Sports Forensic

Establishing facts, solving puzzles in sport

Sport is under attack from a range of corrupting forces, such as doping, gambling, and match fixing. These issues are threatening sport globally. 

Sports Forensic is a new field of knowledge. It helps organisations uncover irregularities and maintain the highest standards of behaviour, using an innovative forensic audit framework. ​

Sports Forensic is co-ordinated by Professor David Lavallee here at Abertay University, working with partners such as Police Scotland, KPMG and INTERPOL. 

"I am delighted to support the Sports Forensic Research programme, the first in the world focused on supporting sporting organisations to achieve the highest levels of integrity…Throughout the last few years and across the world there has been a growing understanding of how sport is affected by criminals involved in serious organised crime. Police Scotland welcomes the opportunity to work with academia to improve our collective knowledge of the risk of serious organised crime in sport."  Assistant Chief Constable Pat Campbell, Police Scotland: Organised Crime, Counter Terrorism and Intelligence 

Watch 'The Fix'

We need to increase young people’s awareness of Serious Organised Crime in sport so we can help to protect them.

Watch 'The Fix'* here to find out more.

Help us: complete a short anonymous survey about 'The Fix*'. 

Free teaching pack: download 'The Fix' teaching resource here

*Produced in collaboration with Police Scotland.

The Fix video - image - Sports Forensics

What is Sports Forensic?

Sports Forensic combines a forensic audit approach with sophisticated technology. This method exposes behaviours that break rules or regulations, do not meet with expectations, or are simply illegal. 

Sports Forensic gives sports organisations in critical situations new tools to prevent, detect and respond to fraud and misconduct.

These tools boost the positive behaviours, and help minimise and prevent any mistreatment before it ever happens.

Plastic gloved hand writing doping control form, surrounded by drug paraphernalia

The Sport Corruption Barometer

The 2021 Sport Corruption Barometer provides an annual analysis of the latest trends and patterns of criminal activity in sport. 

Developed between Abertay University and INTERPOL, it covers many areas of sport fraud such as result manipulation, bribery and doping. 

2021 saw a 50% increase in investigations across a variety of sports - from e-sports to football, ice hockey to horse racing.

Download the 2021 Sport Corruption Barometer here.

Sport Corruption 2021 - image shows sanctions, investigations and trends

The world's first Sports Forensic degree

Abertay's Sports Forensic Research Programme is the world’s first research degree in this brand new area of knowledge.

This programme applies a forensic approach to sport corruption, examining the hidden negative factors within sports and other stakeholder organisations, in order to help correct them.

Find out more about Abertay's Sports Forensic Research degree.

Six white sports ball symbols with black fingerprints as shading

Work with us: Consultancy

Fraud and misconduct can have profoundly negative consequences across all sports.  This means that many of the old ways of operating are no longer effective.

We can help you via consultancy and forensic projects.

Sports Forensic helps organisations detect, respond to, resolve and prevent behaviour that does not comply with expectations and regulations.

We design tools to help leadership and management in critical situations fix their issues. These tools bring about new ways of working, and help organisations sustain those capabilities.  

Contact us by email to find out how we can help you.

Project meeting laptop discussion between 3 people

Our Partners

We have partnered with INTERPOL, Police Scotland and KPMG through the Sports Forensic project. Please contact us to become part of this innovative response to a global threat to sport.

About Sport @ Abertay

Our Sports Degrees

We have a wide range of Sport and Exercise Sciences degrees, from Undergraduate to PhDs, all grounded in up-to-date research and real world experience. Find out more about Abertay's Sport and Exercise Science Degrees.

Sports IntegriTay 

Sports IntegriTay is a free set of resources created by our students, covering many aspects of duty of care eg: mental health, safeguarding and dealing with issues such as injury or retirement. Find out more about Sports IntegriTay.

The Division of Sport and Exercise Sciences

With state of the art facilities, connections to a huge variety of sports clubs and world-class academics, our Division of Sport and Exercise Sciences is the place to study a sport-related degree. 

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