The precondition and basis of any sporting competition is that it is subject to the principles of fairness and equality of opportunity. This requires that both the individuals and the organisations involved act with integrity in order to protect the competition itself.

Integrity in sport can be threatened by various phenomena. The most important of these are doping, match-fixing, betting fraud, corruption, discrimination and various forms of (interpersonal) violence. What these phenomena have in common is that, through their occurrence, aberrations are triggered on various levels: For example, they threaten equality of opportunity within competitions, thereby jeopardising fair competitions as such; they can have a negative impact on the integrated and transparent operation of organisations; and, finally, they pose a (direct or indirect) threat to the psychological and physical integrity of individuals.

Against this background, maintaining integrity in sport is of fundamental importance and thus also has a protective function for the individuals within the system. The BISp therefore aims to bring together existing knowledge and expertise on the various integrity issues in order to exploit the resulting synergy effects for effective preventive measures.

Anti-Doping and Doping Prevention
In the area of anti-doping, the focus on preventive research content is of particular importance, which focuses on behaviour- and relationship-preventive approaches as well as target-oriented communication and dialogue strategies. This includes an examination of the social structures of sport in the context in which it is conducted.

Projects:
• Development and Evaluation of a Value-Based Doping Prevention Programme in Competitive Youth Sports
• Figurations of the use of painkillers in top handball - patterns of regulation and interdependencies (FideliS study)
• Whistleblowing on Doping in Sport - Social Conditions and Generative Mechanisms
• Digital athlete participation in doping prevention
• Participation and Co-Determination of Athletes and Athlete Representatives in Doping Prevention - A Comparison of Participation Processes in the European Context of Doping Prevention
• (Top) Coaches and the Media - An Analysis of the Perception and Evaluation of Doping

Preventing Interpersonal Violence
The prevention of interpersonal violence focuses on measures to reduce risk factors and measures to build up protective factors. Interpersonal violence includes all forms of physical, psychological and sexualised violence. At the national level, the issue is addressed through the establishment of the Centre for Safe Sport, which serves as a point of contact for prevention, intervention and follow-up of past cases.

Projects:
• Facility for safe and non-violent sport: A feasibility study
• TraiNah - Coaches as central actors in the prevention of sexualised violence: Dealing with proximity and distance in the system of junior competitive sport
• Development and implementation of codes of conduct as a core element of prevention and support concepts Prevention of Violence and Promotion of Pedagogical Training Quality in the German Gymnastics Association
• Safe Sport Code - an exemplary set of rules against interpersonal violence in sport

Anti-Discrimination
Integrity in sport also means creating a safe and non-discriminatory space for sport. For this purpose, it is necessary to examine whether discriminating behaviour is present in sport and which structural and individual factors facilitate discriminating behaviour. Upon these findings, strategies for prevention and education can be developed in order to create a space free of discrimination and to ensure the respect of human rights in sport.

Projects:
• Rassism in top-class sport: Awareness, Experiences and Action Perspectives for Non-discriminatory Structures in Sport

Tackling Match-Fixing
The manipulation of sports competitions poses a threat to the integrity of sport and damages the credibility, transparency and fairness of sports competitions. The prevention of match-fixing at both the personal and the structural level is an important area of research, but one which has only been addressed to a limited extent in Germany.

Projects:
• Match-fixing - Fight against match manipulation: Evaluation of preventive measures in organised sport

Preventing Corruption
According to Transparency International, corruption is "the abuse of entrusted power for private benefit or advantage" (Transparency International, 2023). In sport, corruption can be a problem, for example, in the awarding of major sporting events, the distribution of funding or the bribery of referees. The close links between corruption and match-fixing are evident here.

Projects
• Distortions of competition in sport