Emilia Backman defends her PhD thesis
Title
'Compassionate Elite Sports Environments - Investigating and Enhancing Compassion in the High-Performance Context of Elite Sport'.
Time and place
24 January 2025 at 2 pm (CET).
The defence will take place in Auditorium 1.1.18, The Faculty of Social Sciences (CSS), Øster Farimagsgade 5, Building 1, 1353 Copenhagen.
The defence will also be available via Zoom.
Click here to join the defence.
Passcode: 938157.
After the defence, there will be a reception at 5:30 pm in room 03.2.M202, the Department of Psychology, Øster Farimagsgade 2A, 1353 Copenhagen.
Assessment committee
- Professor Pia Ingold, University of Copenhagen, Denmark (chair)
- Associate Professor Marte Bentzen, Norwegian School of Sport Sciences, Norway
- Professor Kent Kowalski, University of Saskatchewan, Canada
Supervisor
- Professor Ingo Zettler, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract
The thesis explores the role of compassion within elite sports environments. Using a range of methodological approaches, it examines how compassion can contribute to the wellbeing, performance, and development of athletes and coaches while addressing the challenges of integrating compassion into high-performance settings. It comprises four studies: a scoping review of interpersonal compassion in sports, interviews with high-performance coaches examining both the benefits and challenges of compassion in the context of elite sport, an evaluation of The True Athlete Project’s global mentoring program, and a mixed-methods analysis of a compassion-based intervention developed for high-performance coaches. Together, these studies highlight compassion’s potential to foster supportive, high-performing sports environments, offering valuable insights for both research and practical application.
