Mission Statement
Sports policy and sports development have become increasingly important due to their interconnection with other policy areas and sectors of society. Governments and sports organizations influence the framework conditions of sports systems. Our institute aims to establish systematic research in the field of sports (policy) science in order to shed light on sports policy activities.
The key dimensions of policy are:
- the structural dimension (polity)
- the procedural dimension (politics)
- the substantive dimension (policy)
These dimensions distinguish between state and non-state governance as well as different levels (local, regional, national, European, international). The institute’s research focuses on national, European, and international sports systems, sports policy, and sports development.
Another focus is on leisure and tourism, as sports play a central role in leisure activities. The institute examines actors, structures, and development processes in these areas, as well as physical activity culture and changes in lifestyles and sports participation.
Our Team
Our team has a wide range of expertise and is actively involved in both research and teaching. In addition to our full-time research staff, students with bachelor’s degrees assist with our research projects, gaining practical experience in the process.
History of the Institute
The appointment of Univ.-Prof. mult. Dr. Walter Tokarski to the newly created Chair of Leisure and Mass Sports at the German Sport University Cologne in 1990 was followed in 1992 by the founding of the Institute for Leisure Studies. The establishment of this first university institute for Leisure Studies in the Federal Republic of Germany was accompanied by a strengthening of leisure research at the German Sport University Cologne, as reflected in the numerous projects carried out since the institute’s founding.
With the establishment of the research unit “European Sports Studies,” the Institute for Leisure Studies was an early pioneer in developing another interdisciplinary field of teaching and research. The goal of this research area is to monitor European sports development and promote it through studies relevant to Europe, to provide transparency regarding specific sports structures in the countries of the European Union, and to support European cooperation in the field of sports and sports science. Since the Institute’s research and teaching now focus on the European perspective in the fields of leisure and sports policy, it was renamed the “Institute for European Sports Development and Leisure Research” in 2005.
The growing importance of political science analyses in the field of sports was reflected in the new designation “Sports Policy” when the chair was filled in 2011 by Univ.-Prof. Dr. Jürgen Mittag. Through regular symposia on sports policy, organized in collaboration with the “Forum on Sports Policy” based at the institute, the IESF aims to conduct systematic research on sports policy. Special attention continues to be paid to the European dimension of sports policy. In 2011, in recognition of its ongoing European activities, the institute and its chairholder were awarded the title of Jean Monnet Chair.
To mark the institute’s 25th anniversary in 2017, a new English-language master’s program, the M.A. in International Sport Development and Politics, was launched. Each year, the master’s program admits approximately 30 students who, building on a foundation in the humanities and social sciences, study an innovative, interdisciplinary, and international curriculum at the German Sport University Cologne, which, through a research-driven approach, imparts in-depth knowledge and methods for understanding the political, social, cultural, and economic dimensions of sports and physical activity cultures.