Researchers from the Faculty of Physical Activity and Sport Sciences at the Catholic University of Valencia (UCV) are participating in GET UP, a European project funded by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ Sport 2025 call, which promotes skills development and the social inclusion of people experiencing homelessness through sport in natural environments. It will run from 1 February 2026 to 31 January 2028.
Professor Víctor Sánchez, principal investigator of the project at UCV, emphasises that the initiative “demonstrates the enormous potential of sport and nature as tools for social transformation. It is not only about physical activity but about creating experiences that help rebuild the confidence and self-esteem of people in situations of great vulnerability.”
In this regard, he adds that engaging in physical activity in natural settings involves “physical and psychological challenges that equip participants with key competences such as teamwork, leadership, and goal setting while strengthening their resilience and emotional wellbeing – all of which are transferable to their everyday lives.”
Direct intervention inspired by theoretical understanding
The UCV professor explains that the project is structured into two main phases: “The first phase focused on theoretical and conceptual foundations, followed by direct intervention with people experiencing homelessness.”
Regarding the profile of participants, Sánchez highlights the need to act with caution: “We must understand that this is a highly vulnerable group and, without having assessed them yet, the idea is to begin with very simple activities such as hiking or tasks in nearby natural environments, such as parks and green areas close to their everyday surroundings.” From this initial approach, he adds, “we will progressively expand the range of activities, potentially including stays in natural settings or more specific interventions, always depending on the prior assessment of the group.”
At this point, Sánchez stresses that no technical or high-risk activities will be considered: “We are working with people in situations of significant vulnerability. Some may face addiction issues or come from deeply unstable family environments, so the intervention must be extremely careful and appropriately adapted.”
Following the theoretical phase, the project will carry out two pilot trials in Italy and Greece with small groups of 15 people experiencing homelessness in each country. “We will work with non-extreme profiles and will appoint leaders who are also people experiencing homelessness but with more stable profiles. Based on these interventions, we will develop a pilot handbook to guide future large-scale actions with similar profiles,” he explains.
The researcher also highlights the multidisciplinary nature of the initiative: “This is a large-scale project involving therapists, psychologists, technology experts, and professionals from the social sector. In this case, UCV is the only university within the consortium, which strengthens our role in providing theoretical and methodological support. The remaining partners are NGOs and organisations with extensive experience in direct intervention, who were specifically seeking this academic backing.”
In addition to activities aimed at people experiencing homelessness, GET UP includes a training programme for professionals, equipping them with tools to design and implement sport-in nature interventions with vulnerable groups.
The role of UCV as lead partner
As the main partner of the consortium, the Catholic University of Valencia will lead the theoretical development and conceptual framework of the project, as well as define measurement tools and intervention strategies. It will also oversee the methodological design of data collection, as the project includes fieldwork with people experiencing homelessness.
UCV will supervise ethical compliance and data protection, taking as a reference the protocols of its Ethics Committee already applied in university research.
The University will also play a prominent role in the design and planning of the physical activity based interventions, with a particular focus on sport in natural environments — an area in which the Mountain Sports, Health, Inclusion and Society Research Group has extensive expertise.
In the final phase, the UCV team will conduct an impact assessment of the project on participants’ lives, from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives.
