POLIS-Netzwerk

About POLIS:

POLIS stands for Policy and Politics In Sport. POLIS aims at a closer cooperation of academics who work in the emerging field of sport politics or who deal with political issues related to sport. Following a spontaneous initiative of Jeroen Scheerder (University of Leuven) and Juergen Mittag (German Sport University Cologne) during bilateral guest lectures at the respective universities the idea was fostered to establish a network that is dedicated to political sciences oriented approaches in sport. Seeing the emerge of more and more studies in the field there is apparently a growing demand for systematic reflections and a stronger collaboration among researchers in Europe.

The support for this idea has become evident at several conferences a few months later such as the EASS conference 2017 in Prague and the Sport&EU-conference 2017 in Molde. Ever since the POLIS network is loosely connected to both organisations, the EASS (European Association for the Sociology of Sport), and to Sport&EU (Association for the Study of Sport and the European Union). 

Previous network conferences and meetings:

Until the founding of the network, several conferences and workshops have taken place.

• POLIS Network-meeting in Cologne in October 2017:
  The meeting discussed both current trends in sport politics as well as various possibilities for collaboration.
   
• POLIS Network-meeting in Papendal in November 2018
  The meeting discussed both current trends in sport politics and an inventory for an editorial book with an international comparative analysis on disability sports. 
   
• POLIS Network-meeting in Bordeaux at EASS 2018
  Several talks were given by members of the POLIS network.
   
• POLIS Network-meeting in Utrecht at the Mulier Institute - Centre for Research on Sports in Society in 2019
  The meeting worked on the publication on disability sports. 
   
• POLIS Network-meeting in Cologne in February 2020
  The meeting discussed sport politics at the local level and did preparatory work for an Erasmus+ application.