13 Ιουλίου 2017

Στον καθηγητή κ. Αθανάσιο Παπαϊωάννου απονεμήθηκε το
Honor Award της International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP).
Η απονομή έγινε στη Σεβίλλη της Ισπανίας στη διάρκεια του
14ου Παγκόσμιου Συνεδρίου Αθλητικής Ψυχολογίας.
Η International Society of Sport Psychology είναι η παλαιότερη και μεγαλύτερη
Παγκόσμια Εταιρεία Αθλητικής Ψυχολογίας με χιλιάδες μέλη σε όλο τον κόσμο.

ISSP Justification for the ISSP Honor award

Professor Athanasios Papaioannou has made a unique and lasting contribution to ISSP and World Sport Psychology.  He served ISSP for 16 years, as vice-president, treasurer and member at large of the Managing Council of the ISSP from 2001 till 2017. 

In 2001 he was the Director of the
10th World Congress of Sport Psychology
in the beautiful Skiathos island, Greece,

which is remembered as one of the most successful and entertaining ISSP Congresses ever. This Congress involved more than 1000 Congress participants, produced 5-volume proceedings with 616 papers from 46 countries and generated one of the largest ISSP Congress incomes ever.

From 2008 until now professor Papaioannou has been the
editor-in-Chief of the
international Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology,
the official journal of the ISSP.

During his tenure as Editor, the journal enjoyed a fourfold increase of manuscript submissions, while its ranking quality improved significantly according to the SCImago index of SCOPUS which measures journal prestige, suggesting that the journal is ranked in the middle of international sport science journals and above other older journals in the field. In 2010 and 2015 Professor Papaioannou oversaw long and successful negotiations of the ISSP with the Publisher of the journal. He ensured that all ISSP members have free electronic access to all issues of the journal without any additional cost, thus decreasing the cost of regular ISSP membership from $80 US in 2009 to $40 US in 2016. Moreover, under the latest agreement with the Publisher, ISSP will get a new important income from journal sales, which is comparable to the income of its World Congress. From 2008 until 2017 professor Papaioannou also led the ISSP publications committee.

Together with professor Dieter Hackfort, Papaioannou co-edited
the latest volume of the ISSP
“Routledge Companion to Sport and Exercise Psychology”,
a book with 62 chapters written by 144 authors
deriving from 24 countries across the world.

Professor Papaioannou has been also an accomplished scholar in the international field of Sport and Exercise Psychology. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters in the area of motivation in sport and promotion of physical activity and well-being, which received more than 3000 citations according to Google Scholar.  He led successfully several research projects in his own country, Greece, but also at a European level in collaboration with sport psychology scholars from other European countries.

From 2009 until 2013 he collaborated
with colleagues from 8 European institutions
for the implementation of the “Promoting Adolescent Physical Activity – PAPA project”, one of the largest ever sport psychology interventions aiming to promote youth physical activity, health and well-being. This project involved more than 8000 youth athletes and 800 coaches across 5 European countries and resulted to numerous research and publication outputs.  

In 2010 Professor Papaioannou collaborated with European colleagues
to establish the European Masters in Sport Psychology
Erasmus Mundus program (EMSEP),
a consortium of 4 European universities which awards Master degrees after 2-year studies including courses, research and internship in sport and exercise psychology.

Photo: Professor Papaioannou with current & former EMSEP students and colleagues in ISSP Congress (students from Greece, Canada, Italy, Kenya, India, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany)

Until now more than 100 international students
from over 30 countries from all continents
graduated from this program,
most of them with scholarships
from the European Commission.

Moreover, more than 50 world-class sport psychology scholars have been invited to teach to this program, thus providing unique expertise and international experiences to the international students of this program.
Professor Papaioannou completed his first degree at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece and he did his Master and Doctoral studies at the University of Manchester in UK. After his studies he returned to Greece where he worked as lecturer and associate professor at the university of Thrace and as professor at the University of Thessaly. In 2013 he moved as a professor at the University of Northumbria in UK and then he returned back to Thessaly, Greece, where he is affiliated until now. 

Papaioannou Athanasios, or Sakis as friends call him, is married with a lady who is admirable for her patience to withstand him for over 30 years. Together they have a young daughter who is passionate with sports.