School of Social and Political Science

Description

Please join us on Monday, 24th November 2025 from 4:00pm – 6:00pm in room G.07 in the Informatics Forum at the University of Edinburgh to celebrate the work of the Equally Safe Online research project and launch the Young People vs Gender Based Violence report.

The project has involved survivors, practitioners, and academics in efforts to tackle online gender-based violence (GBV). We believe this project is the first to bring together computer and social scientists (from the University of Edinburgh and Heriot Watt University) to work alongside GBV experts, including young people, to improve detection and mitigation of online misogyny and abuse.

Opening remarks will be provided through a virtual address delivered by the Minister for Children, Young People and The Promise and joint Ministerial lead for the First Minister’s Taskforce on Online Harm, Ms Don-Innes. Young experts will launch the young people’s graphically designed report outlining the project and the results, including their impact on AI development and their vision for the future. COSLA will recognise and welcome the commitment ad work of young people to tackle online Gender-Based Violence. Computer scientists will then demonstrate methods to automatically detect harmful GBV content and potential AI-generated interventions and strategies to respond (counterspeech). This will be followed by a reflection from Professor Verena Rieser, Senior Staff Research Scientist at Google Deepmind who was the original visionary for the project.

The event will be followed by a canapés reception.

Spaces are limited, so please register in advance to reserve your place.