With our research we investigate possibilites to promote the development of children through motion, play and sports, connected to the question as to how to support an ideally lifelong commitment in sports within various fields.
The Department of Movement Science represents two research and teaching divisions; biomechanics - characterized by natural and physical sciences - and kinematics as a motoric aligned technical discipline.
Our department addresses the production of sport didactical processes in curricular and extra-curricular sport settings. In particular our profile targets the promotion of children and adolescents in the field of motion, play and sports.
We focus our applied research on different curricular and extra-curricular settings of physical activity, games and sports where children and adolescents live, e.g. with their parents at home, at kindergarten, at school, at a sports club and with peers in their local communities.
The Deparment of Human Performance and Training in Sports deals with the motoric, cognitive and biomechanical analysis of athletic as well as daily movements. Special emphasis is put on the connection of these fields.
We do research on the role of sport in contemporary societies, its changes and functions, and aim to make informed guesses about the future of sport.
We concentrate on the one hand on sport historical research, current projects are e.g. the history of doping or soccer. On the other hand, we continue our tradition of sport pedagogical and anthropoligical issues such as exploring the role of competition or of the body in the culture.
In our department we study the human behavior and cognition in sports (causes, conditions, objectives) and try to predict and influence the behavior of athletes.