The National Anti Doping Agency of Germany (NADA Germany) participated as a partner in the kick-off meeting of the international research projects "Supporting anti-doping via Transforming Athletes' Life Experience after Doping into Education Resources and Policy Recommendations (TALE)" and "What about us" at UMIT TIROL in Hall in Tirol, Austria.
The project investigates how anti-doping rule violations, the resulting sanctions and the need for support are perceived from the perspective of athletes. The aim of the project is to develop a better understanding of the situation of athletes who have been sanctioned due to anti-doping rule violations. At the same time, the perspectives of clean athletes are to be analysed. Athletes from different nations will be interviewed for the study in order to incorporate differences in sports disciplines, performance levels, intentionality and socio-demographic factors into the project. The results will be integrated into anti-doping programmes for athletes, but will also serve as a basis for the creation of new anti-doping programmes for sanctioned athletes and their possible reintegration into the sports community.
The "TALE" project is funded by the EU's Erasmus+ programme, while the "What about us" project is funded by the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) Social Science Research Grant. The private university UMIT TIROL (Austria), the University of Münster (Germany), the Eötvös Loránd University Budapest (Hungary) and the National Anti-Doping Organisations from Austria and Slovenia are involved in the Erasmus+ project "TALE". Leeds Beckett University and Kingston University (both in the UK) are also partners in the project thanks to funding from WADA.
