Tine Vertommen

Dr Vertommen holds a MA in Ethics, a MSc in Criminology and a PhD in Medicine and Health Sciences. Dr Tine Vertommen heads the 'Safeguarding Sport & Society' research line at Thomas More University of Applied Sciences, Belgium. She is also appointed as the external expert consultant to the newly established Safe Sport Unit at the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC), where she is responsible for the knowledge transfer and the evidence-base development of the IOC’s tools, policies, and procedures to promote safe sport. Tine currently coordinates the International Research Network on Violence and Integrity in Sport (IRNOVIS), funded by the Research Foundation Flanders.

Her research focusses on the prevalence and prevention of interpersonal violence against children and adolescents in sport. She was responsible for the first large-scaled study into the prevalence of interpersonal violence in sport in the Netherlands and Belgium, and she co-developed the Interpersonal Violence in Sport Questionnaire, which serves as the foundation of most studies on interpersonal violence in sport worldwide. Dr Vertommen's latest projects focus on the development of bystander interventions to detect and prevent interpersonal violence in local sport clubs.

At the international level, Dr Vertommen is a member of the Council of Europe's Safe Sport Pool of International Experts; the European Commission High-Level Expert Group on Gender Equality in Sport; and the Academic Advisory Board of the IOC Certificate course for Safeguarding Officer in Sport. Her valorization impact is demonstrated by IOC’s selection of Dr Vertommen as one of the 12 leading international experts drafting the forthcoming IOC Consensus Statement on Safeguarding in Sport (2023).

2024 

• Schyvinck, C., Laureys, F., Lefever, E., Constandt, B., Vertommen, T., Haerens, L., & Willem, A. (2024). Ethical Club Climate and Coaching Style: Unveiling Their Role in Coach-Perpetrated Psychological Abuse of Gymnasts. Journal of Sport Management, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.2024-0060
• Tuakli-Wosornu, Y., Burrows, K., Fasting, K., Hartill, M., Hodge, K., Kaufman, K., Kavanagh, E., Kirby, S., MacLeod, J., Mountjoy, M., Parent, S., Tak, M., Vertommen, T., & Rhind, D. (2024). IOC Consensus Statement: Interpersonal Violence and Safeguarding in Sport. British Journal of Sports Medicine 2024;58:1322-1344.
• Adriaens, K., Verhelle, H., Peters, G.-J. Y., Haerens, L., & Vertommen, T. (2024). The Safe Sport Allies Bystander Training: Developing a Multi-Layered Program for Youth Sport Participants and their Coaches to Prevent Harassment and Abuse in Local Sport Clubs. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1389280
• Mountjoy, M., Adriaens, K., Junge, A., Verhelle, H., Laureys, F., Kirby, S., Dienstbach-Wech, L., Foster, J., & Vertommen, T. (2024). Association of self-reported health problems and interpersonal violence in sport: A cross-sectional study in world-level performing athletes. British Journal of Sports Medicine, bjsports-2024-109022. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2024-109022
• Mountjoy, M., Willson, E., & Vertommen, T. (2024). Lived experience of interpersonal violence in sport – enriching sport’s safeguarding journey. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 58(22), 1309–1310. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2024-108868
• Vertommen, T., Mountjoy, M., Constandt, B., & Burrows, K. (2024). Safeguarding policies and practices in International Federations: On the right track? British Journal of Sports Medicine, bjsports-2024-108861. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2024-108861
• Vertommen, T., Woessner, M., Kavanagh, E., Parent, S., Pankowiak, A., Haerens, L., Schyvinck, C., Constandt, B., Spaaij, R., Stevens, V., Willem, A., & Mountjoy, M. (2024). ‘First, do no harm’: Conducting research on interpersonal violence in sport. British Journal of Sports Medicine, bjsports-2024-108767. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2024-108767
• Vertommen, T., Sølvberg, N., Lang, M., & Kampen, J. K. (2024). Are some sports riskier than others? An investigation into child athlete experiences of interpersonal violence in relation to sport type and gender. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 10126902241290576. https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902241290576
• Verhelle, H., Vertommen, T., Adriaens, K., Parent, S., Haerens, L., & van de Veerdonk, W. (2024). What would you do? Developing, implementing and evaluating a coach bystander intervention to prevent sexual violence in youth sports clubs. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1080/10413200.2024.2331212
• Woessner, M. N., Pankowiak, A., Kavanagh, E., Parent, S., Vertommen, T., Eime, R., Spaaij, R., Harvey, J., & Parker, A. G. (2023). Telling adults about it: Children’s experience of disclosing interpersonal violence in community sport. Sport in Society, 1–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2023.2268555
• Constandt, B., Vertommen, T., Cox, L., Kavanagh, E., Kumar, B. P., Pankowiak, A., Parent, S., & Woessner, M. (2023). Quid interpersonal violence in the sport integrity literature? A scoping review. Sport in Society, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/17430437.2023.2233433

2023 

• Hartill, M., Rulofs, B., Allroggen, M., Demarbaix, S., Diketmüller, R., Lang, M., Martin, M., Nanu, I., Sage, D., Stativa, E., Kampen, J., & Vertommen, T. (2023). Prevalence of interpersonal violence against children in sport in six European countries. Child Abuse & Neglect, 146, 106513. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106513
• Parent, S., Clermont, C., Radziszewski, S., Vertommen, T., & Dion, J. (2023). Child Maltreatment and Links with Experiences of Interpersonal Violence in Sport in a Sample of Canadian Adolescents. Soc. Sci.
• Pankowiak, A., Woessner, M. N., Parent, S., Vertommen, T., Eime, R., Spaaij, R., Harvey, J., & Parker, A. G. (2023). Psychological, Physical, and Sexual Violence Against Children in Australian Community Sport: Frequency, Perpetrator, and Victim Characteristics. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. https://doi.org/10.1177/08862605221114155

2022

• Vertommen, T., Decuyper, M., Parent, S., Pankowiak, A., & Woessner, M. N. (2022). Interpersonal Violence in Belgian Sport Today: Young Athletes Report. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(18), 11745. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811745
• Mountjoy, M., Vertommen, T., Denhollander, R., Kennedy, S., & Majoor, R. (2022). Effective engagement of survivors of harassment and abuse in sport in athlete safeguarding initiatives: A review and a conceptual framework. British Journal of Sports Medicine, 56(4), 232–238. https://doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2021-104625
• Verhelle, H., Vertommen, T., & Peters, G.-J. Y. (2022). Preventing sexual violence in sport: Determinants of positive coach-bystander behaviour. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, 862220. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.862220
• Vertommen, T., Decuyper, M., Parent, S., & Paradis, H. (2022). Validation of the Dutch (Flemish) version of the Violence Towards Athletes Questionnaire (VTAQ). Loisir et Société/Society and Leisure, 45(2), 390-408.

2017-2021

• Vertommen, T., Verhelle, H., Martijn, F., De Boeck, M. (2021) Static and dynamic recidivism risk factors of people who have committed child sex offenses in sport. Frontiers in Sports and Active Living. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2021.624548 
• Lang, M., Vertommen, T., Mergaert, L, & Arnaut, C. (2021) Gender-based violence in sport: prevalence and problems. European Journal for Sport and Society. doi.org/10.1080/16138171.2021.2003057
• Ohlert, J., Vertommen, T., Rulofs, B., Rau, T., & Allroggen, M. (2020). Elite athletes’ experiences of interpersonal violence in organized sport in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium. European Journal of Sport Science, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1080/17461391.2020.1781266
• Mountjoy M, Vertommen T, Burrows K, Greinig S. #SafeSport: Safeguarding initiatives at the Youth Olympic Games 2018. Br J Sports Med. 2020;54(3):176-82. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bjsports-2019-101461
• Stevens, V. & Vertommen, T. (2020) Bringing Network Governance into the field of Violence and Integrity in Sports, Journal of Public Administration and Governance 10 (2).  https://doi.org/10.5296/jpag.v10i2.16778
• Vertommen, T., Kampen, J., Schipper-van Veldhoven, N., Uzieblo, K., & Van Den Eede, F. (2018). Severe interpersonal violence against children in sport: Associated mental health problems and quality of life in adulthood. Child Abuse & Neglect, 76, 459–468. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.12.013
• Lang, M., Mergaert, L., Arnaut, C., & Vertommen, T. (2017) Gender-based violence in EU sports. Journal of Gender-based violence 2 (1): 109-118.
• Vertommen, T., Kampen, J., Schipper-van Veldhoven, N., Wouters, K., Uzieblo, K., & Van Den Eede, F. (2017). Profiling perpetrators of interpersonal violence against children in sport based on a victim survey. Child Abuse & Neglect, 63, 172–182.
• Vertommen, T., Schipper-van Veldhoven, N., Wouters, K., Kampen, J. K., Brackenridge, C. H., Rhind, D. J. A., Neels, K., & Van Den Eede, F. (2016). Interpersonal violence against children in sport in the Netherlands and Belgium. Child Abuse & Neglect, 51, 223–236. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2015.10.006