Dialogue between university management and politicians

Serap Güler, a politician who has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2021 and Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office since 2025, visited the German Sport University Cologne as part of her summer tour. As well as holding talks with President Ansgar Thiel and Provost Marion Steffen, Güler was treated to a presentation by the Section Health & Social Psychology at the Institute of Psychology, which included a practical demonstration.

She was accompanied by Teresa De Bellis-Olinger, her personal assistant in Serap Güler’s constituency. During a tour, the two inspected the campus’s sports facilities as well as the ongoing refurbishment and maintenance projects. As a memento of her own participation in the ‘Rhein Inklusiv’ team, co-organised by the German Sport University, Serap Güler was presented with a jersey from the run, which will take place again in October as part of the Cologne Marathon with the participation of the GSU. During a discussion, Güler, Thiel and Steffen addressed the pressing challenges in university funding and developments in the socially highly relevant fields of sports science.

Afterwards, Prof. Dr Jens Kleinert, Head of the Section of Health & Social Psychology, together with some members of his team, presented a number of research projects, for example on the influence of competitive incentives in sporting activity, on mental health in elite sport, and on the prevention of and intervention in sexualised violence within sports clubs. As part of an ongoing study on group dynamics, Güler and De Bellis-Olinger took to the exercise bikes set up in the laboratory and pedalled themselves.