We are delighted to announce that two projects led by the Centre for Protecting Women Online team have been successfully awarded funding through the RISE programme, an accelerated research and innovation initiative tackling violence against women and girls (VAWG).
The funded projects will run between April and August 2026, bringing together researchers and practice partners to address a range of urgent challenges including early intervention, structural drivers of harm, safer public spaces, disability-specific prevention, repeat victimisation, and online misogyny ecosystems. As Professor Mark Elliot, SPRITE+ Director and RISE Co-Investigator, noted, “Violence against women and girls is a complex challenge that demands collaborative, nuanced and evidence-driven responses.” The projects funded through RISE reflect this ambition, combining academic expertise with frontline practice to generate tangible impact.
CPWO is proud to be contributing two projects focused on prevention and early intervention in digital and adolescent contexts. The first explores early-stage digital abuse affecting teenage girls, developing a practical framework to help police and safeguarding professionals identify escalation pathways and intervene earlier in cases of online harassment, image-based abuse, and digital coercive control. The second, BRAVO, examines how young men make sense of everyday image-based online violence against women and girls, using co-creation methods to develop the Future Digital Leaders programme and a prevention-focused educational toolkit for schools.
Together, these projects reflect CPWO’s commitment to understanding both the emergence of harm and the social dynamics that sustain it, with a focus on early, evidence-based intervention. Both initiatives will work closely with practitioners, educators, and third-sector partners to ensure outputs are practical, scalable, and grounded in real-world need. Findings will be shared through cross-sector events in 2026, including collaborative workshops in June and a final showcase in September, helping to shape future policy, policing, and prevention approaches.
Further details on each CPWO project can be found below.
Adolescent TFVAWG: A Practice Framework for Early Detection and Response
Led by:
Dr. Hannah Guy
Project team:
Dr. Keely Duddin
Dr. Jennifer Norman
Giles Herdale
Holly Taylor-Dunn
A new funded project will develop a practical, evidence-informed framework to help police officers, safeguarding leads, and other professionals identify and respond to the early stages of digital abuse affecting teenage girls. While online harassment, image-based abuse, and digital coercion are increasingly common among adolescents, responses often focus on serious harm only after escalation. This project instead focuses on prevention, examining how digital harms develop over time and identifying opportunities for earlier intervention before behaviours become more serious.
The research will combine a rapid review of existing evidence with interviews with practitioners across policing, education, and safeguarding, capturing how risks emerge in real-world settings. It will focus on three key escalation pathways: sexual image coercion and image-based abuse, peer-to-peer digital harassment that can escalate into offline harm, and digital coercive control within adolescent relationships. The main output will be a practice-focused framework—Pathways to Early Intervention in Adolescent TFVAWG—designed to support earlier, more consistent safeguarding responses and strengthen cross-sector prevention of violence against women and girls in digital contexts.
BRAVO: Boys (as) Responsible Allies against Violence Online: The Future Digital Leaders Programme
Led by:
Dr. Nelli Stavropoulou
Project team:
Professor Rose Capdevila
Professor Lisa Lazard
BRAVO is a new project exploring how young men understand, interpret, and respond to everyday image-based online violence against women and girls (OVAWG). Building on established research into digital gendered harms and arts-based work with young people, the project examines how peer dynamics, masculinities, humour, social media design, and online cultures shape the normalisation or challenge of harmful behaviours. While existing research has often focused on extremist misogynistic subcultures, BRAVO instead focuses on mainstream peer environments where everyday digital interactions can contribute to the normalisation of harm.
The project will co-create the Future Digital Leaders (FDL) programme through arts-based workshops with boys aged 13–16 at Fulbrook School, a project partner, generating insight into how young men make sense of OVAWG in real time. Findings will be translated into a practical, prevention-focused RSHE-aligned toolkit, alongside a facilitation guide, educator webinar, and online resources supported by partners including Internet Matters, Beyond Equality, and MK Fawcett Group. By developing evidence-based tools for early intervention and allyship, BRAVO supports safer digital cultures and aligns with Safer Streets priorities to prevent the emergence of harmful attitudes linked to violence against women and girls.
About RISE
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) remains a widespread and underreported threat affecting safety at home, in public spaces and online. To tackle this crisis, the UK Government’s Safer Streets Mission has the unprecedented aim of halving VAWG in the next 10 years.
RISE is an accelerated interdisciplinary programme led by SPRITE+ and VAWG experts at the University of Manchester to help deliver this aim. RISE’s diverse projects and stakeholder engagement will pilot innovative approaches, strengthen working relationships and lay the groundwork for future research and funding opportunities.
RISE is funded via the UKRI’s R&D Missions Accelerator Programme and benefits from the support of the Network for Security Excellence & Collaboration (NSEC) and the SALIENT Hub.
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