Froukje Smits

Onderzoeker Sport & Samenleving

Froukje Smits werkt als senior-onderzoeker bij het lectoraat Duurzame Gemeenschappen binnen de onderzoekslijn ‘Maatschappelijke impact van sport en bewegen’ van de Hogeschool Utrecht. Ze heeft de Academie voor Lichamelijke Oefening (ALO) afgerond waarna ze een aantal jaren voor de klas stond als docent bewegingsonderwijs in het voortgezet onderwijs. Hierna besloot ze een master (sport)pedagogiek aan de Universiteit Utrecht te volgen, die ze Cum Laude afrondde. Ze startte haar loopbaan als onderzoeker bij het Mulier Instituut (centrum voor sociaal-wetenschappelijk sportonderzoek) waar ze vier jaar werkzaam was. In 2023 rondde ze haar proefschrift af over het beter begrijpen van jeugd in sport- en beweegcontexten. 

Researcher Sport & Society

Froukje Smits obtained her BSc in Physical Education (PE) in 2004 at Windesheim University of Applied Sciences (Zwolle). Subsequently, she taught PE at several secondary schools between 2004-2010. Meanwhile, she was enrolled in the minor Sports, Movement and Policies at the Utrecht University (2008). She successfully completed her MSc. in the program, Youth, Education and Society (cum laude) at the Utrecht University in 2009. Froukje was employed as a researcher at the Mulier Institute (scientific sport-research institute) between 2010-2013. From 2013 onward, she works as a senior-researcher in the area of ‘Social Impact of Sports and Physical Activity’ at the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences. She was awarded number of research project grants as main and co-applicant and received several social impact and scientific awards. For her PhD dissertation she studied how various Foucauldian tools could be used to create insight and understanding of youth sport practices and experiences. She researched, amongst others, the exclusion of LGBT adolescents and Orthodox Reformed Christians in organized youth sport settings, used a multi-actor (athletes, parents, coaches, administrators) research approach to examine the maintenance and challenge of abusive practices in elite women's gymnastics and conducted research on the welfare of adolescent high-performance action sport athletes by studying the safeguarding of young commercially sponsored kite surfers. She also initiated the project ‘U on Board’, to improve vulnerable young people's well-being through participation in action sports. She embedded it in the ‘U on Board Foundation’ that she founded in 2021. In this way, the (research)project continues to roll twice a week at a refugee reception centre in Utrecht. 

Awards

Froukje Smits is member of the International Sociology of Sport Association (ISSA) and the International Socio-Cultural research group on Women's Artistic Gymnastics (ISCWAG).