Aurélie Pankowiak

Dr Aurélie Pankowiak is a postdoctoral research fellow within the Institute for Health and Sport. Her research interest and expertise include interpersonal violence in sport, the creation of safe sport environments and diversity/inclusion in sport. Her research focuses on both how sport stakeholders manage these issues, and how they affect sport participants and athletes. Aurélie has developed a research program around the issue of violence against children in Australian sport. She is a co-founder of IRNOVIS (International Research Network on Violence and Integrity in Sport), a collaborative network which aims to develop and advance an international research agenda to study violence and integrity in sport. She is also a member of the Advisory Committee for the “Start To Talk” campaign by Play by the Rules. Start to Talk is an Australian national awareness campaign on sexual abuse against children in sport. As a survivor of child sexual abuse in sport and an academic expert she regularly advises diverse organisations on sport safeguarding initiatives, locally, nationally and internationally (e.g., the Victorian Sport and Recreation Department, Play By The Rules, FIFA, the Army of Survivors) Aurélie has over 10 years of experience as a researcher, consultant and project manager in the sporting industry across the world, including the Caribbean, the USA and Europe. Her PhD work (completed in 2020) examined national Paralympic sport policy.