Overview
Background
Dr Vanessa Wergin is a former elite athlete who represented Germany on the national team in artistic skating and brings that firsthand experience to her work as a sport psychologist. She holds a PhD in Sport Psychology, alongside training in clinical and organisational psychology, and is a registered Sport Psychologist with the German Association of Sport Psychology. She has worked as an applied sport psychologist with elite athletes and national as well as international elite sporting organisations for more than 10 years and teaches within Germany's national Sport Psychology Certification Program.
Dr Wergin is currently a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland, Australia, where her research explores collective team collapse — the sudden and shared performance breakdown of entire sports teams—, as well as the delivery of social identity interventions across sport and diverse health settings.
Availability
- Dr Vanessa Wergin is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Qualifications
- Bachelor, Goethe-University Frankfurt
- Masters (Coursework), Goethe-University Frankfurt
- Doctor of Philosophy of Sport and Exercise Psychology, Technical University of Munich
Research impacts
Dr Vanessa Wergin is a leading researcher in team performance under pressure, a former elite athlete, and a member of both the Social Identity in Groups Network at the School of Psychology and the Sport Coaching Research Special Interest Group at HMNS.
Vanessa’s applied research pioneers the study of collective team collapse, generating knowledge that helps elite teams and coaches build resilience and perform under pressure, including in the lead-up to Brisbane 2032. She also works on the More Than Sport program, an evidence-based intervention with a particular focus on athlete identity and supporting athletes through career transitions. Her contributions to the field were recognised in 2026 with an award from the German Psychological Society for significant contributions to theory development in sport psychology.
Works
Search Professor Vanessa Wergin’s works on UQ eSpace
2021
Journal Article
Dermatoses in competitive athletes
Liebich, Christoph, Wergin, V. V., Schubert, I., Von Bruehl, M. L., Marquart, C., Halle, M., Oberhoffer, R. and Wolfarth, B. (2021). Dermatoses in competitive athletes. Deutsche Zeitschrift fur Sportmedizin, 72 (1), 5-12. doi: 10.5960/dzsm.2020.466
2021
Journal Article
A field study investigating running distance and affect of field hockey players in collective team collapse situations
Vanessa Wergin, V., Zimanyi, Zsuzsanna and Beckmann, Jürgen (2021). A field study investigating running distance and affect of field hockey players in collective team collapse situations. International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 19 (4), 584-597. doi: 10.1080/1612197X.2020.1817123
2021
Book Chapter
Choking under pressure
Mesagno, Christopher, Ehrlenspiel, Felix, Wergin, V. Vanessa and Gröpel, Peter (2021). Choking under pressure. Sport, exercise and performance psychology: research directions to advance the field. (pp. 31-45) edited by Edson Filho and Itay Basevitch. New York, NY, United States: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.1093/oso/9780197512494.003.0003
2020
Journal Article
Investigating cumulative effects of preperformance routine interventions in beach volleyball serving
Wergin, V. Vanessa, Beckmann, Jürgen, Gröpel, Peter and Mesagno, Christopher (2020). Investigating cumulative effects of preperformance routine interventions in beach volleyball serving. PloS One, 15 (1) e0228012, e0228012. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0228012
2019
Journal Article
Primed to perform: comparing different pre-performance routine interventions to improve accuracy in closed, self-paced motor tasks
Mesagno, Christopher, Beckmann, Jürgen, Wergin, V. Vanessa and Gröpel, Peter (2019). Primed to perform: comparing different pre-performance routine interventions to improve accuracy in closed, self-paced motor tasks. Psychology of Sport and Exercise, 43, 73-81. doi: 10.1016/j.psychsport.2019.01.001
2019
Journal Article
When you watch your team fall apart - coaches' and sport psychologists' perceptions on causes of collective sport team collapse
Wergin, V. Vanessa, Mallett, Clifford J., Mesagno, Christopher, Zimanyi, Zsuzsanna and Beckmann, Juergen (2019). When you watch your team fall apart - coaches' and sport psychologists' perceptions on causes of collective sport team collapse. Frontiers in Psychology, 10 (JUN) 331, 1331. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01331
2018
Book Chapter
Volitionale Aspekte sportlichen Handelns
Wergin, V. Vanessa and Beckmann, Jürgen (2018). Volitionale Aspekte sportlichen Handelns. Sport in Kultur und Gesellschaft. (pp. 1-13) Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. doi: 10.1007/978-3-662-53385-7_40-1
2018
Journal Article
When suddenly nothing works anymore within a team - causes of collective sport team collapse
Wergin, V. Vanessa, Zimanyi, Zsuzsanna, Mesagno, Christopher and Beckmann, Juergen (2018). When suddenly nothing works anymore within a team - causes of collective sport team collapse. Frontiers in Psychology, 9 (NOV) 2115, 2115. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02115
Supervision
Availability
- Dr Vanessa Wergin is:
- Available for supervision
Looking for a supervisor? Read our advice on how to choose a supervisor.
Supervision history
Current supervision
-
Doctor Philosophy
Mental health of athletes in subjectively judged sports such as dance, gymnastics, and figure skating
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Cliff Mallett
Media
Enquiries
Contact Dr Vanessa Wergin directly for media enquiries about their areas of expertise.
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