To mark the day of non-violent education, the German Sports Youth, together with the German Child Protection Association, hosted the symposium “Violence is more than you think - recognizing and preventing psychological violence in sport” on April 30. After a presentation on the prevalence of psychological violence in sport by Prof. Dr. Bettina Rulofs, Dr. Kathrin Kohake presented her research project on the development of rules of conduct as a core component of a prevention concept in the German Gymnastics Federation and the Hessen Gymnastics Association. The online event was well attended with over 110 participants.

At the invitation of the German Sports Youth (dsj) and the DFL Foundation, a two-day symposium on the quality of physical activity, play and sports programs in daycare centers and all-day schools took place in Mannheim. Around 140 participants discussed the content and standards for high-quality physical activity and sports programs for children. Prof. Dr. Nils Neuber gave a presentation on the quality framework for all-day schooling and participation in all-day schooling.

On April 22, 2024, a symposium was held at the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia to present the results of completed pilot projects from the NRW Children's and Youth Sports Research Network, which were funded by the State Chancellery of NRW. The five presentations covered the topics of inclusion, all-day  and the monitoring of children's and youth sports. One of these pilot projects (SpoPsy4Health) was carried out by employees of the Institute of Sports Science in cooperation with Münster University Hospital. A short summary of the event can be found here.

Three female employees from the Institute of Sports Science have successfully completed the fourth cohort of the University of Münster's further qualification program "Women managing universities". The Prorector for Academic Career Development and Diversity, Prof. Dr. Maike Tietjens, awarded the certificates to the graduates at a ceremony on April 24, 2024. Dr. Ellen Bentlage ( Department of Human Movement Sciences), Kathrin Aschebrock and Dr. Stefanie Dahl (both Department of Physical Education and Teaching Research) received a scholarship from the University of Münster for the program.

Around 15 sports scientists met at the Department of Sport and Exercise Science at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg to establish a Democracy and Sport Network. For two days, the participants discussed previous work in this field and developed perspectives for future activities in research, teaching and transfer. The Institute of Sport Science was represented by Nils Kaufmann and Prof. Dr. Nils Neuber at the kick-off conference.

Franziska Duensing-Knop wrote her dissertation on "Inclusion in physical education teacher training - an explorative study of university didactic concepts to promote an inclusive attitude" as part of the teacher training quality campaign. She has now successfully defended her doctoral thesis. The doctoral committee included Prof. Nils Neuber, Prof. Michael Pfitzner (University of Duisburg-Essen) and Junior Prof. Helga Leineweber. We would like to congratulate Dr. Duensing-Knop on her successful doctorate!

Following an invitation of the Federal Ministry of Education (BMBF) and the Federal Youth Ministry (BMFSFJ), a threeday conference on all-day education took place in Berlin. Experts from politics, administration, science and the practice discussed the challenges of multi-professional collaboration in all-day schools. Prof. Bernhard Kalicki (DJI), Prof. Miriam Kehne (University of Paderborn), Prof. Jessica Süßenbach (University of Lüneburg) and Prof. Nils Neuber (University of Münster) presented perspectives on the development of all-day schools on behalf of sport. Julian Lagemann (German Sports Youth) moderated the workshop.

In March, the fourth symposium on "Promoting development in school sport - for everyone!?" was held at the Institute of Sports Science. In three lectures and a total of 12 workshops, around 240 participants discussed questions of mental, social and emotional support in physical education. The conference was organized by the Department of Physical Education and Teaching Research (Prof. Neuber) and the Developmental Diagnostics and Support working group (Prof. Tietjens). Partners included the NRW State Chancellery, the NRW Statutory accident insurance institution, the Münster District Government and the Willlibald Gebhardt Institute.

At the invitation of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Ministry of Health, the 2nd Federal Physical Activity Summit took place in Berlin. After a year of intensive, interdisciplinary work, five working groups had submitted their proposals for a sports development plan. Unfortunately, the federal government, the federal states and organized sport were unable to agree on a mutual final declaration. Nevertheless, the recommendations of the expert groups are helpful for the development of sport in general and children's and youth sport in particular. The working group 4 "Anchoring the joy of exercise and sport at an early age" was led by Prof. Miriam Kehne (Paderborn) and Prof. Nils Neuber (University of Münster).
 

The German Track and Field Association (DLV) held its third Future Congress in cooperation with the Cologne Sports University. Under the title " Track and Field - Opportunities & Challenges", experts discussed the future of children's and youth track and field. Prof. Dr. Nils Neuber opened the conference with a lecture on the topic "Between school, all-day sports and clubs - perspectives for children's and youth sports".