Melanie is Director of the Centre for Safeguarding and Child Protection in Sport (CPSS) and Professor of Safeguarding and Children's Rights in Sport at Edge Hill University, north-west England. Her research focuses on children's (participation) rights in sport; safeguarding, child protection and abuse prevention in sport; and safeguarding children in sport policy and education development. 

Melanie works with national and international sports and safeguarding organisations and policymakers such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Council of Europe, and the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA) to advance what has become known globally as 'safe sport' through advising on policy and practice, delivering training, and leading on research and knowledge exchange in this area.

She is the only UK researcher elected to the Council of Europe 'Pool of European Experts on Safe Sport', and has delivered training on children's rights in sport on the IOC Safeguarding Officer in Sport programme, and for the Canadian Coaches Association, the Association of Child Protection Professional's (AoCPP) sport interest group, and Children1st, the largest children's charity in Scotland.

Working with colleagues from Laval University, Quebec, Canada, and Belgium, and Germany, Melanie is part of the team that established the first global research conference on 'safe sport' - the International Congress on Safe Sport Research (ICSSR), led by Laval University. The inaugural event is in June 2025 in Quebec City.  

Melanie has led research projects funded by the International Olympic Committee Advanced Research Grant Programme and the European Education and Culture Executive Agency, and collaborated with colleagues on projects funded by Sport England, UK Athletics, and the Erasmus+ programme. She has published more than 30 scholarly articles and book chapters and is editor of three books: ‘The Routledge Handbook of Athlete Welfare’ (Routledge, 2022), ‘Safeguarding, Child Protection and Abuse in Sport: International Perspectives in Research, Policy and Practice’ (Routledge, 2015), and ‘Bullying and the Abuse of Power’ (Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2010). 

Within Edge Hill University, Melanie is Faculty Designated Safeguarding Officer, sits on the institutional Social Sciences Research Ethics Committee, and is the Social Sciences International Co-ordinator for the study abroad scheme. She supervises and exmaines PhD projects nationally and internationally, mentors Visiting Researchers to CPSS, and led the popular CPSS public webinar series. 

In 2021/22 she was selected as a Fellow of the Institute for Social Responsibility and contributed to running the Institute's activities, including offering ethics training for PGRs and staff and leading and ISR-sponsored online research seminar series. 

Children's rights in sport, especially participation or 'voice'

Safeguarding, child protection and abuse prevention in sport

Welfare and well-being of adult and child athletes

Gender-based violence in sport (sexual harassment & sexual violence in sport)

'Safe sport' policy implementation and evaluation

Narrative methodology and pedagogy

Ethnographic research

Research ethics & conducting 'sensitive' research

Melanie has been teaching modules on safeguarding, child protection, and children's rights in sport and other youth settings since 2005. She supervises taught and research Masters and PhD students working in the areas of children's rights, safeguarding and child protection.