The Rectorate

Rector

Professor Ansgar Thiel (born 1963) began his academic career as a research assistant at the Institute of Sports Science at Bielefeld University. Prior to this, he had completed his studies in sports science, psychology and psychogerontology at the Universities of Tübingen and Erlangen-Nuremberg. He was awarded his PhD in 1996 and his habilitation in 2000. After holding a professorship in the sociology of sport at Chemnitz University of Technology, Ansgar Thiel took up a professorship in sports science, focusing on social and health science issues, at the University of Tübingen in 2004. There, he served as Director of the Institute of Sports Science for twelve years; since 2019, he has been Spokesperson for the Interfaculty Research Institute for Sport and Physical Activity in Tübingen; and since 2022, he has been full-time Dean of the University’s Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences. Ansgar Thiel has been Rector of the German Sport University Cologne since 20 May 2024.

Vice-Rector for Student Affairs, Teaching and Continuing Education

Professor Dr Bettina Rulofs (born 1971) has been Professor of Diversity Research at the Institute of Sociology and Gender Studies at the German Sport University Cologne since 2021, where she also completed her undergraduate studies and PhD. Her research focuses on diversity, gender and inequality, and, building on this, on discrimination and violence in sport. In 2018, she was awarded the ‘Sport and Science’ prize by the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia. She has been a visiting professor at the University of Vienna, a locum professor at the University of Paderborn and a professor of sports sociology at the University of Wuppertal, where she also served on the management team of the Sports Examination Board and the Bachelor’s programme in Sports Science.

Vice-Rector for Research and Transfer

Professor Tobias Vogt (born 1983) has been Head of the Institute for Communication Skills in Sport at the German Sport University Cologne since 2022; where he had been a junior professor since 2016 and, concurrently, an adjunct professor at Waseda University, Japan, between 2019 and 2021. He studied sports science and, following research stays at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Australia, and the University of Loughborough, England, obtained his PhD from the German Sport University Cologne in 2013; this was followed by his habilitation at the University of Paderborn in 2020. Since 2021, he has been a member of the Scientific Committee of the European College of Sport Science.

Vice-Rector for Resources and Sustainable Development

Professor Wilhelm Bloch, MD (born 1959) studied medicine from 1980 to 1986 and physics from 1988 to 1991 at the University of Mainz. He obtained his PhD and completed his habilitation in the subject of anatomy and cell biology at the University of Cologne. He worked at the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Cologne from 1991 to 2003, before joining the Institute for Cardiovascular Research and Sports Medicine at the German Sport University Cologne in 2004 as a university professor of Molecular and Cellular Sports Medicine. He remains a member of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Cologne. From 2007 to 2020, Prof. Bloch was a member of the Scientific Council of the German Society for Sports Medicine and Prevention (DGSP). From 2011 to 2018, he was Chair of the Scientific Council and Vice-President of the DGSP for Research and Teaching. Since 2020, he has been Chair of ‘Exercise is Medicine’ Germany. Since 2017, he has been a member of the University Council of the German Sport University Cologne and served as its Deputy Chair from 2022 to May 2024.

Vice-Rector for Communication and Digital Transformation

Professor Thomas Abel (born 1968) has been a member of staff at the Institute of Movement and Neuroscience at the German Sport University Cologne since 2003 and has held the post of Professor of Paralympic Sport since 2014. As Deputy Head of the Institute, his research and teaching focus on sport for people with disabilities, with a particular emphasis on aspects of exercise physiology. He is a member of the Steering Board of the European Research Group in Disability Sport (ERGiDS), which was founded on his initiative in 2011. He serves on the Medical Commission as an advisory board member for the German Disabled Sports Association (Deutscher Behindertensportverband e.V.). From 2020 to 2024, he was a member of the Rectorate as Vice-Rector for Communication, Digitalisation and Diversity.