From March 13-17, the Faculty Postgraduate Center (FGZ-SG) of the TUM Department of Sports and Health Sciences held their Winter Academy in Darmstadt House from the TU Darmstadt located in Kleinwalsertal.
"We already want to support our doctoral candidates in the early stages of their doctorate by together exchanging ideas about the projects and intensive discussions - also together with international guest scientists," explains Prof. Dr. Joachim Hermsdörfer, the spokesman of the FGZ and Chairman of the Promotion Committee of the Department of Sport and Health Sciences.
Doctoral candidates, professors and international guests
14 doctoral candidates from the TUM Department participated in this year's Winter Academy, with Hermsdörfer, a Full Professor of the Chair of Movement Science, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Beckmann, a Full Professor of the Chair of Sport Psychology, two professors of the department.
With Dr. Ezio Preatoni from the Department of Health at the University of Bath and Prof. Manuel Voelkle from the Max Planck Institute for Educational Research and the HU Berlin, high-profile guests were also present. Further external, international guests were Prof. Chen Kai from the Chinese Southwest Jiaotong University and Daniel Madigan, a guest doctoral student from the University of Kent.
Scientific exchange, guest lectures and leisure activities
The Winter Academy offers an attractive range of scientific exchange, guest lectures, and recreational events. "The meeting has proved to be successful in the past years and has continuously developed. The format works and represents a support for our doctoral students," Hermsdörfer reported.
In the context of their guest lectures Dr. Preatoni and Prof. Voelkle presented the doctoral candidates with an insight into their areas of expertise. Here, Preatoni focused on his studies on the variability of human movement. Prof. Voelkle lectured on "Continuous time modelling". After the lecture, the Professor of the HU Berlin, mediated knowledge on the subject of "Advanced methods in repeated measures/longitudinal designs" in a workshop. "The workshop was very intense and has thrown a whole new light on for our participants concerning the analysis of longitudinal data, such as they occurs in many promotional projects of the department," says Dr. Felix Ehrlenspiel, Managing Director of the Faculty of the Postgraduate Center and organizer of the Winter Academy.
Following the presentations by the doctoral candidates, the two experts discussed, gave assessments and provided tips for further proceedings. "Important in order for our guests to obtain a broad review of the field of the sport sciences so that they can make competent assessments of various topics. Dr. Preatoni and Prof. Voelkle have highly enriched the Winter Academy," says Hermsdörfer.
Torchlight hike in the snow-covered forest
One of the non-scientific highlights of the Winter Academy was the nightly torchlight walk through the snow-covered forest, which Dr. Ehrlenspiel quite symbolically serves to stand as a reflection for the entire event. "At the beginning of a doctoral degree, it can be that you can no longer see the forest for the trees - here, we would like to help to formulate questions more precisely and select more suitable methods. In this way, to bring light into the darkness and to illuminate the next steps," explains Dr. Ehrlenspiel. Next year, the Winter Academy will again be held in mid-March. Preatoni hopes that the cooperation between the University of Bath and the TUM will have meanwhile thrived to such an extent that doctoral candidates from the University of Bath can also take part.
Information about the Postgraduate Center of the faculty
Contact:
Dr. Felix Ehrlenspiel
Director of the Faculty of the Postgraduate Centre of the TUM Department of Sport and Health Sciences
Uptown München, Campus D
Georg-Brauchle Ring 60/62
80992 Munich
Phone: 089 289 24545
Email: Felix.Ehrlenspiel(at)tum.de
Photos: FGZ-SG/Hermsdörfer/Schüller