CHAMPION Research Projects

This study aims to investigate the effect of an individualized training program, implemented during neoadjuvant chemotherapy. This explorative approach of prehabilitation might mitigate the degradation processes of musculoskeletal structures and associated functional limitations during and after acute therapy for the treatment of bone tumors in children and adolescents.

Chair: Preventive Pediatrics,   Project Website: Kinderklinik Schwabing,   Funding: Initiative krebskranke Kinder München e.V., 

Focus Topic: Physical Health 

Cardiovascular late effects following childhood cancer are problematic. The early detection of subclinical changes is scarcely achievable with conventional diagnostic methods, but may be successful under physical stress. This study examines cardiac function in individuals aged 10-25 years in the first and fifth year post-therapy using stress echocardiography and spiroergometry, comparing the results with those of healthy control subjects

Chair: Preventive Pediatrics,   Project Website: Kinderklinik Schwabing,   Funding: German Heart Research Foundation

Focus Topic: Physical Health

Since 2016, the fit4future program, supported by DAK-Gesundheit and the fit4future foundation Germany, has encouraged children and adolescents to lead a healthy lifestyle. In 2022, a new four-year phase began, focusing on empowering schools and daycare centers to independently implement health promotion activities. This is done through workshops, lesson series, and digital materials. The working group evaluates implementation and effectiveness using quantitative and qualitative methods, allowing the program to continuously adapt and advance health promotion research.

Chair: Didactics in Sport and Health,   Project Website: fit4future,   Funding: DAK Gesundheit

Focus Topic: Physical Health, Mental Health, School Health

The project "Interaction – Seeing students through teacher eyes" studies teacher-student interactions, focusing on teachers' diagnostic competence. According to adaptive teaching concepts, teachers who accurately assess students’ motivation, interest, and cognitive abilities can better tailor instruction to individual needs, leading to improved learning outcomes. It's especially important to identify students who overestimate or underestimate their abilities. However, current findings show that teachers mainly interact with students they perceive as high-performing to maintain a smooth lesson flow. Educational researchers also highlight that teachers often lack diagnostic skills, particularly in recognizing inconsistencies in students' cognitive and motivational characteristics.

Chair: Educational Psychology,   Project Website: Interaction,   Funding: DFG

Focus Topic: School Health

Current medical treatments result in high survival rates for childhood cancer. However, various side effects and late consequences can significantly impact the activity and participation of affected children and adolescents. This project aims to investigate the influence of social determinants, especially parental social status, on the participation and activity of children and adolescents (ages 10 to 18) with leukemia, brain tumors, and sarcomas. Data will be collected through a prospective multicenter study at three time points: t1 (within the first month after diagnosis), t2 (after therapy completion), and t3 (six months post-therapy). The project seeks to provide valuable insights into social risk groups to identify and support children and adolescents in high-risk situations early on.

Chair: Social Determinants of Health,   Project Website: SupaTeen,   Funding: Deutsche Krebshilfe

Focus Topic: Physical Health, Mental Health, School Health

The project draws on primary quantitative and qualitative data collected among adolescent girls in Zambia and India to assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on gender inequality in the Global South. It thereby puts specific focus on three central indicators of gender inequality, namely (1) gender-based violence (SDG target 5.2), (2) child and forced marriage (SDG target 5.3), and (3) sexual and reproductive health (SDG target 5.6).

Chair: Professorship of Global Health,   Project Website: COVID-19,   Funding: DFG, 

Focus Topic: Physical Health

This study includes stress, exercise, sleep, physical fitness and the vascular status of the patients. Activity, stress and sleep are measured over seven days using wearable technology - watches that make it possible to collect large amounts of data around the clock and evaluate it pseudonymously. We hope that these technical possibilities will enable us to make precise statements about the three parameters and also provide important conclusions about the fitness and vascular structures of these patients.

Chair: Preventive Pediatrics,   Project Website: Tensioned,   Funding: Fördergemeinschaft Deutsche Kinderherzzentren e.V

Focus Topic: Physical Health, Mental Health

Competitive sports in childhood and adolescence often require weekly training loads of 10-20 hours, far exceeding the WHO recommended 60 minutes of daily physical activity. This can negatively impact the cardiovascular system, similar to adult athletes. Therefore, early monitoring of cardiovascular health in young athletes is of great importance. The MuCAYA+ study is a project funded by the DFG, which over three years explores the effects of intense physical activity on children and adolescents. Annually, 250 young athletes are examined in the sports medicine outpatient clinic to analyze the relationship between cardiovascular adaptations, exercise and performance, body composition, eating habits and biochemical factors.

Chair: Preventive Pediatrics,   Project Website: Mucaya+,   Funding: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft: DFG

Focus Topic: Physical Health

The project aims to provide children and adolescents with chronic diseases or post-traumatic stress disorder with access to sports programs and physical activity. The project is funded by the EU until June 2025. Our chair is coordinating the consortium. The partnership includes universities and organizations from Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal. In cooperation, a training manual for exercise instructors will be developed to train affected persons in a professional and sustainable way. In addition, the establishment of an online platform will make information and sports programs easily accessible to all groups of the European population and build a network of health experts. For more information, visit the project website or the social channels of KTM goes Europe - cordially fit.

Chair: Preventive Pediatrics, Project Website: Insta: ktm_kidstumove, X: @kidsTUMoveEU, Funding: European Union - ERASMUS+

Focus Topic: Physical Health, Mental Health

The EU4Health-funded European research network Schools4Health (2023-2026) aims to introduce, strengthen, and sustain the health promoting school (HPS) approach of the World Health Organization in Europe.

Schools4Health sets out the goal to transform schools into health-promoting schools, involving education and health stakeholders. In the project, 16 schools from eight EU countries will use existing school health intervention projects, with resources accessible online. These will be adapted to the specific context and subsequently implemented and evaluated with the involvement of various local stakeholders. The resources created will be summarized and made accessible online in the Schools4Health hub.

Chair: Professorship of Health Literacy,   Project Website: TUM Health Literacy Unit website,   Funding: European Commission

Focus Topic: School Health Literacy, Health Promoting Schools

"Naturhelden” (Heroes of Nature) is an environmental protection project at school for young students in the 3rd and 4th grades at primary and special schools. Overall, it reaches 500 schools nationwide. The goal is to raise children's awareness of environmental protection, health and sustainable behavior. With outdoor events, action days and practical content, the project promotes empowerment, awareness and participation. The TUM Professorship of Health Literacy provides scientific support for the project and evaluates its impact.

Chair: Professorship of Health Literacy,   Project Website: Naturhelden website, TUM Health Literacy Unit website ,   Funding: Stiftung RTL – Wir helfen Kindern e. V.

Focus Topic: School Health, Climate and Environmental Health

The project on health literacy of children and adolescents was launched in 2023 and will run for three years until 2025. Donau University Krems, Gesundheit Österreich GmbH and TU Munich are jointly developing a child- and adolescent-centered conceptual health literacy model. Existing definitions and models of health literacy do not consider children´s perspectives sufficiently. Therefore, children and adolescents will be actively involved as co-researchers in order to incorporate their experiences and perspectives about health literacy. 

Chair: Professorship of Health Literacy,   Project Website: KoKo Health website,   Funding: Gesellschaft für Forschungsförderung Niederösterreich 

Focus Topic: Physical Health

In order to develop an information platform for healthy living, the TUM Professorship of Health Literacy collaborate with Helmholtz Munich and Fulda University of Applied Sciences in the "Health Promotion Academy." The project, funded by AOK Bayern, has developed and evaluated an information and learning platform focusing healthy living to enhance health literacy among secondary school students and teachers. 

Chair: Professorship of Health Literacy,   Project Website: Health Promotion Academy website,   Funding: AOK Bavaria

Focus Topic: School Health

The "Heath Literate Health Region Bavaria (Gesundheitskompetente Gesundheitsregionen^plus  in Bayern (GeKoRegio-Bayern))" project aims to develop an organizational health literacy framework for preschool and kindergarten settings in collaboration with the Bavarian Gesundheitsregion^plus in the Neu-Ulm region, promoting health literacy among children, staff, and parents.

To achieve the goal, a guide for health literate kindergartens and preschools has been developed, including health literacy standards and indicators, and will be implemented and evaluated.

Chair: Professorship of Health Literacy,   Project Website:  HeLit-PreSchools website,   Funding: Bavarian State Ministry for Health and Nursing 

Focus Topic: School Health, Mental Health, Environmental and Climate Health

The aim of the project "Health Literate Schools (HeLit-Schools)" is to adapt the organizational health literacy framework to the context of schools in Germany.

By using a whole-of-school approach, we aim at optimizing school structures and networks in relation to health literacy. On the short-term, the framework should facilitate the promotion of health literacy in different population groups within and outside of school. In the mid-and long-term, this will contribute to sustainably strengthening personal health literacy of school-aged children and the organizational health literacy of schools. 

Chair: Professorship of Health Literacy,   Project Website: HeLit-Schools website,   Funding: School Health Literacy, Organizational Health Literacy

Focus Topic: chool Health, Mental Health, Environmental and Climate Health

The 'DURCHBLICKT!' research consortium aims to investigate the state of digital health literacy in schools for the first time in Germany, including students, teachers, and staff. The TUM health literacy research unit is working with the University of Potsdam to develop and evaluate digital situational analysis tools, questionnaires, and interventions to promote digital health literacy in the school context. The materials are available at an online platform for students, teachers, and parents.

Chair: Professorship of Health Literacy,   Project Website: Durchblickt website,   Funding: BARMER

Focus Topic: School Health

BLISS was funded by the EU Erasmus+ program and aimed at promoting digital health literacy in the school context through educational, pedagogical and social interventions. The primary target groups are schoolchildren and teachers. The digital health literacy curriculum for schools has been released and can be downloaded on the project website.

Chair: Professorship of Health Literacy,   Project Website: BLISS website,   Funding: ERASMUS+

Focus Topic:  School Health

The WHO Collaborating Centre for Health Literacy at the Department of Health and Sport Sciences at the TUM School of Medicine and Health was established on December 8, 2023 and is headed by Prof. Dr. Orkan Okan. It supports the WHO in the implementation of its global agenda to strengthen health literacy. The aim is to develop national strategies and policies to promote a healthy population in each WHO member state. The Center works closely with the WHO headquarters in Geneva and the Regional Office for Europe in Copenhagen.

Chair: Professorship of Health Literacy,   Project Website: TUM Health Literacy Unit website,   Funding:

Focus Topic: School Health, Physical Health, Mental Health, Climate and Environmental Health

TUM4Health is TUM's holistic student health management program. The offers are demand-oriented, target group-specific, low-threshold and always free of charge for TUM students. TUM4Health is an exclusive and far-reaching offer for TUM students, with the aim of making TUM an outstanding health-promoting university and creating a good study (work) life balance for students. The focus is on training and strengthening the resources of each individual, developing health awareness and changing the living environment. To this end, all key health-promoting levels are included: Strengthening the skills and resources of each individual, Development of health-promoting framework conditions and Participation in the "TUM" living environment. Based on targeted data collection of health parameters (TUM health survey, own sports medicine measurements, quick surveys on well-being, etc.), the offers of TUM4Health are always adapted to the needs of the students in order to support sustainable and healthy development.

Chair: Preventive Pediatrics,   Project Webiste: TUM4Health ,   Funding: Techniker Krankenkasse

Focus Topic: Physical Health, Mental Health, School/Student Health

Led by University of Emden/Leer and in collaboration with 19 partners from 14 countries, the EARLY project aims to provide data on the mental health of young people in the European region and to design, implement, and evaluate evidence-based interventions. The project focuses on physical illnesses such as depression, anxiety, and substance use disorders. The results will be used to improve the care and promotion of mental health in both European healthcare systems and the living environments of young people.

Chair: Professorship of Health Literacy,   Project Website:EARLY Website,   Funding: European Union Framework Project Horizon Europe

Focus Topic: Mental Health

The Health Literacy in Childhood and Adolescence (HLCA) research consortium was a large-scale health literacy consortium that ran for almost ten years and included more than 20 projects on health literacy, mental health literacy, and digital health literacy. The focus was on children, adolescents, parents, professionals, and systems. Funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, the concepts, models, tools, interventions, and policy mechanisms developed, tested, and evaluated in HLCA, are now underpinning many of the projects at the TU Munich Professorship of Health Literacy the TUM WHO Collaborating Center for Health Literacy.

Chair: Professorship of Health Literacy,   Project Website: HLCA website,   Funding: Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Focus Topic: school Health, Mental Health

The goal of the project is to develop quality indicators for evaluating and developing interventions and/or support measures to enhance health literacy (HL) in non-work environments and settings (e.g., municipalities, daycare centers, schools, digital settings). The target populations may include children, adolescents, and adults who are present in these settings. The focus is on the areas of health promotion and prevention. The quality indicators will be translated to a checklist and serve both the professional health promotion and prevention communities to support their field work as well as the work of the Federal Institute of Public Health – BiöG (e.g., for the evaluation of external measures or the development of its own measures).

Chair: Professorship of Health Literacy,   Project Website: Qualindo Projekt ,   Funding: Federal Center for Health Education 

Focus Topic: Physical Health, Mental Health, School Health  

Worldwide, 1.5 billion children experience violence in their upbringing. The toxic stress associated with violence affects the developing brain and causes risks in children's behavior and social and emotional functioning. The project will explore the feasibility and acceptability of the interventions and test the initial effectiveness of reducing violence by parents and teachers. To this end, the research team will conduct a two-arm, school-based pilot trial with mixed methods (cluster randomized controlled trial, CRCT) in Tanzania.

Chair: Professorship of Global Health,   Project Website: School-based violence prevention   Funding: Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space

Focus Topic: School Health, Mental Health, Physical Health 

The subproject “Sleep and relaxation” is part of the student health management program TUM4Health and is directed exclusively at students at the Technical University of Munich. The aim is to improve students' sleep health, as poor sleep not only negatively affects mental and physical health, but also academic performance. Initial surveys show that almost half of TUM students suffer from poor sleep quality. The project seeks to promote awareness of healthy sleep behavior and provide concrete assistance through digital offerings and on-site activities. In the current project phase, two measures are being developed: a nudging intervention for first-year students to improve sleep behavior and an online course to promote sleep health. The measures are being developed in a collaborative process by students for students and are intended to support sustainable changes in sleep behavior. In this way, “sleep and rest” become a natural source of energy for academic performance.

Chair: Professorship of Sport- und Health Education ,   Project Website: TUM4Health – Schlaf und Erholung  Funding: Techniker Krankenkasse und TUM Ideenwettbewerb 

Focus Topic: Physical Health, Mental Health

Psychosocial stressors are considered significant risk factors for child development and mental health. Young children, in particular, demonstrate increased vulnerability to stressors due to the high density of sensitive developmental periods. As part of the project, potential stressors for families with children up to primary school age will be identified, and associations with parenting stress as well as parental and child mental health will be examined. In line with the multicausal risk model, influencing factors from various areas of family life will be taken into account. Based on the research findings, conclusions can be drawn not only about the current support needs of young families but also about appropriate interventions to prevent the chronification of stress symptoms within families.

Chair: Social Pediatrics Technical University of Munich

Focus Topic: Mental Health

The health and ability to work of teachers is an important determinant for a healthy school system. The BaLko project therefore wants to address the current health challenges faced by teachers and contribute to improving their mental health through practical and effective measures. Based on an analysis of the current situation and a profile analysis of the key requirements and resources in the teaching profession, tailor-made digital measures will be developed with the participation of teachers and made freely available to teachers in Bavaria in an app.

Chair: Professorship of Sports and Health Education, Funding: AOK Bavaria

Focus Topic: School Health, Mental Health

Children and adolescents often do not exercise enough and exhibit health problems, while teachers face stress and experience psychosocial strain. School as a setting is therefore increasingly characterized by health challenges. In this context, outdoor teaching, i.e., regular, curriculum-compliant teaching outside the classroom, becomes more important because it can apparently have positive effects on these problems. In our project, researcher investigate how regular lessons in natural environments affect the cognitive performance and mental well-being of students, as well as the stress levels and activity of teachers.

Chair: Professorship of Sport- and Health Education, Funding: Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture

Focus Topic: Physical Health, Mental Health, School Health, Environmental Health

The project investigates how different forest environments and microclimatic conditions affect the stress levels of young people (aged 11 to 17). During guided walks through renaturalized riparian forests, researchers record heart rate and cortisol levels and ask participants about their temperature sensation and stress experience. The study combines nature-based health promotion with education for sustainable development and offers school classes the opportunity to actively participate in current research. The project is being carried out at the Chair of Sports and Health Education in cooperation with the Chair of Ecoclimatology (both TUM) and other partners.

Chair: Professorship of Sport- und Health Education, Funding: Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space 

Focus Topic: Climate and Environmental Health, Mental Health, Physical Health

PAKTan II is a health promotion project in 20 facilities run by AWO Bavaria. It is based on “PAKTan I” and focuses on scaling up the findings from the previous study and setting up a sustainable intervention plan that works in everyday life. The project is based on a two-step training plan that's set up in two survey waves with a total of 20 facilities. The findings will serve as the basis for a transferable and scalable model for supporting organizations such as AWO. While PAKTan I evaluated the fundamental effectiveness of measures to promote physical activity in everyday life at daycare centers, PAKTan II is now investigating how these measures can be anchored in the long term under various social, spatial, and structural conditions.

Chair: Professorship of Sports and Health Education,   Project Website: PAKT an Website,   Funding: Healthy Living Bavaria; Bavarian State Ministry of Health, Care, and Prevention; GKV Alliance for Health in Bavaria 

Focus Topic: School Health

The Games project is organized by the Bavarian Handball Association in cooperation with the Chair of Sports and Health Education. With the introduction of the nationwide legal entitlement to full-day care from the first grade onwards from 2026/27, the project focuses on examining and shaping the full-day care sector. The project comprises six initial work packages, which are continuously evaluated and slightly adjusted and modified depending on short-term social developments. The aim is to enable handball clubs in Bavaria to make the most of the opportunities offered by all-day care for their work with children and young people.

Chair: Professorship of Sports and Health Education,   Project Website: GAMES website,   Funding: Bavarian Handball Association

Focus Topic: School Health, Physical Health

In recent years, the health situation of students has become increasingly worse. The rise in mental health issues and stress-induced health problems is alarming. BARMER Campus Coach is a prevention program that is also offered at the Technical University of Munich as part of TUM4Mind. This program addresses key issues of physical and mental health such as nutrition, fitness, stress, and addiction. A wide range of services supports participants: app-based use, free access to mindfulness applications, digital information and events, as well as workshops and lectures contribute to the sustainable establishment of health-promoting structures at universities. 

Chair: Professorship of Health Literacy,   Project Website: BARMER Campus Coach Website,   Funding: BARMER Krankenkasse 

Focus Topic: School Health, Mental Health, Physical Health