Willibald Gebhardt Institut e.V.

Over the past more than 25 years the Willibald Gebhardt Institute has been involved in numerous international projects and established an extensive network of international partnerships and collaborations. Many WGI projects have been funded through the various EU programs like Erasmus+, Interreg or dierectly from the European Parliament. To this day, all WGI departments keep building their network of international partnerships. One of the most recent international research collaborations established has been the successful bid for an EU Tender on EU Sports Policy. Currently, WGI is part of the Erasmus + project EduPASS.

In October 2022, the WGI hosted the “European Conference on Physical Education and School Sport” in Münster. Below you can find information on some of the most recent or prominent and current international WGI projects.

The conference “European Conference on Physical Education and School Sport”, which in the year of the 30th anniversary of the founding of the WGI formed one of the main events for the affiliate-institute of the WWU Münster, focused on three main topics: 1) the effects of the Corona pandemic on physical activity behavior and school sports; 2) quality and monitoring of physical activity behavior and school sports; 3) quality of physical education in Europe.

You can download the conference flyer here.

Here you can find the international experts’ presentations held at the European Conference in October 2022 in Münster.

Roland Naul: 30 years of Willibald Gebhardt Institute
Arja Sääkslahti: The focus of PE on physical activity and health in Finland
Tamas Csanyi: Development and current status of the daily PE hour in Hungary
Patrizia Tortella: Frühkindliche Leibeserziehung in Italien
Gregor Jurak: How PE and School Sport survived COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenia
Claude Scheuer: ERASMUS+ Projekte zum Schulsport in Europa
Roland Naul: The CEREPS consensus statement on recovery of physical education and school sport in Europe
Erica Gobbi: COVID-19 studies on PE teachers in Italy

Together as a research consortium, the division of Prof. Mittag (DSHS, lead) and the WGI (Prof. Naul, co lead) won the European Parliament’s tender, an expertise on “EU Sport Policy: Assessment and Possible Ways Forward” (IP / B / CULT / IC / 2020-025).

The consortium also included the European Physical Education Association (EUPEA) and the European youth sports organization ENGSO Youth. These partners were represented by Claude Scheuer (also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the WGI) and Ugne Chmeliauskaite (Chair of ENGSO Youth). Sebastian Brückner and Christina Uhlenbrock also worked on this project for WGI and in cooperation with the WGI.

The study was published in June 2021 and also presented at a session of the European Parliament on June 22, 2021. The link to download the study and the video of the plenary session can be found in the container on the right side of this page.