Publications of the Department

"Sport and Sustainability"
Our reserch focus is on how sports deal with the transition to an envrionmentally sustrainable future, with a focus on sports that are directly threatened by climate change. We investigate attitudes, behaviours and reactions to sustainable objecitives, focussing on wintersports and motorsports. 

"Sport and Gender"
One research focus is the investigation of gender developments in competitive sports. These are particularly associated with media attention and the dissolution of hegemonic structures. More "recent" developments in the gender debate are also part of the analyses.

"Sport and Health"

"Connection between sport and the media"
In various projects, the factors influencing interest in and media demand for sports entertainment, the special features of sports journalism and reporting and the repercussions of the symbiotic relationship between sport and media on sport itself will be traced. In addition, aspects of social media and their influence on the relationship between sport and media are investigated.

"Sports Audience Research"
The following subprojects attempt to set new accents in sports audience research by using sociological, psychological and economic approaches:

• The composition of consumer demand for sport
• The influence of physical attractiveness in sport
• Social media and sports consumption
• The development of women's football

"Sport and Health"
Surveys and health data are used to analyse the links between sport, social integration and well-being.

"Policy development"
The comparative project starts at the interface between sports policy and sports pedagogy. Capacity development of physical education in different countries will be investigated and evaluated.

"Sport Governance"
Another focus of the department is the political science analysis of sport. One aim is to understand and explain the structures and mechanisms of German and European sports policy, following the theories and methods of the political science mother discipline. On the other hand, the research is oriented towards the concept of "sport governance", understood as control mechanisms and regulatory structures in the sports sector. Here, basic institutional structures in sport are examined with the aim of understanding and explaining different institutional dynamics, evaluating the performance of these systems with regard to the economic, political and social functions of sport and, if possible, identifying political perspectives for shaping sport.

“Media discourse on doping in Germany” (2009-2013)

The project examined the public debate about doping in Germany form 1949 to 2009 employing approaches of discourse analytics. The main question to be addressed was why doping became such a key issue within German sport policy-making. (External funding: Federal Institute for Sport Science, Grant number: IIA1-081903A/09-12)

"Economic analyses of game sports and game effectiveness"
With the help of economic models, game progressions, e.g. in handball, are studied and examined with regard to game effectiveness. Large-scale game observation data serve as the basis for complex statistical modelings. Thus, application-oriented recommendations for coaches* and associations shall be developed.

"Development of competitive sports in Germany"
On the basis of developments in traditional sports such as tennis, handball, athletics or football, tendencies of social differentiation, demographic change etc. in Germany and globally are explained and forecast.