It is with profound sadness that we bid farewell to Prof. Dr. Bernd Strauß, who passed away on 27 September 2026. With his death, the Institute of Sport and Exercise Sciences has lost an outstanding scholar, university teacher, and academic leader who shaped our Institute for more than 28 years and made a significant contribution to the development of sport and exercise psychology far beyond Münster and Germany. We have also lost a dear friend, a scientific mentor, and a highly valued colleague.

From human movements and muscle activity to machine learning: in her doctoral thesis, Marie Dominique Schmidt brings together various perspectives on the emergence and prediction of motor intentions. On 25 September 2026, she successfully defended her thesis, entitled ‘Modelling and Predicting Spatial and Temporal Dynamics of Motor Intention: A Machine Learning Approach’, thereby completing her PhD in Computer Science. The examination board comprised Prof. Dr Ioannis Iossifidis, Prof. Dr Gregor Schöner, Prof. Dr Muhammad Bilal Zafar and Prof. Dr Tobias Glasmachers.

Whether it’s playing ball in the park, skateboarding after school, or biking on the weekend: participating in informal sports is an essential part of how many children, teens, and adults spend their free time. But what exactly does the term “informal sports” mean? What role do informal sports play in Germany? We’d like to explore these and other questions as part of the “Informal Sports” trialogue on Thursday, October 1, 2026, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in Leo 17.21. We’re pleased to have Dr. Christian Hübner, Sebastian Gies, Josefine Paul, and Robin Schneegaß joining us for the discussion. We look forward to receiving many registrations!

Further information and registration

Germany will soon decide which bid to put forward for the Olympic Games. Prof. Dr. Nils Neuber (University of Münster) talks to Dein Münster about his vision for the Olympic Games in Rhine-Ruhr, with a particular focus on children and youth sport.

“The City of Münster and our state have shown themselves at their very best,” said Minister-President Hendrik Wüst, reflecting on last weekend’s NRW Day. The Institute of Sport and Exercise Sciences (IfS) also took part, presenting a stand at the Sportmeile. From Friday to Sunday, the institute’s research units and Student Council offered a wide range of insights into their fields of research and teaching under the motto “Democracy and Diversity at the Intersection of Research and Practice”. “A great joint effort by the institute, the Student Council and the sport students,” said Nils Neuber and Nils Kaufmann at the end of the successful event.

On 21 August, the Society for the Study of the History of Democracy organised a panel discussion at the stadium of the former GDR first-division club FC Carl Zeiss Jena. The topic was the period of upheaval in (East) Germany between 1989 and 1994: What did football mean in the late GDR, and particularly during the period of upheaval? What was it like to be a fan? And how did fan culture in the early 1990s change you?
The panellists included Uwe Dern, co-founder of the Jena Fan Project, and Heidi Vater, a former GDR international, alongside Dr Kai Reinhart from the IfS Münster, an expert on sport in the GDR and the period of transition. The discussion was moderated by Liane von Billerbeck (Deutschlandfunk).

Yoonkyu Song received the 2026 Young Scholar Award from the International Society for the History of Physical Education and Sport (ISHPES) and delivered a highly acclaimed keynote lecture at this year’s congress in Taipei (Taiwan). In his keynote presentation, he discussed comparative aspects of the history of sport in general, and specifically in Germany and Korea. More Information