Prof. Dr. Özgehan Şenyuva

Professor of International Relations

Middle East Technical University (METU), Türkiye

Özgehan Şenyuva is Professor and Chair of the International Relations Department at Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara. He holds a PhD in Comparative European Politics from Università degli Studi di Siena (2006). His research examines the intersection of sport, European integration, and global politics, with particular attention to football as a site of identity formation, social inclusion, and transnational governance.

He has led several European-funded research projects on sport and society, including FREE: Football Research in an Enlarged Europe (FP7, 2012-2015) and FIRE+: Further Football Including Refugees (Erasmus+ Sport, 2021-2023). His publications include peer-reviewed articles in Sport in History and Sports Law, Policy & Diplomacy Journal, and book chapters examining stadium attendance patterns, mega-sporting events, nationalism and Europeanization in football cultures, and the role of grassroots football in refugee integration across Europe. He is a member of the Sport and European Union research network.

Beyond sport, Şenyuva's work engages with foresight methodologies—including horizon scanning, signal spotting, and scenario-building—applied to EU-Turkey relations, youth policy, and political transformation. He contributed to the H2020 project FEUTURE: The Future of EU-Turkey Relations – Mapping Dynamics and Testing Scenarios (2016-2019) and has coordinated evidence-based policy research seminars for the European Commission's Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps programmes, most recently producing the YouSport Polish Conference Report (December 2024).

He serves on the advisory board and as a researcher for the European Academy on Youth Work and on the Board of Global Relations Forum (GIF), one of Turkey's leading think tanks on international affairs. He is an advisor to YOUROPE (European Music Festivals Association), providing strategic counsel on international politics, public opinion, and strategic communication to major European music festivals, and delivers training and insights at industry events including Eurosonic and the European Festivals Conference. In recognition of his academic and professional contributions, he was awarded Odznaka honorowa  "Bene Merito" the Medal of Honor by the Polish State.

Dr. Holly Collison-Randall

Anthropologist

Loughborough University London, United Kingdom

Dr. Holly Collison-Randall is an anthropologist in the field of Sport for Development and Peace (SDP). Holly is a Reader in the Institute for Sport Business, Loughborough University London. She has completed extensive fieldwork in Africa, South East Asia and the UK examining sport interventions in the context of civil conflict, serious youth violence, preventing violent extremism, climate change, and political violence. Her research explores youth identity, notions of community, international development policies and strategies, peacebuilding approaches, social organisation, and grassroots perspectives and experiences of SDP. Holly also has interests in innovative approaches to SDP, for example ‘Esport for Development’ as well as creative youth-led initiatives. Holly is also a Senior Consultant for the UNODC and works with a number of global policymakers, national governments and practitioners to support their SDP agendas.