Women and Girls’ Online Safety Conference 2025
The Centre for Protecting Women Online is pleased to announce the inaugural Women and Girls’ Online Safety Conference 2025
This conference aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers from across all sectors—academia, technology, law enforcement, government, civil society, and beyond – to explore and address the pressing challenges to women’s safety in digital spaces. Recognising that online harms against women and girls are complex and multifaceted, we welcome contributions from a wide range of disciplines, including but not limited to technology, law, policing, social sciences, psychology, education, and public policy. We particularly encourage interdisciplinary and cross-sectoral work that seeks to understand and tackle the systemic, technical, legal, and societal dimensions of violence against women and girls online. The conference spans over two days, 10th and 11th September 2025, held in person only, at our Milton Keynes campus.
For further enquiries, please contact: protecting-women-online@open.ac.uk
Key Themes
- Legal and Policy Frameworks
- Responsible Technology and AI Interventions
- Policing and Enforcement
- Human Behaviour, Psychology and Sociological Perspectives
Agenda Day 1 (Wednesday, 10 September 2025)
Day 1 Schedule 09:00 – 19:00
| Time | Session | Details |
| 09:00-09:30 | Registration | Berrill Lecture Theatre |
| 09:30-11:00 | Welcome and Keynote Welcome Address: Olga Jurasz Keynote Address: María Rún Bjarnadóttir – Head of Legal, Office of the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police | Berrill Lecture Theatre |
| 11:00-11:30 | Break | Library Atrium Refreshments |
11:30–12:45: Parallel Session 1 (two tracks running concurrently)
Parallel Session 1 – Track A: Image-Based Sexual Abuse – From Policing Gaps to Tech-Driven Solutions
| Time | Title | Speaker(s) | Room / Chair |
| 11:30-11:45 | Perceptions of sexualised deepfake abuse: Under-estimations of harm to men, Black people, and Black women in the UK, Australia, and the US | Asia Eaton Florida International University; Mindbridge (Interim Executive Director); CPWO International Visiting Fellow | Library Seminar Room 4 Chair: Kathryn Gilfoyle |
| 11:45-12:00 | The Xenofeminist Manifesto: Reclaiming Digital Power to Disrupt Big Tech Misogyny | Josie West and Madelaine Thomas Image Angel | Library Seminar Room 4 Chair: Kathryn Gilfoyle |
| 12:00-12:15 | Private Pre-Emptive IBSA Reporting: Current Risks and Future Potential | Sophie Hawkes Royal Holloway, University of London | Library Seminar Room 4 Chair: Kathryn Gilfoyle |
| 12:15-12:30 | Age is Just a Number! Image Abuse regulations and the magic age of 18 | Aislinn O’Connell Royal Holloway, University of London | Library Seminar Room 4 Chair: Kathryn Gilfoyle |
| 12:30-12:45 | Q&A | Panel | Library Seminar Room 4 Chair: Kathryn Gilfoyle |
Parallel Session 1 – Track B: Law, Enforcement and Policy – Rethinking Safety Through Feminist Governance, Design and Data Rights
| Time | Title | Speaker(s) | Room / Chair |
| 11:30-11:45 | Reclaiming Power in Online Safety: Feminist Resistance and Strategies in Transnational TFGBV Governance | Anaëlle Kern IBEI | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Olga Jurasz |
| 11:45-12:00 | Systems-level pathways to women’s safety online: strengthening regulatory and safety-by-design in the commercial tech sector to reduce technology-facilitated harms | Katya Vogt IREX | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Olga Jurasz |
| 12:00-12:15 | Cyberviolence against women: a new face of an old problem | Sylwia Spurek European Fem Institute (President); CPWO International Visiting Fellow | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Olga Jurasz |
| 12:15-12:30 | All Eyes on my Period? Period-tracking apps and the future of privacy in a post-Roe world | Sarah Simms Privacy International | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Olga Jurasz |
| 12:30-12:45 | Q&A | Panel | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Olga Jurasz |
| Time | Title | Location |
| 13:00-14:00 | Lunch & Poster Viewing | Library Atrium |
Parallel Session 2 – Track A: Intersectionality Session — Layered Identities, Cumulative Harm (Chair: Lisa Lazard)
| Time | Title | Speaker(s) | Room / Chair |
| 14:00-14:15 | ‘Doxxing to destroy: Transphobic hate speech and privacy abuse’ | Briony Anderson Durham University | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Lisa Lazard |
| 14:15-14:30 | Technology-Facilitated Violence and Political Participation: The Dynamics of Online Harassment in Brazil | Luise Koch Technical University Munich | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Lisa Lazard |
| 14:30-14:45 | Barriers to Justice: Victim-Survivors’ Experiences of Reporting Cyber-located Sexual Violence in Ireland | Lorraine (Lorrie) Hayman University of Galway | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Lisa Lazard |
| 14:45-15:00 | Q&A | Panel | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Lisa Lazard |
| 15:00-15:15 | Participation of young people in the development of AI models to detect and mitigate gender-based online violence | Nancie Gunson, Claire Houghton & Equally Safe Online Colleagues Heriot-Watt University & University of Edinburgh | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Lisa Lazard |
Parallel Session 2 – Track B: Victim-Centric & Trauma-Informed – Survivors’ Narratives and Institutional Gaps (Chair: Alba Morales-Tirado)
| Time | Title | Speaker(s) | Room / Chair |
| 14:00-14:15 | Centering Survivors, Informing Systems: Co-Creating Safely | ElsaMarie D’Silva Red Dot Foundation Global; CPWO International Visiting Fellow | Library Seminar Room 4 Chair: Alba Morales-Tirado |
| 14:15-14:30 | Hidden in Plain Sight: Online Narratives of Technology-Facilitated Intimate Partner Violence | Emily Johnstone University of Bath | Library Seminar Room 4 Chair: Alba Morales-Tirado |
| 14:30-14:45 | Exploring Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Women and Gender-Diverse Lived Experiences of Image-based Sexual Abuse across Australia | Michelle Gissara RMIT University | Library Seminar Room 4 Chair: Alba Morales-Tirado |
| 14:45-15:15 | Q&A | Panel | Library Seminar Room 4 Chair: Alba Morales-Tirado |
| Time | Title | Location |
| 15:30-16:00 | Break | Library Atrium |
Parallel Session 3 – Track A: Education, Digital Literacy and Advocacy – Challenging Norms, Shaping Futures (Chair: Min Zhang)
| Time | Title | Speaker(s) | Room / Chair |
| 16:00-16:15 | Designing an intervention to reduce false beliefs about non-consensual synthetic intimate imagery and perpetration | John Twomey University College Cork | Library Seminar Room 4 Chair: Min Zhang |
| 16:15-16:30 | Navigating the post #MeToo era: Voluntary secondary sexual abstinence among young heterosexual women in Austria and Germany | Emelie Rack Sigmund Freud University, Vienna | Library Seminar Room 4 Chair: Min Zhang |
| 16:30-16:45 | Safeguarding Girls Online: Addressing technology-facilitated violence through education, policy, and platform reform | Katie Freeman-Tayler Internet Matters | Library Seminar Room 4 Chair: Min Zhang |
| 16:45-17:00 | Q&A | Panel | Library Seminar Room 4 Chair: Min Zhang |
Parallel Session 3 – Track B: Prevention Session – Proactive Frameworks and Inclusive Interventions (Chair: Ángel Pavon-Perez)
| Time | Title | Speaker(s) | Room / Chair |
| 16:00-16:15 | Pioneering Safeguarding for Victim-Survivors of Cyber Harms: The UK’s First Cyber-Specific Safeguarding Framework | Demelza Luna Reaver The Cyber Helpline | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Ángel Pavon-Perez |
| 16:15-16:30 | Developing design strategies and policies to protect women and gender-diverse people from technology-facilitated abuse on social media | Senuri Wijenayake RMIT University | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Ángel Pavon-Perez |
| 16:30-16:45 | A Call for inclusivity: The role of neurodiverse men and boys in perpetrating and preventing technology-facilitated sexual violence | Yimin Chen RMIT University | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Ángel Pavon-Perez |
| 16:45-17:00 | Q&A | Panel | Library Seminar Room 6 Chair: Ángel Pavon-Perez |
| Time | Title | Location |
| 17:00-19:00 | Drinks Reception | Library Atrium |
Agenda Day 2 (Thursday, 11 September 2025)
Day 2 Schedule 09:00 – 16:30
| Time | Session | Details |
| 09:00-09:30 | Registration | Berrill Lecture Theatre |
| 09:30-11:00 | Documentary Viewing & Interactive Discussion Film: My Sextortion Diary Patricia Franquesa | Berrill Lecture Theatre Chair: Rose Capdevila |
| 11:00-11:30 | Break | Library Atrium Refreshments |
11:30-13:00: Presenter Session – Moderation and Reactive Solutions: AI, Bias, and the Language of Online Harms (Chair: Miriam Fernandez).
| Time | Title | Speaker(s) | Room / Chair |
| 11:30-11:45 | Assessing Large Language Model Effectiveness at Interpreting Misogyny, Harassment, and Cyberbullying on Online Extremist Platforms | James Stevenson University of Bristol | Berrill Lecture Theatre Chair: Miriam Fernandez |
| 11:45-12:00 | A Generalizable Approach to Gender Bias Evaluations of GenAI Applications in Global South Contexts | Sharif Kazemi World Bank | Berrill Lecture Theatre Chair: Miriam Fernandez |
| 12:00-12:15 | Developing a taxonomy for online gender-based violence (OGBV) | Poppy Gerrard-Abbott University of Edinburgh & Heriot-Watt University | Berrill Lecture Theatre Chair: Miriam Fernandez |
| 12:15-12:30 | The Online Radicalization of Young Boys in the Manosphere: A Rising Threat to Women’s Online Safety | Lavinia Rotundi Politics4Her | Berrill Lecture Theatre Chair: Miriam Fernandez |
| 12:30-12:45 | AI Literacy as Decolonial Feminist Strategy: Institutionalizing advocacy against femicide in Jamaica | Helen Atkins Institute of Gender &a Development Studies, University of the West Indies | Berrill Lecture Theatre Chair: Miriam Fernandez |
| 12:45-13:00 | Q&A | Panel | Berrill Lecture Theatre Chair: Miriam Fernandez |
| Time | Title | Location |
| 13:00-14:00 | Lunch & Poster Viewing | Library Atrium |
14:00-15:00: Showcase of Work with Partners
| Time | Session | Details |
| 14:00-14:20 | Presentation from Deloitte | Berrill Lecture Theatre Chair: Olga Jurasz |
| 14:20-14:40 | Presentation from Lawyers for Justice in Libya | Berrill Lecture Theatre Chair: Olga Jurasz |
| 14:40-15:00 | Q&A | Berrill Lecture Theatre Chair: Olga Jurasz |
15:00-16:00: Closing Panel and Interactive Q&A
Theme: Looking Forward to a Future without OVAWG
| Panel | Details |
| Penny East CEO, Fawcett Society Giles Herdale Herdale Consulting Olga Jurasz Director, Centre for Protecting Women Online Bashar Nuseibeh Professor of Computing, The Open University Tallulah Belassie-Page Online Safety Act Network | Berrill Lecture Theatre Chair: ElsaMarie D’Silva (CEO, Red Dot Foundation) |
| Time | Title | Location |
| 16:00-16:30 | Teas, Coffees & Goodbyes | Berrill Café |
Keynote Speaker
Dr. María Rún Bjarnadóttir
Dr. María Rún Bjarnadóttir is the Head of Legal and Substitute for the Commissioner at the National Commissioner of the Icelandic Police. She has served as the Vice Chair of the Icelandic Media Commission and is a member of Grevio, the independent expert body responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). Her expertise lies at the intersection between technology and human rights. Her professional experience extends to regulatory, advisory and policy roles in the field of cybercrime, violence against women, human rights and internet law. She has advised NGO’s, governments, and public entities on issues of online abuse, gender-based violence, gender equality, freedom of expression and privacy. Marías award winning research on online sexual privacy provided the basis for a comprehensive criminal and policy reform aimed at combating digital forms of sexual abuse enacted in Iceland in 2021. María holds B.A. and Mag.Jur. degrees in law from University of Iceland, and a PhD in law from University of Sussex.
We look forward to your contributions to this vital discourse on enhancing women’s and girls safety in digital spaces!
