Melanie Lang

Melanie is Director of the Centre for Safeguarding and Child Protection in Sport (CPSS) and a Reader in Child Protection and Safeguarding in Sport at Edge Hill University, in the UK. Her teaching and research focus on : children’s rights in sport, with a particular focus on participation rights (‘voice’) and protection rights; ; approaches to engage children, young people, and ‘survivors’ of violence and abuse in sport into safe sport research and practice. In a career spanning almost 20 years, Melanie has worked with national and international sport federations, safeguarding professionals, coaching organizations, sport policymakers, athletes and ‘survivors’ of violence in sport to make sport safer by developing and evaluating evidence-based safeguarding and athlete welfare provision. She has delivered training and has advised on various aspects of safe sport for the International Olympic Committee, the Canadian Coaching Association, and the Sport England NSPCC Child Protection in Sport Unit. She is a former elite athlete, ‘survivor’ of abuse and an ambassador for the UK-based charitable organization Freedom from Abuse.