than the researcher. The www.GameChanger.nu knowledge platform created by Danish League and DBU can be a way to share the most important findings of the research project to a broader user group.
“I love collaborating with people who see things differently, and they know some other methods and people who think something other than oneself.” In the model in Figure 7, we illustrate the cross-disciplinary options by the circle in the centre, while the triangles illustrate the ongoing potential collaboration opportunities in research projects.
Cross disciplinary and impact-based research
Another key insight from the researcher workshop was that they found it inspiring and interesting to do future research across different research traditions:
Furthermore, researchers were perfectly aware of researcher-student collaboration, and forming these teams they know is perceived as a tremendous resource for potential collaborating partners:
"Co-create research across units to utilise the different skills of the units. In projects it could be a mix of quantitative data in relation to player performance together with ‘soft’ data of the player experiences."
"It is enormously rewarding to see that some of our students from the Esbjerg study programme are out in the clubs, and this provides close collaboration with the clubs. They experience the challenge that the most important thing for the clubs is to win, and they want an answer to a question, and it is a challenge to find methods where we cannot control quite as much as when we control it in a laboratory."
The researcher who made this quote highlights the possibility of working more closely between research units. By creating and developing research projects together, the units can explore each other's skills and expertise, creating a broader view on a given problem. A researcher describes how a project can be based on a specific case from a football club, and by interdisciplinary collaboration from different research units (e.g. for creating a better performance environment), the project will utilise the strengths of different research units. This interdisciplinary collaboration between research units also creates the opportunity for the researcher to broaden their network. The workshop in itself seems for the researchers to be an eye-opener to the opportunities hidden in their own organisation.
Suggestions for future research focuses
An interesting aspect that was identified during the workshop was the need for research solutions that empower the end-user to analyse and interpret self-generated data, and through this approach to push research knowledge closer to the daily practice of football, at elite levels, but also at grassroots and NGO levels. That should be possible by creating tools through which the end-user can influence and create the future.
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