Dr Vana Hutter

Vana Hutter is an associate professor at the Department of Human Movement Sciences. She aims to bridge the gap between research and practice, and to take evidence-based expertise to where it has to be implemented: the practical field of sport. To achieve this, she is involved in practice-driven research, trains and coaches professionals, and writes columns to disseminate evidence-based information to professionals. Sport psychology is at the core of her work.
Vana is one of the founders of the post-graduate program in applied sport psychology at VU University Amsterdam. This program has run since 2008 and is the only program in the Netherlands leading to accreditation as applied sport psychology practitioner by the Dutch federation for sport psychology. She currently teaches the courses ‘Evidence-based sport psychology’ and ‘Social aspects and working with teams’ in the program. In addition, she lectures sport psychology at bachelor and master level and provides courses for sport coaches (particularly for the national federations for field hockey, archery, basketball, and cycling), health care professionals, and professionals in the safety domain (i.e., national police, fire departments, and correctional institutions). Vana is a registered applied sport psychology practitioner (SPORTPSYCHOLOOG VSPN®) and registered sport psychology teacher (docent sportpsycholoog).