Exercise and a healthy diet are key prerequisites for coping with the demands of the various phases of learning, work and life over the entire life course. Accordingly, a differentiated range of sports and health-orientated services has been established on the market for some time. The field of fitness and experience-orientated outdoor activities, together with workplace health promotion, is one of the markets with growth potential. A worrying side development is the increasing development and distribution of foods with additional benefits. Here it is important to raise awareness and assess the consequences. Overall, it can be seen that the field of preventive health care is continuing to expand rapidly. The relationships between individuals and environmental and lifestyle factors are becoming increasingly complex in a society that is increasingly characterised by information. This results in a growing demand for competent graduates who are able to develop and implement target group-oriented education and counselling programmes in the sports and health sector as well as in relation to private lifestyles. In addition, there is a growing need for application-oriented research in the field of sport, nutrition and health, both from a social and behavioural science perspective and from a medical and natural science perspective.

In addition to the advancing changes in the school and education sector and the increasing demands in the context of organisational development in popular sport as well as in the sport and training operations of competitive and elite sport, the areas of social development outlined above pose major challenges for the department. The current eight professorships in the departments of Sports Science and Sports Medicine as well as Nutrition, Consumption and Health are tackling these challenges with their research and teaching.

The protection and promotion of human health is of particular importance within the department's main focus. The departments involved utilise synergies in order to:

• develop and expand the scientific basis for the mental, physical and social well-being of people,
• develop future-oriented concepts for support and advice in individual and organisational health promotion and training management as well as nutrition and consumer education,
• to establish scientific partnerships for the healthcare industry, the healthcare sector and the food industry,
• provide targeted advice and support to organisations and stakeholders in educational, sports and health facilities with regard to the requirements for their professionalism and development opportunities, and
• to develop and network support programmes for innovative training and further education for stakeholders in nutrition and consumer education and all fields of sport.