Mission statement
We research to promote positive experiences, excellence, and health in diverse sport, exercise and achievement settings.Introduction
The Research Unit PSYCH conducts applied research within the broad field of sport and exercise psychology.Within sport psychology, the unit takes ecological psychology as a starting point and views athletes’ development as a journey through environments that support their striving for career excellence. To accomplish this, we conduct interdisciplinary research on topics such as successful youth sport-, talent development-, and elite sport environments, athletes’ mental health, athletes’ careers and transitions, and the psychology of high performance.
The aim is to stimulate researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to focus on the environment and athlete well-being in their efforts to understand and support athlete development and performance.
Within exercise psychology, the unit aims to understand and foster, via interdisciplinary research endeavors, the psychological factors, at both the personal and social levels, that promote physical activity, healthy lifestyles, and psychological health. A key aim is to emphasize the role of psychology across a diverse range of innovative exercise and health promotion initiatives.
Further, the unit applies psychological perspectives to settings such as physical education and sports industry innovation, and draws on methods and insights from pedagogy, design, and entrepreneurship.
In PSyCH, we pride ourselves on doing applied research that has relevance and impacts society, and we prioritize engaging with policymakers and professionals.
Research Philosophy
PSYCH works from a rooted research philosophy that includes the following principles and values:
- Research is a team effort. Therefore, we recognize that it takes a whole research team to pursue a line of research, and we always aim for a safe, supportive, and collaborative team culture.
- Research should aim for excellence. Therefore, we strive to meet high international research standards, publish in prestigious journals, and obtain competitive funding for our research.
- Modern research should be of service to society. Therefore, we engage with stakeholders and policymakers and prioritize popular dissemination initiatives.
- Education is a core mission of a university. Therefore, we take pride in developing and providing high-quality teaching and educating the sports science practitioners of tomorrow.
Definition of success
In concrete terms, we strive for the following accomplishments:
- Worldwide recognition: To produce research of a quality that results in high-level publications, invitations for keynotes at international conferences, editorial positions in reputable journals, and board seats in professional organizations.
- Funding: To grow the unit’s research power and profile through increased funding.
- Internationalization: To establish and expand our international relations, collaborations on research projects, and representation in international networks.
- Outreach: To develop successful collaborations with public and private organizations in sport and exercise settings, with the results of our research being evident through the uptake of new practices and in national and international policy-making.
- Talent development: To operate from a solid talent development strategy, which is visible in the way, we support early career researchers.