David Baur

David Baur holds a B.Sc. in Psychology and is currently pursuing an M.Sc. in Sport Psychology at HSD Hochschule Döpfer, offered in cooperation with the IST University of Applied Sciences for Management. His main interests lie in human performance, performance psychology, psychophysiology, and the psychological processes that enable individuals to perform effectively under pressure.

He is particularly interested in how people can regulate stress and emotions, maintain focus and decision-making abilities in demanding situations, and develop sustainable strategies to improve performance and recovery. His interests extend beyond sport to high-performance environments more broadly, including organizational and professional settings.

Over the past three years, David has spent extended periods in Thailand, where he has been closely involved in Muay Thai and MMA environments and gained practical insights through regular interaction with professional athletes and coaches. Combat sports particularly shaped his interest in performance under pressure, as they combine intense physiological arousal, perceived threat, public evaluation, and a high degree of individual responsibility within a highly demanding performance environment. These experiences strengthened his interest in understanding how individuals regulate stress and emotions while maintaining effective performance under extreme pressure.

During his internship with the Performance Psychophysiology group at the Institute of Psychology, German Sport University Cologne (HRV LABorde), he aims to deepen his scientific and practical understanding of heart rate variability, performance psychophysiology, and research methodology. In the long term, David aims to apply psychological science to the development and optimization of human performance across different high-performance contexts.