The first Transnational Project Meeting (TPM) of the “Active Brain Games for Seniors” project carried out within the scope of Erasmus+ was held in the first week of February 2025 in Oeiras, Portugal, hosted by the project coordinator Universidade Senior (Oeiras Senior University – USO). Partners also took part in the project carried out in partnership with Tokat Gaziosmanpaşa University, Drustvo Disora and DGI.
The first day of the meeting started with the speech of Universidade Senior institution. In addition, the music group “Grizalhos” gave the participants pleasant moments by performing various international works. After the opening event, the project partners made short presentations introducing each other and their cities. Afterwards, each partner introduced the games of their own culture to the other partners and they had the opportunity to play them together. This activity created a warm atmosphere among the partners and led to cultural exchanges.
During the meeting, Eugénia Inácio, representative of the Erasmus+ Portuguese National Agency, gave a comprehensive presentation on project management and financial issues. In addition, the general operation process and work packages of the project were discussed in detail. In this context, the division of tasks related to the execution of the project was made and the areas of responsibility were clearly conveyed to each partner organization. The opinions of the institutions regarding the distribution of tasks were received and the basis for the next steps of the project was established.
In the afternoon, after lunch at the Palácio Marquês de Pombal restaurant, the participants had the opportunity to get to know the city by visiting the historical and natural beauties of the Oeiras region.
The second day of the meeting started with a presentation introducing the Bridge game. Afterwards, detailed discussions were held on key issues such as the development of games to support cognitive and physical activities in line with the needs and expectations of the elderly, the creation of a guidebook on these games and the dissemination of the project.
In the concluding part of the meeting, necessary decisions were taken on issues such as the information materials to be used in the project, the content structure of the project website, the development process of the games and the dissemination of the project outputs. Interviews with organizations and individuals working with the elderly were planned for the effective implementation of the project.
In the evaluation survey conducted at the end of the meeting, participants rated the event with overall high satisfaction. It was decided to hold the next meeting online in March.
This first TPM meeting within the scope of the Erasmus+ project was a productive and successful start for international cooperation to support the cognitive and physical skills of older people.
