECM, at the Scientific Research Center Koper and the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics of the University of Maribor.
Presentation Title: » Parents’ perception of children’s physical and non-physical habits«
Prof. Marco Narici, PhD
Department of Biomedical Sciences and the Neuromuscular Physiology Laboratory at the University of Padua
Marco Narici is Full Professor of Physiology at the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Director of the Neuromuscular Physiology Laboratory at the University of Padua He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Pavia and a Master’s degree in Applied Human Physiology from King’s College London and a PhD in Physiology from the University of Pavia. From 1983-1994 he worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Advanced Technologies, CNR, Milan. From 1994 to 1996 he worked as Maître de Conférence et de Recherche at the Centre Médical Universitaire, University of Geneva, CH. In 1999 he won the Full Professor’s Chair in Physiology at Manchester Metropolitan University (UK); from 2012 to 2017 he held the Chair of Clinical Physiology at the Medical School of the ‘University of Nottingham, UK. In 2017 he was called by the University of Padua, Italy, as Full Professor of Physiology where he directed the Interuniversity Centre for Myology (CIR-Myo). He was coordinator of the ESA Topical Teams on ‘Skeletal muscle’ (1998-2000) and Artificial Gravity (2005-2007). He was coordinator of the ASI Thematic Table on Integrated Physiology and coordinator of the ASI biomedicine project MARS-PRE (2019-2022).
His current research activity is focused on the study of the plasticity of the neuromuscular system in disuse and ageing. He is author of more than 270 international publications and an H-index of 72.
Plennary lecture title: Human Skeletal Muscle Physiology from Childhood to Old Age
Asst. prof. Robi Kelc, MD, Phd, Bsc med. com.
Department of Orthopaedics, University Medical Centre Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
Institute of sports medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Maribor, Maribor, Slovenia
Asst. prof. Robi Kelc is a team doctor of many delegations under coverage of Slovenian Olympic Committee and Slovenian National Football Federation. His education took place in Slovenia, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. His area of research focuses mainly on muscle and overuse injuries in athletes. He presented many lectures at international conferences in New York, Rome, Kuala Lumpur and across Europe. At his clinical work he mainly focuses on arthroscopic reconstructive surgery of knee and shoulder.
Title of the lecture: A growing issue of overuse injuries in young athletes
Assoc. Prof. Zvonimir Tomac, PhD
Faculty of Kinesiology
Josip Juraj Strossmayer University in Osijek, Craoatia
Assoc. Prof. Zvonimir Tomac, PhD works as a head of the Department of Kinesiology, Faculty of Education and an assistant professor at the Faculty of Kinesiology Osijek. He collaborates also with the Faculty of Educational Sciences at the University of Osijek, as an external associate of the Faculty of Kinesiology of the University of Zagreb, the Faculty of Medicine and The Faculty of Dental medicine in Osijek.
He is involved as a researcher in several scientific projects “Kinesiological education in preschool education and primary education”, “Kinanthropological characteristics of children with a cochlear implant”, “Effect of consumption of enriched chicken eggs (omega-3 fatty acids, lutein, vitamin E and selenium) on vascular and endothelial function, level of oxidative stress and endothelial-leukocyte interaction in the population of athletes” , a project “Scientific Center of Excellence for personalized health care” and many others.
He is a member of the Association of Kinesiologists of teacher training colleges and Advisers, supervisors of the Republic of Croatia and a reviewer of international scientific journals: Life and School, Magistra Iadertin, Acta Gymnica, – Exercise and Quality of Life Journal, Southeastern European Medical Journal, Education 3 -13, Frontiers in psychology. His rich biography is available on:
Zvonimir Tomac (300025)https://www.bib.irb.hr/pregled/znanstvenici/300025?autor=300025
Title of the lectue: Potential problems in assessing and monitoring the motor skills of preschool children