Swansea University – Project DRAGONS+

DRAGONS+ builds on Swansea University’s expertise in anti-grooming technology to pioneer research at the intersection of offender and child interaction. This research considers development of perceived-first-person CSAM and how children try to communicatively resist groomers’ manipulation.  

The project newly synergises linguistics and participatory research methods. It is developed in partnership with UK-based lived experience experts and with child safeguarding practitioners internationally (e.g., child helpline counsellors, hotline analysts, police school liaison officers). Partners in this work span the Global North and South, enabling engagement of multiple languages, including British English, Colombian and Peninsular Spanish, Vietnamese and British Sign Language. Key project partners include: Marie Collins Foundation, DeafKidz International, INHOPE, INSAFE / European Schoolnet, Project StopOnSexGroom and Red PaPaz. DRAGONS+ will generate novel, richly contextualized insights to anchor the design and implementation, particularly for tech industry, of actionable online grooming preventative technology at scale.