Catherine Van de Heyning is a deputy-public prosecutor in the cybercrime division and designated focal point on cyberviolence at the public ministry of Antwerp (Belgium). In addition, she is a full professor at the University of Antwerp, focusing on the impact of digitalisation of crime on human rights. In this capacity, she co-authored several reports on cyberviolence, including AI-facilitated cyberviolence. Catherine is an expert at the Advisory Committee to the United Nations Human Rights Council. In this capacity, she is the rapporteur of the report on the impact of technology-facilitated gender-based violence on human rights. Catherine was nominated as cyber security personality of the year 2025 by the Belgian Cyber Security Coalition.
