Join us for an enlightening event as we celebrate International Women's Day at the University of Essex Human Rights Centre. Held in conjunction with the Centre for Global South Studies, and the Centre for Intimate and Sexual Citizenship.
This year, we have decided to spotlight the theme of gender-based digital and online harm, and we are proud to host speakers who are leading experts in understanding and addressing this critical issue.
Chaired by Professor Lorna Woods, Essex Law School.
Featured Speakers and Themes
Gender and Tech: The Implications of Digital Systems on Victims and Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence and Abuse
Dr Madeleine Janickyj is a Research Fellow in Natural Language Processing (NLP) within the Gender and Tech team at UCL and she is also part of the UKPRP funded Violence, Health and Society (VISION) consortium. Her work focuses on using NLP to identify instances of technology-facilitated abuse (tech abuse) from different datasets. She is primarily using domestic abuse datasets to quantify instances of tech abuse and investigate the extent of tech-abuse within these situations. She is currently working on a project to better define and conceptualise tech abuse using expert opinions so we can better measure this type of abuse.
Abstract
In recent years, forms of online harassment and sexual abuse facilitated through information and communication technologies emerged. These ICT-supported assaults range from cyberstalking to online behavioural control. While many efforts to tackle technology-facilitated abuse (“tech abuse”) are concerned with ‘conventional’ cyber risks such as abuses on social media platforms and restrictions to devices such as laptops and phones, emerging “Internet of Things” (IoT) technologies such as ‘smart’ meters, locks, and cameras expand domestic violence victim’s risk trajectories further. In this talk, insights from UCL’s Gender and Tech Lab ongoing research will be shared.
Digital Health and Human Rights: A Community-Engaged Research Study in Five Countries
Professor Sara Meg Davis & Dr Bernard Koomson
Professor Sara (Meg) Davis is a professor of digital health and rights at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies (CIM), University of Warwick, and principal investigator of the Digital Health and Rights Project. Her research focuses on the future of human rights and gender equality in the digital age, exploring power imbalances in digital access, data, indicators, and governance. Previously, she held positions at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria, New York University, and Human Rights Watch. She earned MA and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. Her most recent book is The Uncounted: Politics of data in global health (Cambridge 2020).
Dr Bernard Koomson is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Methodologies, University of Warwick, UK. His research focuses on the future of human rights and youth participation in the digital age, particularly in marginalized communities. He employs participatory approaches and qualitative techniques to study youth culture, human rights, and emerging digital communities. Previously, he worked on projects related to child and youth economic migration and community development in Ghana. He holds a BA and Ph.D. from KNUST (Ghana) and an MSc in Development Studies from SOAS (London).
Abstract
Digital health offers the potential to strengthen health systems in low- and middle-income countries. However, experts have warned about threats to human rights. We used qualitative methods to investigate how young adults in Bangladesh, Colombia, Ghana, Kenya and Vietnam use their mobile phones to access online health information and peer support, and what they see as the effect on their human rights. In Ghana, Kenya and Vietnam, we applied a transnational participatory action research approach: Global and national networks of people living with HIV, AIDS activists, young adults and human rights lawyers participated in study design, desk review, digital ethnography, focus group discussions, key informant interviews and qualitative analysis. In Bangladesh and Colombia, we used a community-engaged approach in which civil society groups provided technical advice and input to the design, and validated study findings.
Young adults reported predominantly using Google, social media and social chat groups for health information. They emphasised reliance on trusted peer networks, and the role of social media health champions. However, gender inequalities, class, education and geography create barriers to online access. Young adults also disclosed harms linked to seeking health information online. Some described anxiety about phone dependence and the risk of surveillance. In particular, young women and transgender people described both empowerment through access to information and self-tracking, while disclosing experiences of online and offline harm, including verbal abuse and stigma. Young adults in all five countries called for more information on their rights, and a greater voice in digital governance. We find that national health officials should invest in young adults’ digital empowerment, and engage them in policy to address benefits and risks of digital health. Governments should cooperate to demand regulation of social media and web platforms to uphold the right to health.
Online Romance Fraud: Exploring the Possibility of Healing and Recovery
Professor Róisín Ryan-Flood is a Professor of Sociology and Director of the Centre for Intimate and Sexual Citizenship (CISC) at the University of Essex. Her research interests include gender, sexuality, kinship, digital intimacies and feminist epistemology. She is the author of Lesbian Motherhood: Gender, Sexuality and Citizenship (2009). Her co-edited books include Secrecy and Silence in the Research Process (2010), Transnationalising Reproduction: Third Party Conception in a Globalised World (2018), Difficult Conversations: A Feminist Dialogue (2023), Consent: Gender, Power and Subjectivity (2023) and Queering Desire: Lesbians, Gender and Subjectivity (2024). Her current research projects explore: donor conception families and tracing donors via DNA testing or social media; and online dating and online romance fraud. She is co-editor of the journal Sexualities: Studies in Culture and Society.
Abstract
This paper will present some findings from research on online romance fraud that was conducted with support from the cybercrime units of several police forces. Online romance fraud is an often misunderstood crime that involves online grooming and domestic abuse. This type of crime is rapidly proliferating in the UK and internationally. Upon discovery, victims usually experience shame and a lack of wider support. Drawing on in-depth interviews with fifteen victims and five stakeholders, the paper explores victims’ experiences and considers the type of support that might be helpful in recovery. This approach centres victims’ voices and explores tools that help to empower them after experiencing this type of exploitation. It is argued that wider cultural myths about this crime contribute to the isolation of victims and hinder the process of healing. The paper also considers what the phenomenon of online romance fraud reveals about the intersection of the digital realm with intimate life in the contemporary era.
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Don't miss this empowering event dedicated to raising awareness and fostering dialogue on gender-based digital and online harm.
Reserve your spot now and be part of the conversation!
