Active Ageing - Our Team

Michael Brach - Head of the Lab

Michael Brach was educated in sports science, mathematics and psychology. His research includes development, implementation and evaluation of ageing-related exercise and physical activity programmes in different settings. He teaches human movement science and athletics.

Michael received a doctoral degree from the faculty of natural sciences at the University of Potsdam (human movement science: EEG, mental training and exercise) and a postdoctoral degree (habilitation) from the faculty of humanities and social sciences at the KIT Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (evaluation research: exercise and physical activity programmes for the elderly). He is associate editor of EURAPA, the European Review of Aging and Physical Activity, and treasurer of the European Group for Research into Elderly and Physical Activity (EGREPA). In his academic and project work, he benefits from several years of professional experience as a movement therapist in residential geriatric care.

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PhD Students

Ellen Bentlage received her Master’s degree in Sport and Movement Gerontology from the German Sport University in Cologne (DSHS). During working as a research assistant in the “Denksport” project at the DSHS, Ellen gathered a valuable experience in research areas related to dementia and MCI patients. Since 2020, she has been working as a research associate & a doctoral candidate at WWU in the department of Movement Science. Starting with the EU-funded health project “PROCare4Life”, her PhD work focuses on “Promoting Physical Activity to Older Adults through Information and Communication Technologies: Connecting user needs with technology requirements”
. In 2022, Ellen started working as a project manager in the Erasmus+ projects “PA4AGE” and “INTEGRA_LAB” and “AGE-WELL” Additionally, she is a grant holder manager in the Cost Action CA20104 “PHYSAGENET”.​

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Student assistants

Anna Wittig is completing her Bachelor’s degree at the WWU with a double major in Sports and English. She is focusing her studies on Kinesiology, which has further deepened her interest in the field of Active Aging. She joined the department in January 2023 and will be contributing to the Erasmus+ projects PA4Age and AgeWell Europe.

Julian Clüsserath joined the team in June 2024 when he was in the second semester of his BSc in Human Movement in Sport and Exercise. During his studies he quickly realised that exercising is important for all age groups, especially older adults. He applied for a position in our team to learn more about the subject and to get in touch with applied science. He is currently working on administrative tasks in various projects.

 

Sabine Steidel has completed her Bachelor’s degree in “Human Movement in Sports and Exercise“ at the University in Münster in 2022 and is currently doing her second Bachelor in Biology to broaden her knowledge in the field of human physiology and the underlying molecular mechanisms of exercise. After doing several internships in physiotherapy, rehabilitation and geriatric psychiatry, Sabine found her interest in promoting physical activity in older adults. Therefore, she wants to contribute to putting research into practice and joined the department in 2024.