Double seminar: Dr Vanessa Wergin and Dr Jessica Lee
Collective team collapse - What to do when team performance breaks down
Collective team collapse describes the phenomenon when the performance of an entire sports team suddenly collapses within an important game (Wergin et al., 2018, 2019). Causes and underlying mechanisms of collective team collapse will be presented before our current research investigating the importance of individual and interpersonal emotion regulation in team collapse situations will be introduced. Practical implications and potential interventions for the sports domain as well as for industry will be discussed.
Dr Vanessa Wergin is a former elite athlete in Artistic Roller Skating on the German national team. She studied Psychology (B.Sc. and M.Sc.) in Frankfurt (Germany), Amsterdam (Netherlands), and Milwaukee (WI, USA), before conducting her PhD in Sport Psychology on the topic of collective team collapse at the Technical University of Munich in 2019. Her PhD and postdoctoral research have been honoured with several German and international awards. Since 2022 Vanessa is a Visiting Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of Queensland, Australia, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
Physical activity, health, and society: an introduction to Dr Lee’s research
Dr Jessica Lee, in her seminar, will present her current research on physical activity, health, and related pedagogies. Drawing from her expertise in young people’s experiences of physical activity, health, and education, she critically examines policy, curriculum, and practice. Despite a wealth of evidence from critical public health and critical health pedagogies, many existing policies and practices fail to align with the perspectives and needs of their intended beneficiaries. Dr Lee will discuss two ongoing projects: one focused on knowledge translation in physical activity and public health pedagogies, and the other exploring the role of local government in promoting health and physical activity, particularly for young people and diverse communities. Additionally, she will outline some future project ideas.
Dr Jessica Lee is recognised both nationally and internationally as a distinguished academic in the field of health, physical activity, and physical education. She has successfully secured research funding from international organisations and national government entities, and her work has been featured in prominent journals and international compilations. Jessica approaches her work from a critical and sociological standpoint, focusing on enhancing equity and inclusion in health and physical education, as well as contributing to broader pedagogies and policies related to physical activity. Her diverse range of experience enables her to engage in cross-disciplinary research and learning and teaching.