Successful Interdisciplinary Conference on Violence Prevention in Higher Education
On February 12, a successful conference on violence prevention – status quo and interdisciplinary perspectives – took place under the title “Between Power and Responsibility: Preventing Violence in Higher Education with Special Consideration of Music and Sports Science.” More than 60 students and staff members participated in the event. The conference was part of a project funded by the QVM Commission of the University of Münster and led by Prof. Isabelle Sophie Heiss and Dr. Lena Henning.
We’re pleased to share that Dr Ross Julian recently visited the University of Gloucestershire, where he is a Visiting Research Fellow, for a week of research, teaching, and knowledge exchange focused on women’s football and athlete health. During the visit, Ross delivered a series of presentations, including a well-attended public lecture titled “Training & Injury Risk in Elite Female Football.” The lecture explored how training load, physiology, and contextual factors interact to influence injury risk in elite women players.
In a new podcast on the female menstrual cycle and soccer performance, Dr. Julian discussed his scientific career and his current research in the field of sports science and women's soccer. In the conversation, Ross shares what first sparked his interest in researching the effects of the menstrual cycle on football performance and discusses his contributions to Women’s Football: From Science to High Performance, including three chapters focused on menstrual cycle monitoring, applied practice, and demonstrating performance benefits to encourage stakeholder investment.
On 30 January 2026, Stephanie Bünemann successfully defended her dissertation on “Origin, Development and processes of team performance crisis in sport - theoretical conceptualization and empirical evidence”. The review panel consisted of Prof. Bernd Strauß, Prof. Henning Plessner and Prof. Maike Tietjens.
On 22 January 2026, Dr. Lena Henning was awarded the North Rhine-Westphalia Nachwuchspreis for Sport and Exerciese Science 2026 in the category 'Social, Educational and Cultural Sciences' at the State Parliament Forum. The prize, awarded by State Parliament President André Kuper and State Secretary for Sport and Volunteering Andrea Milz and endowed with 5,000 euros, recognises her research into physical activity and health in childhood from a sports and developmental psychology perspective. Professor Johannes Wessels and Professor Maike Tietjens from the Rectorate of the University of Münster, as well as Professors Heiko Wagner, Helga Leineweber and Nils Neuber from the Institute of Sport and Exercise Science, attended the award ceremony; the laudatory speech was given by Professor Dr. Bettina Rulofs from the German Sport University Cologne.
As part of the lecture series ‘On your marks... Sports history as social history’ (german org: 'Auf die Plätze...' Sportgeschichte(n) als Gesellschaftsgeschichte') at the Research Centre 'Forschungsstelle Zeitgeschichte', Dr. Kai Reinhart gave a lecture on the development of skateboarding in the USA and Germany. In particular, the question of the (Olympic) future of skateboarding led to a lively discussion at the renowned FZ Hamburg.
On 14 and 15 January, a delegation from Norway, Finland, Ireland and Germany met at the IfS. Prof. Maike Tietjens, Dr Sebastian Brückner and Dr Barbara Halberschmidt welcomed the guests and guided them through the planned accompanying programme over the two days. The OpenLab and GRAIL were shown. Mayor Klaus Rosenau welcomed the delegation in the historic Peace Hall of the town hall.
The project is developing measures to enable top athletes to pursue successful careers after their sporting careers.
Teaching Award of the University of Münster for Marie Ghanbari
Marie Ghanbari receives the teaching award from the Rectorate of the University of Münster for the interdisciplinary "Sportpatenprojekt". The prize is endowed with €30,000. With her concept, which combines theory and practice in an exemplary manner, she promotes not only technical skills but also, in particular, the students' empathy and social skills, thereby providing new impetus for university teaching. The project represents a forward-looking combination of academic education and social engagement.
