Online child sexual abuse has become a global epidemic, causing serious and long-lasting harm to children across the globe.
The rise of social media has enabled offending to take place on a scale that has previously not been imagined, and law enforcement alone is unable to respond to the pace and scale of this threat.
It is estimated that in the UK alone there are over 830,000 people who pose a sexual risk to children, and the Internet Watch Foundation reported that in 2024, it acted to remove images or videos of children suffering sexual abuse, or links to that content, on 291,273 webpages – the most in its 29-year history.
Through our research, we seek to understand sexual offending behaviours and characteristics and learn from the experiences of victims and survivors to inform a whole system approach. Our research supports the development of research methodologies, tools, and technologies to enhance the investigation and prevention of sexual harms against adults and children.
Examples of our ongoing work under this workstream are: