Research
Our group is involved in a range of research projects:
Current Projects
Chatbots &
AI Safety Agents
(2025-)
This study explores how domestic abuse, IPV and stalking organisations engage with (AI-powered) chatbots — whether adopting, avoiding, or questioning them. The research aims to understand how support services are navigating the ethical, practical, and safety implications of these emerging technologies.
Detecting Hidden Connected Devices
(2024-)
What commercial solutions (devices, apps and services) for detecting hidden devices are available to the public in the UK? Are they usable and effective in helping users locate hidden devices and safeguard their spaces?
Police Mapping Study
(2024-)
This project aims to map the different approaches, tools and initiatives used by police forces across England and Wales to tackle technology-facilitated abuse and stalking.
A Study on Tech Abuse Perpetration
(2024-)
How is technology-facilitated domestic abuse perpetrated and what technologies are being weaponised? This study aims to identify patterns and pathways of tech abuse perpetration in order to understand the motives, mindsets, and behaviours of those who carry out this abuse.
HarrIot
(2024-)
Her Analysis of Risks and Reslience in IoT Technology (HarrIot) is a study which examines the security aspects of wearable devices marketed towards women's safety. The project also explores user interaction and data privacy concerns, contributing to the broader discourse on wearable technology and security.
Northern Irish Family Study
(2023-)
This study explores how home IoT devices impact daily life, privacy, communication, and family relationships through individual and family experiences. The study aims to reveal the complex social dynamics and privacy strategies that individuals use in shared device environments.
Violence, Health and Society (VISION)
(2022-)
In this project, we apply Natural Language Processing techniques to classify real-life experiences of tech abuse documented in support service datasets.
LGBTQIA+ Peer Surveillance
(2022-)
What commercial solutions (devices, apps and services) for detecting hidden devices are available to the public in the UK? Are they usable and effective in helping users locate hidden devices and safeguard their spaces?
Past Projects
A Delphi Study on Tech Abuse
(2022 - 2024)
How do academic, policy, industry, and practice experts define, conceptualize, and measure technology-facilitated abuse?
Parental Control Applications
(2023 - 2024)
Digital Health and Abuse
(2022 - 2024)
RespondXR
(2021 - 2022)
What digital vulnerabilities are likely to emerge from mainstreaming immersive Extended Reality in the training of law enforcement and how might these be overcome?
UK Computer Misuse Act 1990
(2021 - 2022)
How does the UK Computer Misuse Act 1990 apply to cases of technology-enabled domestic violence and abuse?
Violence, Abuse and Mental Health Network
(2018 - 2023)
The VAMHN aims to reduce the prevalence of mental health problems among children, adults, and the elderly, by bringing together experts with different ways of thinking about violence, abuse and mental health.
Gender and IoT
(2018 - 2020)
How will the Internet of Things (IoT) impact on gender-based domestic violence and abuse and what socio-technical measures will need to be implemented in order to mitigate against those risks?
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