ISPCC honoured to announce million-euro funding for project to combat child grooming

The GroSafe team, Fiona Jennings, ISPCC Head of Policy and Public Affairs,  is pictured on the left

ISPCC is honoured to announce that GroSafe, the technology-enabled safeguarding platform designed to combat child grooming through education, support and reporting, has received the Prize Award from Research Ireland’s National Challenge Fund in the OurTech pillar.

This acknowledgement of potential of GroSafe to have an incredible impact on the lives of so many children and young is extremely welcome and will enable the GroSafe team to make a true societal impact.

By empowering children and caregivers through this platform, the GroSafe team aims to build societal resistance, reduce exploitation and foster a culture of safe and trusted disclosure. The project is led by TU Dublin’s Dr Christina Thorpe and Dr Matt Bowden and ISPCC’s Head of Policy and Public Affairs, Fiona Jennings, acts as Societal Impact Champion.

The GroSafe project is one of six research teams across four challenge programmes under the National Challenge Fund, to receive part of €8 million in prize phase funding. Funded by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, the Fund calls on researchers to identify problems related to Ireland’s Digital Transformation and work directly with those most affected to solve them.

Fiona Jennings, ISPCC Head of Policy and Public Affairs, said the project is specially focused on “how children and young people are groomed into criminality or for sexual exploitation purposes.“We are extremely grateful that the possibilities offered by GroSafe have been acknowledged by the Prize Award from Research Ireland’s National Challenge Fund.

“The GroSafe team has gone to great lengths to ensure that the voices of stakeholders were heard and that their needs and requirements were understood. In particular, I believe that the engagement with children is the perfect example of true participation in action.

“The ISPCC wants to particularly acknowledge the steadfast vision, dedication and determination of the leadership provided by Dr Christina Thorpe and Dr Matt Bowden. They have ensured that the GroSafe potential for real societal change will be realised.

“As Societal Impact Champion, I am increasingly convinced that the only way to meaningfully tackle child grooming is by working together cohesively and respectively. I also want to acknowledge the incredible input of Research Ireland. I have been hugely impressed by the design of the National Challenge Fund competition and the continuing support and mentoring offered by members of Research Ireland throughout the process.”