Institute of Sport Science

The Institute of Sport Science is characterised in its teaching and research by its integrative and application-oriented orientation with a focus on social and behavioural sciences. While the Bachelor's programme teaches the basics of sport science in a broad thematic way, the consecutive Master's programme in Sport Science enables specialisation in Health Promotion, Sport Management or Teaching & Learning.

In research, a problem-oriented strategy is pursued that focuses on the phenomena of sport in its entire breadth and whose implementation is supported by excellent personnel and equipment research facilities. The academic exchange in sport science is promoted by the international doctroal programme "Interdisciplinary Sport Science" and the interdisciplinary colloquium "Bernese Talks on Sport Science" ("Berner Gespräche zur Sportwissenschaft") organised by the Institute.

News and events

Bernese Talks on Sport Science - Prof. Dr. Michael Rosenberg (University of Western Australia): "Buying health through partnerships with sports clubs, associations and large community events" (hybrid) 16:15 - 17:45

24 February

Die erfolgreichen Nachwuchswissenschaftler*innen des ISPW an der SGS-Tagung 2025: Dr. Pascal Stegmann, Dr. Stephan Zahno, Dr. Bryan Charbonnet, Marion Gasser, Raphael Stieger und Merlin Örencik.

SGS successes for early career researchers of the ISPW

At the annual meeting of the Swiss Society of Sports Science (SGS/4S) on 5/6 February 2025, several early career researchers of the ISPW were honoured. Marion Gasser was honoured with the prize for the best poster and Raphael Stieger with the "Young Investigator Award". The strong presence of the ISPW in the final round of the Dissertation Award 2022-2024 was also particularly pleasing: five of the six finalists - Pascal Stegmann, Merlin Örencik, Sofia Anzeneder, Bryan Charbonnet and Stephan Zahno - came from our institute, with the second prize going to Bryan Charbonnet and the first prize to Stephan Zahno. We are delighted about this joint success!

Raphael Stieger mit dem Diplom des SGS/4S-Nachwuchspreises Young Investigator Award in der Hand.

Raphael Stieger wins the SGS Young Investigator Award

At this year's Swiss Society of Sports Science (SGS/4S) conference, Raphael Stieger won first place in the Young Investigator Award with his paper “Professionalisation and governance in sports organisations: towards an integrated understanding”. Congratulations on this great success!

Herzlich willkommen am ISPW!

Following her successful application for a doctoral position in the "MASE" project, Lea Nitzpon will begin her doctorate in the department of Health Sciences on 1 February 2025 under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Nigg.
Victor Meulenkamp will also start as a PhD student in the Peripheral Vision Group on 1 February 2025. In the SNSF Starting Grant project, he will conduct football studies with Young Boys Bern and try to optimise the peripheral perception of the players. Furthermore, he will examine whether the mechanisms of peripheral perception that we find in the sports context are also relevant in driving and whether training perceptual skills can increase driving safety.
We warmly welcome both of them and wish them every success in their projects.

TReND research visit to the ISPW

As part of the international EU doctoral network “Translational Research Network in Motor Disorder Rehabilitation” (TReND), Sofía Avila Pérez (see picture attached) is visiting the Department of Movement and Exercise Science from 13 January to 14 February 2025. At the University of Münster, she is investigating the extent to which sensorimotor variability improves motor learning in older adults. We are looking forward to working with her and wish her a good time!

Transformation of Assistant Lectureship with tenure track Grazia Lang and appointment as Lecturer in Sport Management and Sport Economics

Now that Grazia Lang has fully met all the qualification criteria as an assistant lecturer and thus fulfils the requirements for a successful position as a lecturer in sport science with a focus on sport management and economics, the position will be converted into a lecturer position on 1 January 2025. Grazia Lang will also take on the role of Head of Outdoor Sport.
Congratulations!

Porträt von Damian Beck mit Doktorenhut.

Successful disputation Damian Beck

Damian Beck successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Sensorimotor uncertainty in sport: Bayesian integration of prior knowledge in perception and action processes” on 19 December 2024 and thus completed his doctoral thesis. We congratulate him warmly!

Wortwolke zur Institutsstrategie dargestellt als Wolke.

ISPW Strategy 2030 approved

Together with new organisational regulations, the ‘ISPW Strategy 2030’ was adopted at the Institute Assembly on 16 December 2024. The central objectives are pursued in eight assigned fields of action: problem-orientated research, practice-relevant teaching, responsible promotion of early career researchers and culture of appreciation.
For details see here.

Habilitation Christian Vater

On 9 December 2024, Christian successfully completed his habilitation with a lecture in front of the faculty college and a subsequent discussion. The title of his lecture was ‘Peripheral perception in sport: How we see things from the corner of our eye’. We congratulate him on this success!

Achim Conzelmann bei seiner Abschiedsvorlesung.

Farewell lecture Achim Conzelmann

On the occasion of his retirement at the end of Spring Term 24, Achim Conzelmann, long-standing Director of the Institute of Sport Science and Head of the Department of Sport Psychology and Research Methods as well as former Dean of the Faculty of Human Sciences, Vice-Rector for Development at the University of Bern and President of the Swiss Sport Science Association, gave his farewell lecture on "Problem-oriented sports science - differential development science" in front of numerous guests on 31 May 2014. Thank you, dear Achim, for everything you have achieved - and beyond!

Study and Research at ISPW

Das Team von BougerBouger - Der Podcast für mehr Bewegung an der Schule.

BougerBouger - The podcast for more movement at school

Five students from the Institute of Sport Science at the University of Bern stand up for more physical activity in the school setting. In their podcast, which was released for the first time this week, they provide teachers with facts, tips and many practical examples for the promotion of physical activity in schools. In each episode, they talk with experts from science and practice. The first episodes are available on Podbean, Spotify and AppleMusic. For those interested in learning more about the project, please visit the website (https://www.bougerbouger.ch/) or Instragram channel.

Hiking, biking, cycling, outdoor tour suggestions ISPW

During the corona semester 'Outdoor Summer', the sports students of the Institute of Sports Science at the University of Berne worked out, reconnoitred and documented daily outdoor tours.
The descriptions of the tours can be downloaded in PDF format here.
The routes are marked on the maps of Schweizmobil and can be accessed via a link or downloaded as GPX file for the GPS.
In addition, an interesting cultural, biological, zoological, geographical or tourist aspect is highlighted for each tour.

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