Completed national projects

ACDSi 2023/2024 (SLO: ARTOS 2023/2024)

The ARTOS/ACDSi project is the oldest Slovenian longitudinal study on the physical, motor, and psychosocial development of children and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years. In its fifth round, this research study will analyze secular trends within its representative sample. For the first time, the study will also include parents of the sampled children, and data collected from the SLOfit system, providing further insights into intergenerational physical developmental patterns. The project will also assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on children's lifestyles, and it will develop new tools for the long-term monitoring of physical fitness. Data collection has been completed, but the analysis phase continues.

More information is available at the link.

The SLOfit Lifelong Project

The Faculty of Sport served as the lead partner in the international project FitBack, which included the active participation of 10 European countries. The project's main goal was to create a multilingual online platform that provided personalised feedback on various components of physical fitness. The platform was designed for individuals in mind, but it also contains key data and guidelines for establishing a national, regional, or local system of monitoring the physical fitness of children and adolescents using ground-up and bottom-down approaches. This European network has allowed  for the review of population trends and the evaluation of the effectiveness of policies and interventions regarding childhood physical fitness and overall health measures.

Physical Literacy for Living in Society 5.0 (GIG 5.0)

From 2024-2025, the GIB5.0 project developed a lifelong learning program aimed at achieving appropriate physical literacy for experiencing a fulfilling life in society. Well-developed physical literacy helps individuals create an active, healthy, and satisfying lifestyle. As part of the project, we created various lifelong learning modules to help change physical habits and established a system of micro-credentials for lifelong learning.

The goals of the GIB5.0 project are:

• Prepare lifelong learning modules for changes in motor habits, improvement of physical capacity and changes in the environment to increase physical activity that will increase sustainable mobility and improve attitudes towards nature and thus stimulate the green transition of our society.
• In lifelong learning modules practically use smart devices to monitor 24-hour motor behavior (24-UGV) and the SLOfit platform (which includes a website, My SLOfit app, several social networks) to improve digital competencies especially of the older population which will facilitate the digital transformation of our society.
• Prepare lifelong learning modules for improving physical capacity which will increase people’s well-being and productivity reduce absenteeism from work and thus accelerate smart sustainable and inclusive growth of society.
• Prepare lifelong learning modules for changes in motor habits which will influence the increase in quality of life of residents and reduce public and private expenditures for health maintenance and long-term care.
• Establish a system of micro-certificates for lifelong learning GIB5.0.

CRP My SLOfit Forecasting

Between 2019 and 2021, we carried out the CRP My SLOfit Forecasting project, within which we upgraded the My SLOfit online web application. The upgraded app now includes a prediction function for an individual's final height, and an assessment of their biological maturity. Additionally, we developed a simulation within the application that forecasts the expected physical fitness of individuals and groups if an intervention of two extra hours of physical education per week were to be introduced (modeled on the "Healthy Lifestyle" project). This work created the foundation for a new tool that will enable policymakers to predict trends in the physical fitness of school-aged children, and the expected effects of various lifestyle interventions. This work will contribute to scientifically-grounded policy decisions and, as a result, help rationalize the use of public funds for health research.

CRP My SLOfit Reporting System

Between 2018 and 2020, as part of the CRP My SLOfit Reporting System project, we developed SLOfit health update reports based on the national system for monitoring children's physical and motor development, the Physical Education Report Card. As a result, users (parents, children, teachers, school and local community management, doctors) now have access to clearly displayed feedback on physical and motor development. This feedback includes identifying deviations from previous development, comparisons with peers, health risks arising from such development, and recommendations for interventions.

The Importance of Open Urban Spaces for Healthy Growing Up and Active Aging

In the period 2016-2018, we participated in the research project »The Importance of Open Urban Spaces for Healthy Growing Up and Active Aging«. In this project, we collaborated with colleagues from the Department of Landscape Architecture at the Biotechnical Faculty and the Urban Planning Institute of the Republic of Slovenia to investigate the connections between environmental walkability, students' modes of transport to and from school, their physical activity, and physical fitness. The electronic version in Slovene language of the report is freely available by clicking on the link.

The Awesome Gym Project (SLO: HUDOdobra TELOvadnica) 

In 2017, in collaboration with the companies Elan Inventa, Kanal A, and Zavarovalnica Triglav, we carried out the HUDOdobra TELOvadnica project. The project's purpose was to highlight the urgent need to modernize school gyms to ensure a safe and high-quality environment for physical activity. The final goal was to completely renovate one school gymnasium in accordance with the professional guidelines of the Faculty of Sport, which would then serve as a model for the future modernization of other school gyms. For this purpose, we organized an exciting prize competition, which was won by the Primary School Vojke Šmuc from Izola.

Fit Post Project

The Fit Post project, officially entitled "Development of Preventive and Curative Physical Interventions for Health, Well-being, and High Work Efficiency of Employees at Pošta Slovenije," lasted for six months. It was carried out as part of a public call "Project Work for Gaining Practical Experience and Knowledge for Students in the Work Environment 2022/2023." On a sample of employees, we performed SLOfit Adults measurements and used smart devices to measure 24-hour physical behavior. After a detailed analysis of the company's situation, we prepared lectures and workshops on a healthy lifestyle, with the aim of improving the health and well-being of employees both at work and outside of it.

MRRC - SI AHA Competence Center for the Elderly

A multidisciplinary development and research center (MRRC) for social innovations in active and healthy aging has been established by the University of Ljubljana, with the support of project partners from the SI4CARE project. Its goal is to seek and provide new solutions and modern concepts for active and healthy aging in the ADRION regions.

The purpose of the center is to connect research institutions, municipalities, ministries, voluntary organizations, and other interested stakeholders in order to create modern concepts of active and healthy aging, stimulate social innovations, promote a positive attitude and a solidary future for all generations, with a focus on vulnerable groups, including the elderly.

The activities of the Competence center include organizing meetings and workshops, providing expertise in training and educating the elderly to improve their digital literacy and exchanging knowledge among stakeholders working in the field of active and healthy aging.

The institutions which are currently involved in the project are: Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Sport, Biotechnical Faculty, Faculty of Social Sciences, Jožef Stefan Institute, Faculty of Health Sciences, Faculty of Social Work, Modra Faculty, National Institute of Biology and the Regional Development Agency LUR.

The Faculty of Sport sees its contribution to the center in promoting physical activity in adulthood and old age, which leads to increased physical capacity and consequently, a slowdown in the aging process and the onset or progression of various chronic non-communicable diseases, dementia, and other age-related illnesses.