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The Institute for European Sport Development and Leisure Research is the stage for the sport policy and leisure science activities of the German Sport University Cologne. Together with cooperation partners, we bring together political, social and sports science findings. This creates our own core of sports policy thinking. The Institute's team offers a wide range of teaching and research opportunities for students, academics and all other interested parties.
A Warm Welcome
With its two areas of focus, the Institute for Sociology and Gender Studies covers a broad range of research on sociological issues in modern sports, encompassing both basic and applied research. Our research takes current issues and challenges in sports as its starting point and seeks appropriate answers and solutions from a scientific and analytical perspective using empirical methods.
Our research topics include, among others, the social conditions of sustainability and health in competitive sports, body ideals and health education in school sports, social inequality and gender relations in sports, critiques of discrimination, violence prevention, and diversity management in sports.
In teaching, the Institute is active at all levels of study (bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs) and aims to integrate research and teaching in a way that enables students to develop sociologically grounded reflective knowledge and practical skills for sustainable sports development.
