Communities Online Opportunities and Risks
Location: UCS Waterfront Building, Ipswich
Date: 1 February 2012
Time: 9.00am - 4.00pm
Cost: £75 for public sector, education providers and commercial organisations. £45 community and voluntary organisations.
To book, please email esafersuffolk.gov.uk|
View the full conference programme|
This conference is being run in conjunction with Suffolk County Council| and aims to provide leaders and managers of organisations who work with, or provide services for, vulnerable adults, children and young people with the required knowledge of online safety within their roles.
The conference is being run in the lead up to Safer Internet Day and Anti-Bullying Week- national campaigns aimed at raising awareness of internet safety and tackling the issues of bullying.
High profile speakers include Will Gardner, CEO of Childnet International, a children’s charity working with others to help make the internet a great and safe place for children.
Speakers Profile
Will Gardner
Will Gardner is the CEO of Childnet International|, a children’s charity working with others to help make the internet a great and safe place for children.
Will Gardner has been at Childnet for just over 12 years, and has been the CEO for the past 4 years. He is a member of the UK Council for Child Internet Safety (and previously the Home Office Task Force on child protection on the Internet), and has recently been part of the group reviewing and drawing up good practice guidance for industry service providers. Will is also on Facebook’s Safety Advisory Board.
As well as helping to develop a range of award-winning internet safety materials aimed at children, parents and carers, and teachers and schools|, Will has run several international projects on children and the internet, including on the risks of and advice needed for interactive services, and the identification of child victims of child abuse images online. Will headed up the work drawing up the UK Government’s guidance for schools on preventing and responding to cyberbullying, and its accompanying DVD ‘Let’s Fight it together|’, resources that have been adapted and used in several other countries. He has also co-authored the Fair Game? report looking at the extent and nature of commercialism on children’s favourite websites and online environments.
Will is looking forward to organising Safer Internet Day which is on 7 February 2012.
Stephen Carrick-Davies
Stephen Carrick-Davies is an independent freelance professional| working in the fast-changing field of new communications technology, predominantly where it impacts on the lives of children, parenting, schools and the wider society.
Most recently Stephen was CEO of Childnet International where for ten years he led on developing award-winning internet education and awareness programmes for young people, families and schools such as the Kidsmart schools’ outreach programme| and Childnet’s “Dot Hope” Academy programme which supported and rewarded young people around the world who were using the Internet for good.
Stephen has worked closely with the Department for Children Schools and Families (DCSF) and BECTA on producing advice for Parents on safe use of the internet. This work involved the production and distribution of over 1.5 million copies of the interactive ‘Know IT ALL for Parents’ CD rom (translated into 8 languages) and distributed to schools free of charge. Stephen also worked with the DCSF on guidance for schools on how to prevent and respond to Cyberbullying. This work involved extensive consultation, the running of two national conferences with Government Ministers, and the production of a ground-breaking Cyberbullying education resources which has been circulated to schools across the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Germany.
Stephen has advised key leaders on issues of children’s safe use of the Internet. Including appearing before and giving evidence to the UK Government DCMS Select Committee, making presentations to MPs, industry leaders, opinion formers, funders and the media. Stephen was a member of the Home Secretary’s Task Force on Child Protection on the Internet (2003-2008) and advisor to the Family Online Safety Institute in Washington DC. Stephen has also developed partnerships with a range of organisations and companies including; O2, Microsoft, Cable & Wireless, Trend Micro, and Vodafone.
An engaging speaker, Stephen has been invited to speak on issues related to children's use of the Internet throughout the UK and wider a field. Most recently he has travelled to Malaysia, Egypt, Poland and Brazil to champion children’s rights online, and help stakeholders to think about how they engage with the Internet and Internet technologies. A pragmatist, he promotes a balanced approach to online risks, highlighting the importance of education and a recognition of the positive opportunities that engagement in the online world can bring young people. A point summed up by his recent question posed to Egyptian young people, “What Ghandi would have done if he had had a Myspace account?"
Stephen is a school governor and a trustee of small charity working in Sri Lanka. He has an honours degree from the University of London in Education and Communications, has 3 children and lives in South London.
Since becoming a freelance consultant in March 2009 Stephen has worked with a range of organisations, including Local Authorities, charities and individual schools.