Gijsbert Oonk is a Professor of Migration, Citizenship, and Identity in a Globalizing World. His interests are in the field of (formal) citizenship and the interplay with sport, migration, and national representation. He is the Director of the Sport and Nation Research Program at Erasmus University Rotterdam. This interdisciplinary research program focuses on talented athletes with migrant backgrounds within football and the Olympic Games in the context of changing citizenship, multiple citizenship, and elite migration.
He currently runs the Erasmus + sponsored project: “Football Makes History: Schools and Football Club Museums Unlocking Local Heritage education”. We work with 6 partners from five countries (Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Italy and UK). This included 30 team members/developers from 15 countries (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Iceland, Italy, Finland, Germany, Greece, Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia, Spain, United Kingdom). See: https://footballmakeshistory.eu/
Oonk is also one of the academic advisers of EUROCLIO (European Association of History Educators). This program will inspire the EUROCLIO program: Engaging History Education through memories and legacies of Europe's favorite sports. This program aims to promote the historical thinking of young people through football. The shared history of Europe generates a strong sense of togetherness and responsibility. This feeling can bring about active citizenship, especially among young people who are often less interested in study and history. Another goal of the project is to write a textbook: The Constitution in Utopia? Towards a just world in ten cases. The intended target groups are students, history teachers in secondary education, journalists, and policymakers.
