Dr. Dieter Hackfort is a professor for sport and exercise psychology with the University AF Munich since 1991 and Head of the Institute for Sport Science. He received his doctoral degree in 1983 from the German Sport University. In 1986 he was a visiting professor at the Center for Behavioral Medicine and Health Psychology at the University of South Florida in Tampa and received tenure at the University of Heidelberg. From 2004 to 2009 Dr. Hackfort held the position as the founding Dean of Aspire the Academy for Sports Excellence in Doha, Qatar. From 2009 to 2010 he served as the founding Director of the Sport Science Program at Qatar University.

Since 1986 he has served as a counselor for professional performers and Olympic athletes of various sports. Dr. Hackfort is the editor of several national (Germany) and international book series in sport science and sport and exercise psychology. From 1996 to 2007 he served as an editor-in-chief for the International Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology (IJSEP). His research has been published in 27 books and edited volumes, and in more than 160 contributions in national and international journals. His main research interests are presently performance enhancement management, quality management, and the development of a mental test and training system. These various issues are connected with the development of an action theory approach in the social sciences, especially in sport and exercise psychology and the development of psycho-diagnostic measurements based on this conceptual framework.

From 2005 to 2009 Dr. Hackfort served as the president of the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP), at present he holds the office of the past-president of the organization. Dr. Hackfort was awarded repeatedly for his outstanding research and leadership nationally (Germany) and internationally; in 2001 he received the Honor Award of the International Society of Sport Psychology (ISSP), and in 1999 he was appointed Honor Professor of Wuhan Institute of Physical Education, China.