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.
Read more about the research strategy of PSYCH
Head of the research unit: Kristoffer Henriksen
