ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Meet the Congress Organizing Committee for the eass & ISSA 2022!

Dr. Annika Frahsa

Annika Frahsa studied political science, North America studies and anthropology at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg and at McGill University Montréal. Her doctorate in 2013 (Dr. phil. in sports science from FAU) focused on the impact of participatory research on diverse stakeholder groups in physical activity promotion. With a habilitation on the capability approach as a paradigm for physical activity-related health promotion, she received her habilitation at the University of Tübingen in 2021.

Since May 2021, Prof. Frahsa is TT Ass. Prof., with an endowment by the Lindenhof Foundation, at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern. She leads the research group on community health and health(care) systems research. Her group aims at applying theory-driven social science methodology to understand and explain contextual conditions of health, and to apply the knowledge gained to influence social determinants of health and policymaking so that healthy choices will become the easy choice for all, particularly for vulnerable communities.

Prof. Frahsa currently is the principal investigator of the research component in the WHO special initiative on urban governance for health, equity, and wellbeing and she co-leads a study by the German Ministry of Health on physical activity promotion in nursing homes.

Prof. Dr. Ansgar Thiel

Dr. Ansgar Thiel is Director of the Institute of Sports Science at the University of Tübingen and holds a Professorial Chair for Sport Sociology. Ansgar Thiel studied Sports Science, Psychology, and Psychogerontology. He completed his PhD and habilitation in sport sociology. His research interests comprise the sociology of sport, health and the body.

Ansgar Thiel has published more than 200 articles in refereed journals, volumes, and handbooks. Some of his key papers are published in journals such as International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Sociology of Sport Journal, PLos ONE, BMC Public Health, Psychology of Sport and Exercise, Biological Psychology, Computers in Human Behavior etc. He published 20 books (monographs) in the field of sociology, for example “Sportsoziologie [Sports Sociology] (2013; with K. Seiberth and J. Mayer); Soziologie des Sports [Sociology of Sport] (2000); with K. Cachay, and Soziale Konflikte [Social Conflicts] (2003). Ansgar also edited several volumes in the areas of sociology, health, and education. Ansgar was editor-in-chief of the European Journal for Sport and Society until May 2019.

Ansgar was a member of several conference boards, organised several national and international interdisciplinary workshops, an international PhD module, a joint conference for the sport sociology and physical education section of the German Association for Sport Science (dvs) etc.

Dr. Alexia Schnell

Dr. Alexia Schnell studied Bachelor and Master of Sports Science with profile sports management at the University of Tübingen and University of Valencia (2001-2008). PhD in Sport Science (2016) at the Institute of Sport Science in Tübingen.

Since 2008 she worked as a research assistant at the Institute of Sports Science in Tübingen in the work group of Prof Ansgar Thiel. She organised an international PhD Workshop „Culture, Sport and Society“ at the Institute of Sports Science in Tübingen in 2018.

Hannes Gropper

Hannes Gropper has a state examination (equivalent to Master of Education) in Sports Science and English (2010-2016) and received a Bachelor of Arts in Sports Management (2013-2017) both from the University of Tübingen. Since December of 2017, he is a PhD student at the Institute of Sports Science in Tübingen in the work group of Prof Ansgar Thiel.

He was part of the student organising team of the German University Championships Triathlon (2015).

Dr. Jannika John

Dr. Jannika John is a Postdoc at the Institute of Sports Science in Tübingen. She received a Master of Science in Kinesiology and a Master of Science in Family and Consumer Sciences from Lamar University, Texas (2014-2017). Since July 2017, she is a research assistant at the Institute of Sports Science in Tübingen in the work group of Prof Ansgar Thiel.

In her research, she focuses on developmental pathways of gifted individuals in the domains of music, sports, and mathematics from a biographical perspective. She is particularly interested in mixed-method research and the advancement of theory in the field of talent development. Other research interests include positive youth and life skill development through sports and biopsychosocial aspects of health in high performance contexts.

Katharina Baur

Katharina Baur is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Management & Economics (since 10/2020) at the University of Tübingen and received a Bachelor of Science in Economics (2016-2020) from the University of Konstanz.

Since June 2021, she is a student assistant at the Institute of Sports Science in Tübingen in the work group of Prof Ansgar Thiel.