UCC Researchers Showcase #IceheartsEurope at International Congress

9 Jan 2026

Four researchers from University College Cork travelled to Copenhagen to present findings from the #IceheartsEurope project at MOVE Congress 2025, reaching 900 participants from 62 countries across the sport, education, policy and health sectors.

The group was led by Professor Fiona Chambers from UCC's School of Education, who delivered a keynote presentation on the project. Running for nearly three years and led by the International Sport and Culture Association, it provided long-term, sport-based mentoring support to more than 2,200 disadvantaged children across five European countries. The Icehearts model, originally developed in Finland in 1996, pairs children at risk of social exclusion with a dedicated mentor for up to twelve years. Icehearts Europe adapts and scales this Finnish model for new European contexts to improve the mental health and wellbeing of disadvantaged children and young people.

"All children need to have fun, feel secure and make friends," Chambers said. "If we look at the statistics, 20% of adolescents experience mental health problems – prevention is not a luxury; it's a necessity."
#TeamUCC: Professor Chambers, Dr Briony Supple, Miriam Rigney, and Sinéad Moynihan, led a two-part dissemination effort across the conference. Using participatory research methods and co-creative design thinking methodologies, active participation was generated through hands-on learning experiences.
In the first session, Chambers presented an overview and moderated discussion with 120 participants. This was followed by a LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® workshop led by Dr Briony Supple, with assistance from Sinéad Moynihan and Miriam Rigney.

The second session, led by Sinéad Moynihan, combined a phygital art exhibition created by children in the programme with presentations from project partners in Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Slovenia, and Spain. By centring children's voices through the art exhibition, the team kept the project's target population visible throughout professional discussions.

The €5 million project, funded by the European Commission #EU4Health fund, has been recognised by the OECD (2025) as one of 11 Mental Health Promotion and Prevention Best Practices in Public Health. Throughout the three-year project, #TeamUCC brought complementary expertise across education, art, science, design, sociology, sport, and healthcare, integrating creative experimentation with rigorous implementation. Starting with empathy for the children at the heart of the work, they built tools, frameworks, and training programmes collaboratively with practitioners in five pilot countries. The training systems and partnership frameworks developed by #TeamUCC are now being adopted by 14 additional organisations across Europe.

"#TeamUCC is a unique group of talented researchers, all of whom are design thinkers," said Professor Chambers. "It's the fusion of their skills, knowledge and mindsets that creates real change in how research is conducted and tools are co-designed."

The work has already opened doors to other EU-funded projects.

#TeamUCC is part of Strategic Design@UCC, a global innovation hub at UCC, founded in 2020 by Professor Fiona Chambers, specialising in human-centred education, youth development and social innovation through sport.

For more information or to work with Strategic Design@UCC, contact Professor Fiona Chambers.

https://www.icehearts.eu/