At this year’s Martial Arts Studies Association conference in Brighton, I was invited to speak as part of a panel titled ‘Breaking the Code of Silence: Safeguarding in Combat Sports and Martial Arts’. The Martial Arts Studies Association brings together diverse researchers and international institutions to develop knowledge of the Read more
I recently spent a week at the University of Cape Town for the Safe Sport 2026 conference. The conference was a collaboration between Safe Sport International, The African Union Sports Council and the Sport for Social Change Network Africa. The conference brought together 460 delegates from 73 countries, many of Read more
A 45-year-old Hawaii Muay Thai coach has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for the sexual assault of a child who trained at his gym, Spirit of the White Robe Muay Thai.
I recently recorded an episode of the Conscious Combat Club podcast, which discusses trauma-informed martial arts and mental health. Founder Georgia Verry provides trauma-informed kickboxing programs in Australia, and through her podcast, she talks with women in martial arts, including academics and those with lived experience of violence. This is Read more
An athlete-survivor advocate’s perspective on how sports organisations can take a survivor-centred approach, for an IOC & European Olympic Committees project on safeguarding in sport.
I was recently invited by the Croatian Olympic Committee to take part in their GUARD: Safeguarding Children in Sport project, which provides education for child safeguarding officers from sports organisations in 8 different countries (Croatia, Poland, Lithuania, Romania, Greece, Latvia, Macedonia & Slovenia). The topic of safeguarding in sport has Read more
UNESCO and the Sport & Rights Alliance held a consultation with 11 athlete-survivors in Paris, with the aim of developing global policy standards for safe sport informed by lived experience.
Last week was the Ann Craft Trust’s annual Safeguarding Adults Week, during which they bring safeguarding professionals from across the UK together to share expertise and raise awareness of important topics. This year, the theme was prevention. Each day, they held free online seminars with safeguarding experts on various topics, Read more
Emma of Under the Ropes flew to Finland to present research findings on women’s experiences of sexual harassment and abuse in Muay Thai at the Play the Game 2025 conference in Tampere.
An interview with Ann Craft Trust, a charity working to minimise the risk of abuse to adults in the UK. On this episode of their Safeguarding Matters podcast, we discuss the journey of Under the Ropes, safeguarding issues in Muay Thai, and how to eliminate gender-based violence in sport.