Catherine Van de Heyning is a public prosecutor at the Antwerp Public Ministry’s Cybercrime Division and a professor at the University of Antwerp’s Faculty of Law, where she specialises on the impact of digitalisation on crime.

Beyond academia and prosecution, she serves as an expert to the Advisory Committee of the United Nations Human Rights Council. In this role, she co-authored the report on disinformation and authored the report on technology-facilitated gender-based violence.

In recognition of her pioneering work, Catherine was named Cyber Security Personality of the Year 2024 by the Belgian Cyber Security Coalition.