Manfred Kindermann, a long-serving and highly respected Senior Academic Officer at the Münster Institute of Sport Science, passed away on November 12, 2025, at the age of 87.

Stephanie Bünemann and Birte Brinkmöller enriched the second TrainerTalk with information on sports psychology, sports psychology counselling and cooperation between coaches, athletes and sports psychologists. They were supported by Dr. Barbara Halberschmidt. 

TrainerTalk is organised by the Association for the Promotion of Competitive Sports in Münster, addresses coaches in and from Münster who are active in the field of competitive sports, and has now taken place for the second time. 

From November 18 to 21, 2025, Maike Tietjens, Lena Henning, Hannah Hüttemann and Bernd Strauß participated in the SELF Conference and ERAS Conference 2025 in Singapore. The conference theme, “The Self in Context: Pathways to Flourishing, Learning, and Well-Being,” brought together researchers from around the world and offered diverse insights into topics such as self-concept, motivation, and learning—through both engaging symposia and keynotes by renowned scholars including Reinhard Pekrun, Richard Ryan, Emma Bradshaw, and Mimi Bong. Hannah Hüttemann presented a study on social influences on physical activity as well as a poster on self-concept and fitness among individuals with intellectual disabilities. Lena Henning presented a study on the stereotype threat effect in physical education.
 

On November 14th and 15th, Stephanie Bünemann was invited as a guest speaker to Ljubljana, Slovenia, for the “Dan športne psihologije” (Sports Psychology Day). In a workshop (14.11.) for sports psychologists and psychology students, she led a workshop on evidence-based interventions and discussion in relation to crisis interventions. The next day (15.11.), the actual Sports Psychology Day began, mainly for coaches. There, she had the opportunity to prepare and present her research on crises in teams for practical application in a lecture.

On Monday, Dr. Barbara Halberschmidt and Laura van de Loo were invited to a research colloquium at Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg. There, they presented key findings on the topic of balancing university studies and elite sports.
Shortly before the completion of the “Dual Career” project, the colloquium provided an opportunity to give a comprehensive overview of the findings to date and to exchange experiences and developments with the participants. The focus was particularly on the content and implementation processes of the cooperation agreement “Partner University of Elite Sports,” to which both the University of Münster and the University of Oldenburg are affiliated.

As part of this year's World Schools Summit organised by T4 Education, Dr Marie Ghanbari participated as an invited expert in a panel discussion on the topic ‘Are Universities Becoming Irrelevant?’ The international debate brought together academics, educational innovators and decision-makers to discuss the future of higher education in a time of technological and social change. 

An extraordinary visit to the OpenLab: Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim and the Terra X team visited us to film a feature. With the help of motion capture and Myonardo®, various movements were analysed and visualised, revealing what normally remains hidden: a glimpse inside the body.
Mai Thi will be completing dance training in the coming months. We look forward to welcoming the Terra X team back to OpenLab in the spring for a follow-up measurement!

On Saturday of the first weekend in November, Special Olympics North Rhine-Westphalia (SONRW) held its first volunteer congress at the Institute for Sports Science. Around 80 participants with and without disabilities came together to discuss volunteering within Special Olympics, learn from each other in a wide range of workshops, and look to the future with new inspiration and ideas. Students from the institute's teacher training programmes took part with great interest and contributed to the exchange. The cooperation and provision of the facilities was made possible by Jun.-Prof. Dr. Helga Leineweber, so that the congress could take place on the same site as the 2024 State Games.
In addition, the SONRW sports coordinators took advantage of the event and held a conference in conjunction with it.