Our citizen science project “Beweg dich schlau – Sportwissenschaft in der Schule” was again very successful this year. As part of our cooperation with the Hüberts'sche Schule in Hopsten, a year 9 class visited us in the movement lab to perform a movement analysis using the Qualisys program. They examined the difference between squat jumps and counter movement jumps, particularly with regard to their respective dynamics and the resulting jump height. The students tested both conditions and evaluated the collected data together with the university students. In doing so, they took on the role of both, test subjects and researchers, gaining practical insight into sports science work. The project was implemented by prospective sports teachers as part of the Development and Health project seminar and was supervised by Tabea Christ.
Our citizen science project “Beweg dich schlau – Sportwissenschaft in der Schule” was again very successful this year. As part of our cooperation with the Hüberts'sche Schule in Hopsten, a year 9 class visited us in the movement lab to perform a movement analysis using the Qualisys program. They examined the difference between squat jumps and counter movement jumps, particularly with regard to their respective dynamics and the resulting jump height. The students tested both conditions and evaluated the collected data together with the university students. In doing so, they took on the role of both, test subjects and researchers, gaining practical insight into sports science work. The project was implemented by prospective sports teachers as part of the Development and Health project seminar and was supervised by Tabea Christ.
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.
