Professor Joan Duda and Panayiotis Giannakis are awarded the honorary doctoral degree of the University of Thessaly

According to the World Health Organization, children and adolescents need to do at least one hour of moderate-to-vigorous intensity PHYSICAL ACTIVITY DAILY. To promote this message in Greece, the Department of Physical Education and Sport of the University of Thessaly will award the honorary doctorate of the university to two individuals who contributed the most to promote youngsters’ physical activity: The president of the European College of Sport Science professor of Birmingham University, Joan Duda, and the coach and former head of the national basketball team of Greece, Panayiotis Giannakis. Duda's scientific work had a worldwide impact on research of youngsters’ motivation in sport. As the only female president of the largest association of sports science in Europe, she also symbolizes the important role of women in sport, which needs to become even more prominent in order to attract larger number of girls in sport. Mr. Panagiotis Giannakis, a graduate of the Department of Physical Education and Sport of the University of Athens, with his example and ethos, helped to attract hundreds of thousands of Greek children in sport. His outstanding athletic achievements as an athlete and coach have been accompanied by his interventions to highlight the principles of effort, progress, participation and sports education aiming at health and well-being of individuals and societies.

Because Joan Duda and Panagiatos Yannakis contributed to the achievement of one of the most important goals of the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science, which is to attract and motivate young people in sport and to promote their health and well-being through sport, they are awarded the title of Honorary Doctor of the University of Thessaly. The awarding ceremony will take place on Wednesday, October 9, 2019, at the new auditorium of the Department of Physical Education and Sport Science in Karyes, Trikala, and will be broadcasted online.