Global Wales (UK)-India Workshop on Tackling Online Crimes Against Women and Children

We are excited to invite students, academicians and industry professionals across the world, particularly, from the UK and India to participate in a one-day hybrid workshop event "Global Wales (UK)-India Workshop on Tackling Online Crimes Against Women and Children", supported by the Universities UK and Global Wales. This event is dedicated to exploring the increasingly crucial topic and societal issue of online safety for women and children across India, Wales, and the wider UK. Cybercrime (online) is not just a technical problem, it reflects deeper socio-cultural realities such as gender inequality, trust in institutions, digital literacy, and social stigma. Effective responses depend as much on education, community engagement, and cultural sensitivity as on law enforcement and technology. The event will take place at Cardiff University on the 14th of April 2026 at Abacws Building, Cathays, Cardiff. The workshop aims to bring together academicians, industry professionals, researchers, and students to discuss and offer new insights and key highlights of the advancements of the technologies in this sector. We strongly encourage applications from students of the underrepresented groups, including women and disabled participants to apply and avail the benefits from this workshop.

The workshop aims to foster brainstorming and collaboration in the area of online safety for women and children, with a particular focus on social media platforms. It will feature expert talks and panel discussions from leading researchers, practitioners, and industry leaders, alongside dedicated networking opportunities. The event is designed to enhance students’ knowledge and skills in this domain, while also encouraging long-term collaboration, training initiatives, and joint efforts toward safer digital environments.

To acknowledge each participant's contribution, the event will award the 'Certification of Participation'. We invite you to join us in this exciting opportunity, offering a great place for learning and future collaborations.

Eligibility Criteria

Open to undergraduate, postgraduate (Master's), PhD, and postdoctoral students of all disciplines from universities as well as to industry practitioners who wish to enhance their knowledge in this area.

How to Apply

To apply for this workshop, interested candidates are required to register themselves on the given link by the 2nd April, 2026. Any queries can be sent to Dr Neteesh Saxena at saxenan4@cardiff.ac.uk with the subject line "Wales-India workshop application". 

Spaces are limited, so we encourage you to book your seat ASAP. Candidates will be selected on a 'first come first serve' basis.

Registration

Registration to the event can be completed on this link latest by the 2nd April 2026: click here

We reserve the right to close the registration sooner than the deadline if the seats are full.

Event Summary

Workshop Duration: 14th April 2026; 0900 - 1330 hrs + networking

Venue: Cardiff University, Abacws Building, Room 0.34.

Contact Information

Organiser: Dr Neetesh Saxena (saxenan4@cardiff.ac.uk)

Dr Amir Javed (JavedA7@cardiff.ac.uk)

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Workshop Schedule:

All participants will be provided with snack/lunch during networking.

0900 - 0915 hrs - Workshop Registration 

0915 - 0925 hrs - Welcome and Project Introduction by Neetesh Saxena 

0930 - 0955 hrs - Speaker: Janaka Pushpanathan (British Council, India)

Janaka Pushpanathan is the Director South India at British Council. She has over 20 years of experience in the Arts, Education & Enterprise sectors. An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore and Project Zero at Harvard University, Janaka is among the top 100 most influential in building UK-India relations and she’s part of the India Inc. list, which is the first ever all women’s power list to celebrate the immense contribution of women from all walks of life driving a glorious future relationship between UK and India. Janaka is a STEM major and is passionate about the arts, equality, girls’ education and the environment and is on the advisory board of women led non-profits, early to mid-stage education start-ups, and the State of Tamil Nadu’s skills and education sectors. She also sits on the Government formed Task Force for Internationalisation of Higher Education, for the State of Karnataka.

Title: TBA

1000 - 1025 hrs - Speaker: Prof Olga Jurasz (Open University)

Professor Olga Jurasz is Professor of Law at the Open University (UK) and Director of the Centre for Protecting Women Online - an interdisciplinary unit focusing on research, policy engagement and creating social impact in relation to women's online safety. Her research focuses on legal and policy responses to violence against women (including online violence) and feminist approaches to governance of online spaces and online safety. Between 2024 and 2025, she served as an Independent Expert to the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on combating technology-facilitated violence against women and girls. Professor Jurasz is a leading voice in the field of law & violence against women. She published her research widely, including two books: Online Misogyny as a Hate Crime: A Challenge for Legal Regulation(Routledge 2019) and Violence Against Women, Hate and Law: Perspectives from Contemporary Scotland (Palgrave Macmillan 2022). In 2023, Professor Jurasz led on a project 'Online Violence Against Women: A Four Nations Study' which is the biggest empirical study in the UK to gather data about societal attitudes towards online violence against women and women's experiences of such violence. Professor Jurasz's expertise has been used by governments, international organisations and third sector organisations to influence changes in law and policy in areas of online violence against women, criminal law, online communications and State obligations concerning violence against women.  Professor Jurasz provided expert advice to the Council of Europe regarding the development of the first recommendation on the digital dimension of violence against women by GREVIO - the Council of Europe’s independent expert body responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence.

Title: Towards an Ontology of Online Gender-Based Harms: An Interdisciplinary Journey

This talk addresses the evolving landscape of gendered online harms experienced by women and girls as well as law & policy responses in relation to this phenomenon. It shares the experience of the team at the Centre for Protecting Women Online in working together to map out and address such online harms from interdisciplinary perspective. 

1030 - 1055 hrs - Speaker: Prof Julia Davidson (University of East London)

Julia Davidson is Professor of Criminal Justice and Cybercrime and Executive Director of Research, Impact and Innovation, she is also Director of the Institute for Connected Communities. Julia is one of the UK's foremost experts on advocacy, policy and practice in child safeguarding, online harms/safety and youth cybercrime. She is Chair of the UK Council for Internet Safety Evidence Group and provides expert advice to international and national organisations such as the Technology Coalition, UNICEF, the US Sentencing Commission, and the UN ITU, the Home Office and the DCMS. She is a member of the Europol EC3 Expert Academic Advisory Committee and acted as Chair of the Research Ethics Committee to the Independent Inquiry into Institutional Child Sexual Abuse, having acted as an Academic Advisor to the Inquiry since it began . She has been awarded funding in excess of £10million and has directed a considerable amount of national and international research spanning 35 years, she has recently led part of an H2020 project focusing on the technical and human drivers of cybercrime (CCDriver) conducting the largest EU survey of youth cybercrime in 8 countries and developing a new taxonomy of cybercrime. She has recently worked with OFCOM to develop a child online risk taxonomy for VSPs in the context of the implementation of the Online Safety Act 2023 and is an Advisor to the Technology Coalition working with industry partners. She has also acted as an advisor on child online protection and Internet safety to governments and practitioners in the MENA region and has recently worked with the Rwandan Government to develop a child online protection policy ( with Baroness Kidron, implemented 6/2019) which has been developed into a Global Safety Toolkit endorsed by the Duke of Sussex. She is currently co-leading the African Youth Safeguarding Network initiative with partners in South Africa, Rwanda, Kenya, Zambia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone focusing on child online protection and victimisation. She has been awarded a substantial amount of research and consultancy funding over the last ten years from funders including the ESRC, the EC (Safer Internet, EC ISEC and recently H2020), Home Office, DCMS, Charities, NGOs and industry. She was awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2020 for services to Child Internet Safety. Professor Davidson has worked with the media since 2003 working on live and recorded interviews for the BBC News, BBC World News, ITV, C4, BBC R4 News , BBC R4 Woman’s Hour. She has also worked on documentaries and has published widely in the child abuse and Internet safety area; she has written five books and many academic articles. She has a PhD in Social Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science and was made Honorary Research Fellow at Royal Holloway University of London in May 2010, Adjunct Professor at Queensland University of Technology in 2014 and she is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy. 

Title: Understanding Child Online Harms: Risks, Resilience, and Research Frontiers

This talk explores the evolving landscape of online harms affecting children (particularly girls), including exposure to harmful content, cyberbullying, and exploitation. It synthesizes recent interdisciplinary research to examine risk factors, protective mechanisms, and the role of digital platforms. Particular attention is given to children’s agency and resilience in navigating online spaces. It concludes with implications for policy, education, and safer technology design.

1100 - 1125 hrs - Speaker: Dr Karnnika A Seth (Seth Associates, a well known law firm in India)

Karnnika A. Seth is a leading cyber law expert and founder of Seth Associates, heading Lex Cyberia, a cyberlaw research and consulting centre. She has advised the Government of India on cyber laws, AI regulation, and data protection, and contributed to international policy discussions. A Supreme Court practitioner, she is also an arbitrator, author, and educator, actively involved in cybercrime cases, law enforcement training, and online safety initiatives, particularly for women and children. Her work has earned multiple national and international awards, and she is widely recognised for shaping cyber law policy and education in India and globally. Dr. Seth practices law at the Supreme Court of India, Delhi High court & other legal forums and is principal legal advisor to many multinational groups and government entities. She has actively resolved many Cyber crime cases in conjunction with the law enforcement authorities in India. She is Guest Faculty to the National and State Judicial and Police Academies, the Armed forces in India, Intelligence Agencies and Senior officials of the Government of India. Her contribution to growth & development of cyberlaws internationally and in India is widely acknowledged in the corporate world and by International organisations. She supports various initiatives on woman empowerment and online child safety and trains law enforcement on combating cyber crimes. She is part of expert panel of UNICEF working on children safety in the online world, She has founded a not for profit organisation, FIRE to spread cyberawareness in India. Her expert views on cyber safety have been solicited by United Nations’s International organisations and also by the Parliament and the Ministry of Information Technology and the Ministry of Defence for strengthening the cyberlaws in India. Her views on women laws have been solicited by the World bank and UNICEF working on online Child Protection. She has been consulted by the University Grants Commission of India, IGNOU, National Law school, India (e-pathshala and MOOC Programs) and other reputed educational institutions for formulation of cyber law education courses in India. Dr. Seth’s book titled ‘Computers, Internet and New Technology Laws’ published by Lexis Nexis Butterworths elucidates the key developments in the field of Cyberlaws across many important jurisdictions, India, United States and European nations. Dr. Seth was conferred the Law Day Award from the Chief Justice of India for authoring this comprehensive reference work. Dr. Seth received the Constitution Day Award 2024 and the Award for Excellence in Cyberlaws Practice at Future Crime Summit 2024. On the International Women’s day, 2022, her book , Women rights against cybercrimes, a G 20 initiative,  was released by the Ministry of Information Technology, GOI. 

Title:  Combating online crimes against women and children 

The talk focuses on legal framework in India on combating online crimes against women and children, new emerging cybercrimes such as deep fakes, trolling, sextortion and laws including IT Act,2000, and criminal laws in India, Data protection law. It draws a comparative position with key jurisdictions including U.K, U.S and EU. While discussing robustness of law, and evolving caselaw, the talk highlights pragmatic solutions  to strengthen legal challenges in combating transborder online crimes against women and children (OCWC).

1130 - 1155 hrs - Speaker:  Dr Sriram Birudavolu (Data Security Council of India)

Dr. Sriram Birudavolu is the Chief Executive Officer of the Cyber Security Centre of Excellence at the Data Security Council of India (DSCI), a role he has held since December 2018. He is a seasoned senior executive with extensive global experience across the IT, ICT, and telecom sectors. He holds a PhD in Open Innovation in ICT from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (2016), along with a Master’s degree in Computer Science and a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. Over his career, he has held leadership positions at leading organisations including Oracle, VeriSign, Siemens, Hewlett-Packard, and Techspan. He is also the author of Business Innovation and ICT Strategies (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), a TOGAF 9 Certified Enterprise Architect, and a Project Management Professional (PMP). His expertise spans cybersecurity, privacy, technology innovation, and ecosystem development, with a strong focus on startup incubation, research, policy, and capability building. Prior to DSCI, he led Information Sciences at T-Hub, India’s largest startup ecosystem, and is widely recognised for his work in advancing innovation across AI/ML, cloud computing, analytics, and digital transformation.

Title: TBA

1200 - 1225 hrs - Speaker: Anu Maria Francis (Centre for Public Policy Research)

Anu Maria Francis is Senior Associate for Research and Project Management at the Centre for Public Policy Research, where her work spans gender, urban governance, legal reform, and labour policy. A law graduate from the National University of Advanced Legal Studies, she contributes to policy research, stakeholder consultations, and public discourse. She is a U.S. Professional Fellow of the 2024 cohort and a recipient of the Think Tank Shark Tank Award at the Asia Liberty Forum. She has been widely published and quoted in national and regional media on gender, budgets, and governance.

Title: Collaborative Cyber Governance: Public–Private Partnerships for Protecting Women and Children Online

This talk examines how institutionalised collaboration between the state and non-state actors can strengthen cybersecurity frameworks for vulnerable populations, with a particular focus on women and children. Drawing on the experience of Kerala Police Cyberdome and other state examples, it analyses how public–private partnerships enable capacity augmentation in law enforcement, integrate technological expertise into policing, and support both preventive and investigative functions.

1230 - 1255 hrs - Speaker: Prof Michael Levi (Cardiff University)

Michael Levi is a Professor of Criminology at Cardiff University, where he has taught and conducted research since 1975. Educated at Oxford, Cambridge, and Southampton, his work has focused on white-collar and organised crime, corruption, and money laundering and terrorist financing since the early 1970s. He is the author of several influential books, including The Phantom Capitalists, Regulating Fraud, and Drugs and Money. His distinguished career has been recognised through major awards such as the 2019 Outstanding Achievement Award from the British Society of Criminology and the 2014 Sellin-Glueck Award from the American Society of Criminology. Professor Levi is a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales and the Academy of Social Sciences, and holds senior research roles at the Royal United Services Institute and RAND Europe. His recent research spans insider cyber threats, cyber-enabled fraud, anti-money laundering, and organised crime policy, with current projects addressing online fraud detection and the financing of bribery. He also serves in several high-level advisory roles, including the UK Cabinet Office Counter-Fraud Advisory Board, Europol threat assessments, and multiple international expert groups on crime, corruption, and illicit finance.

Title: TBA

1300 - 1325 hrs - Speaker: Sidharth Deb (The Quantum Hub)

Sidharth Deb works as an Associate Director at The Quantum Hub (TQH). Sidharth studied law and graduated from the National University of Juridical Sciences, Kolkata. Since then he has worked in various roles at the intersection of policymaking and regulation of telecommunications, broadcasting, hardware and digital technology markets. Sidharth has previously worked at Koan Advisory Group, the Internet Freedom Foundation, the Esya Centre and the Centre for Communication Governance at National Law University Delhi. Through this he has accrued experience across commercial research and advisory, digital rights advocacy and academic policy research. Sidharth has a deep interest in the governance and regulation of new technologies and has worked with a wide array of stakeholders spanning industry, civil society, academia, government, regulatory authorities and other special interest groups. At TQH, Sidharth works on issues relating to online platform governance, online safety, children’s privacy, digital public infrastructure and AI governance. In his role, he anchored a project that led to the publication of a report on the online safety of women and children in India, that was published in October 2025.

Title: Examining Whole of Society Opportunities to Advancing Online Safety of Women and Children in India

This talk will be informed by TQH’s flagship report on the online safety of women and children in India that was published in October 2025. It will cover the evolving landscape of online safety risks that women and children face and India’s ability to measure those risks. Subsequently, we will spotlight the current legislative and enforcement landscape and highlight systemic areas that require holistic improvement. Then lastly, the presentation will briefly touch upon how India can learn from international approaches and adopt a series of reforms that embrace an all-of-society approach that systemically promotes the online safety of women and children in India. It will allow us to take stock of the status quo, and also propose recommendations that can address online risks in the near term, but also identify frameworks that work for the long term. 

1330 hrs - Snack/lunch with networking

Venue:

Cardiff University

Abacws Building, Room 0.34

Cardiff, CF24 4AG