Veerle De Bosscher

Veerle De Bosscher is professor in sport management at the department of Sports and Movement Sciences (faculty of Physical Education) of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), Belgium. She graduated in 1994 in Physical Education, earned a Masters degree (GGS) in sports management in Brussels (VUB, 1995) and in training and coaching in Leuven (KUL, 1995). She was a former visiting professor at Utrecht University (the Netherlands) and Visiting Associate Professor within the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living at Victoria University (Australia). Veerle De Bosscher lectures in the field of sport policy, high performance management, eventmanagement and sport organisation. Her research expertise lies in youth and elite sport, athlete pathways, sport development, sporting outcomes in relation to sport policy, effectiveness, monitoring and evaluation, strategic management, benchmarking and competitiveness.

Veerle is founder and coordinator of SPLISS (Sports Policy factors Leading to International Sporting Success), a worldwide international network on research in high performance sport on which she also obtained her PhD in 2007 and won a Best Paper Award sport management (SMAANZ) in 2009. This network has grown into a worldwide recognized research collaboration, involving over 20 countries, 60 researchers and 35 policy makers. Over time SPLISS has been widely discussed in academic settings and was empirically applied by policy makers (see www.SPLISS.net). 

Her research resulted in more than 100 publications in most respected international peer reviewed journals; she (co)authored 25 book chapters and 16 books. Her research is appealing to various researchers and sport organisations as is confirmed by the numerous invitations as a keynote or invited speaker during international conferences. Veerle is a board member of the European Sport Management Quarterly (ESMQ), the Global Sport management Journal, former co-editor of the International Journal of Sport Policy and Politics (IJSPP) and former board member of the European Association of Sport Management (EASM). At policy level, she is a member of the Steering Committee and the strategic commission on elite sport in Belgium (Flanders), the Research Platform on Sport (OPS, Sport Vlaanderen) and she counsels regularly on elite sport development of several organisations and countries.