Body, Physical Activity, and Sport Study Group (GECAFD)

This research line focuses on the study of corporeality as a constitutive dimension of human beings and its role in shaping subjectivities, identities, and social representations. It seeks to understand how bodily practices in their multiple forms—including everyday life, education, physical activity, play, dance, and sports—are embedded in processes of social and cultural construction. From an interdisciplinary and critical perspective, this research line examines how corporeality intersects with dynamics of gender, power, diversity, citizenship, and public policy, contributing to the understanding of contemporary social phenomena. Within this framework, bodily practices are expressions of movement and settings for the production of knowledge and discourses associated with the body and corporeality, influencing the formation of experiences, cultural transmission, and the construction of citizenship.

This research line studies the interactions among physical, psychological, sociological, and environmental factors from a long-term perspective throughout the process of sports talent development, regardless of the athlete’s stage of training (Initiation, Development, Sports Performance Enhancement, and Detraining).

From a multidisciplinary perspective, this research line aims to generate scientific knowledge through research applied to sports practice across different areas: Sports Psychology, Sports Biomechanics, Exercise Physiology, Sports Training Pedagogy, Sports Medicine, Sports Physiotherapy, and Sports Sociology.

This research line studies the acute and chronic adaptations resulting from physical activity in combination with multifactorial health determinants, including sedentary behaviors, functional capacity, different pathological conditions, and their potential associations with the aging process. It is also interested in investigating pedagogical phenomena and processes that involve understanding and developing skills related to physical activity and its variables across different population groups.

This research line promotes the development and application of technologies that support sports practice and physical activity to enhance overall well-being and quality of life. It is oriented toward the scientific and technological development of contemporary society and draws on the interdisciplinary nature of the sciences that contribute to understanding the most appropriate and effective methodologies for the study of physical activity, sports, recreation, physical conditioning, motor development, aging, among other areas.