Protech conference at the University of Antwerp and online
The University Forensic Centre (UFC), in collaboration with Protech, is organising a hybrid study day focusing on approaches to tackling online child sexual abuse.
The day will be filled with both national and international speakers. Topics include the challenges of AI for law enforcement, the impact of AI, the detection of grooming, preventative work and tools for practitioners.
Online sexual abuse: New developments and challenges
In person
Registration closing date: Tuesday 21 January 2025
Online
Registration closing date: Tuesday 21 January 2025
Further information
Schedule
For a summary of each speaker and discussion, please see below.
- 9.00 - 9.30Welcome and coffee
- 9.30 - 9.45Introduction
- 9.45 - 10.30Dr. Hanna Lahtinen: ReDirection - Protect Children (ENG)
- 10.30 - 11.15Kevin Reulens: Federale Gerechtelijke Politie (NL)
- 11.15 - 11.35Break
- 11.35 - 12.20Theresa Ryan-Rouger: CESAGRAM, Missing Children Europe (ENG)
- 12.20 - 13.00Lunch
- 13.00 - 13.45Ida Oeverland: Lucy Faithfull Foundation (ENG)
- 13.45 - 14.30Larissa Van Puyvelde: Universitair Forensisch Centrum (NL)
- 14.30 - 14.50Break
- 14.50 - 15.35Hannes Gieseler: STOP-CSAM - Charité (ENG)
- 15.35 - 16.20Minne De Boeck: Stop it Now! Vlaanderen, Universitair Forensisch Centrum (NL)
- 16.20 - 16.30Closing
Guest speakers
Protecting children from sexual violence calls for research-based holistic work (ENG)
Dr. Hanna Lahtinen
Nieuwedigitale evoluties binnen online seksueel misbruik van minderjarigen en debijhorende uitdagingen (NL)
Kevin Reulens
Investigator Belgian Federal Justice Police - Directorate for Combating Serious and Organised Crime. ÂThe Central Directorate for Combating Serious and Organised Crime (DJSOC) is in charge of carrying out specialised judicial police missions and supporting these missions related to serious and organised crime, including the fight against online child sexual abuse.
The directorate onsists of divisions: Investigations, Intelligence and Policy andManagement. DJSOC's missions are threefold: combating corruption, organisedeconomic and financial crime and cybercrime, monitoring priority crimephenomena included in the National Security Plan and, finally, carrying outjudicial missions in a military environment.
Putting the ‘voice’ back in grooming (ENG)
Theresa Ryan-Rouger
(BA, LLB, LLM) Â International human rights UK qualified lawyer, with extensive expertise in the domain of gender based violence, child protection rights, and online grooming through her work with international NGOs. She is currently the senior Project Officer and Focal Point of CSA for Missing Children Europe.CESAGRAM will work towards a Comprehensive European Strategy against Grooming and Missing Children by conducting a range of separate yet interconnected activities: research, training and awareness raising, the creation of an AI tool, and advocacy. The project will be delivered through a partnership consisting of 11 expert organisations and is funded by the European Commission.
To be announced (ENG)
Ida Oeverland
AI en technologie alsbondgenoten bij de preventie van CSAM (NL)
Larissa Van Puyvelde
MSc Criminology (University of Ghent)The Protech Project, funded by the European Commission , brings together multiple international partners to create, implement and evaluate a prevention tool to support the management of CSAM consumption and other potential risky behaviour online and investigate its feasibility as part of a Europe-wide intervention programme. Â
Larissa Van Puyvelde, MSc Criminology (University of Ghent), is a criminologist and junior researcher at the University Forensic Centre (UFC) in Antwerp, Belgium. The UFC is an outpatient treatment centre for sexually deviant behavior and serves as the Flemish support centre.
Larissa is appointed as junior researcher in the European research Protech project. Furthermore, she built up knowledge in the forensic field with specialisation in sexual violence and sexual deviant behaviour.
A brief therapeutic chat intervention for abstaining from the use of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) (ENG)
Hannes Gieseler
Hannes Gieseler studied design in Dessau and produced award-winning, no-budget short documentary films. An Artist in Residency grant in the outskirts of Russia sparked his interest in raising awareness about human crises. This interest ultimately led him to study medicine  and become a therapist focusing on causer-targeted prevention of CSA and the use of CSAM.
His clinical experience and interactions with hundreds of stigmatised patients inspired him to develop new treatment concepts in the digital space, among these initiating the anonymous therapeutic chat service at STOP-CSAM. The STOP-CSAM project presents a complimentary and confidential online intervention platform. This platform offers real-time text-based chat sessions with professional therapists.
Hetgebruik van AI bij Stop it Now!: hoe een chatbot kan leiden tot ‘blended care’voor CSAM plegers (NL)
Minne De Boeck
MSc Criminology and MSc Conflict and Development Studies (University of Ghent)Stop it Now! is a prevention project that aims to prevent child sexual abuse through social awareness, scientific research and a low-threshold helpline. The helpline is anonymous and free and is aimed at anyone concerned about their own sexual feelings or behaviour towards minors, as well as for their loved ones and professionals involved. In addition to low-threshold helpline support, Stop it Now! has developed an online support offer for individuals who view or feel a tendency to view sexual abuse images (CSAM perpetrators), called, ‘Stop it is Possible’ (SIM).
To better direct people concerned about their online viewing behaviour, Stop it Now! is betting on new AI applications in healthcare. Through the use of a chatbot, Stop it Now! hopes to better and more quickly direct people concerned about their viewing behaviour to the helpline, the online self-help module and an online coaching programme. In this presentation, Stop it Now! will explain how it is trying to use AI applications to contribute to better help for people concerned about their online viewing behaviour.Â
Minne De Boeck, MSc Criminology and MSc Conflict and Development Studies (University of Ghent), works at the University Forensic Centre (UFC) in Antwerp, Belgium.
She is responsible for the coordination of the support centre and is part of the intake team of the treatment centre. She coordinates the risk assessments and risk management. Furthermore, Minne De Boeck is the project manager of Stop it Now! Flanders and is the former president of the Dutch affiliation of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers.