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12th Nordic Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, 21st – 24th May 2023 Reykjavik, Iceland.

Theme: Children in a digital world: Opportunities and challenges


Registration for the conference is open
 

April 1st 2023    – Early bird closes  
May 10th 2023    – Registration closes

 

On the behalf of NFBO/NASPCAN it is my great pleasure to invite you the 12th Nordic conference in Reykjavik. The theme of the conference is Children in a digital world – Opportunities and challenges. Children are entering the digital environment at a pace like we have never seen before. The opportunities and benefits are abundantly clear, but so are the dangers of exploitation and abuse that may pose threats to their development and well-being. Over the course of the conference we will explore how different aspects of the digital world can promote or prevent vulnerable children from fulfilling their potential.

We are privileged to have a number of excellent keynote speakers and workshop holders from the field of research and practice. They will touch upon themes such as sexual exploitation of children and youth online, cyber bullying, young people’s engagement in destructive communities online, and how the police works to prevent online exploitation of children, to mention a few. In addition, we have received abstracts from every Nordic country, and look forward to these being presented during the conference. Importantly, there will also be plenty of time for the informal exchange among colleagues across the Nordic countries. We hope that our 2023 conference will be a great opportunity for developing research and practice networks working for the prevention of child abuse and neglect.

This year we celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Nordic Association for Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect. NASPCAN has since 1998 contributed to improving awareness and practice in the work with children at risk across the Nordic countries.

I hope you will join us to celebrate improvements in the field of child abuse and neglect in beautiful Reykjavik!
 

Gertrud Sofie Hafstad, Chair of NASPCAN

Informations on Keynote speakers:

Niels-Christian Bielenberg Specialist consultant with Center for Digital Youth Care in Denmark
"The Angry Internet” - why do the young men go there?

Niels-Christian Bielenberg is a Bachelor in Social Education and a specialist consultant with Center for Digital Youth Care (Denmark), with responsibility for the Center´s digital counseling of both youths and education of authorities-specialists working with children and  young people. With over 15 years of experience and more than 1 million children and young people seeking counseling each year Niels-Christian is renowned for his hands-on knowledge on why especially young boys seek and maybe end up in destructive communities and what it gives them that they can't find elsewhere.  
Niels-Christian has also worked in the official Danish Helpline Insafe for 10  years and is well known for his ability to bridge different understandings of the digital lives e.g. everything from cyberbullying to social networking to digital identity especially among children and young people.

 

Lone Strand, Police Superintendent, Section for Online police presence, NC3 Kripos, Norway
"Why do the Norwegian police dance on TikTok?"

Kids need adults they can trust, and this goes for the internet too. How can the police be visible and available for the kids online?
Lone Strand has been a police for 20 years, and all this time she has worked with crime prevention. The first 18 years with youngsters in the east of Oslo, in a multicultural area with various challenges. For the last two years at the National Cybercrime Center, in the Section for Online police presence. Her task is to see how the Norwegian police can have a preventative online presence, and also support and coordinate the online police patrols.
The Norwegian police have 12 police districts, and all of them have their own "Nettpatrulje". The online police are present daily on the internet with the purpose of being visible and available for the public. Lone will talk about experiences from the Norwegian police, and hopefully inspire more grown ups to be present and available for our kids online.
 

Elizabeth K. Englander;

"Kids Online in 2023: Crises, Content, and Cyberbullying"

Dr. Elizabeth Englander is the founder and Executive Director of the Massachusetts Aggression Reduction Center at Bridgewater State University, a Center which delivers programs, resources, and research for schools around the world. She is also a Founding Member of the Social and Emotional Research Consortium (SERC). As a researcher and a professor of Psychology for more than 25 years, she is a nationally recognized expert in the area of bullying, cyberbullying and children’s use of technology. She was named Most Valuable Educator by the Boston Red Sox and in 2018, Massachusetts Governor Charles Baker appointed her to his Juvenile Justice Advisory Council. She is also on the Scientific Advisory Board for the Institute of Child Development and Digital Media.
During the global Coronavirus Pandemic, Dr. Englander’s work has focused on helping children and schools promote strong mental health and social relationships in the face of sustained social isolation and rising depression and anxiety in children. She conducted research with children and educators that has helped to shape the nation’s pandemic response. Between 2020 and 2022, she authored and published five books, one for educators (When The Kids Come Back), two for children aged 8-11 years old (The Insanely Awesome Pandemic Playbook: A Humorous Mental Health Guide For Kids and The Insanely Awesome POST Pandemic Playbook), and two for younger children, all of which both feature supplemental guides and activities for teachers and parents. She has served as a Special Editor for several journals and has authored more than a hundred articles in academic journals and books. She is also the author of nine books, including You Got A Phone! (Now Read This Book), the Insanely Awesome series for children, Understanding Violence (a standard academic text in the field of child development and violent criminal behavior), Bullying and Cyberbullying: A Guide for Educators, published by Harvard Education Press, and 25 Myths About Bullying and Cyberbullying (Wiley press). She has also written a variety of research-based curricula and educational handouts for communities and professionals. Reflecting her interest in educating laypeople, Dr. Englander has answered questions in a column for the New York Times (online edition), and she wrote the column Bullying Bulletin Board, which was syndicated by Gatehouse Media in hundreds of newspapers nationwide.     
              


 

Linda Jonsson, is bachelor in social sciences, PhD in child psychiatry and associated professor in social work 
“Support and intervention for victims of online sexual abuse - What is special?”

Linda Jonsson is bachelor in social sciences, PhD in child psychiatry and associated professor in social work. Her research focuses on children victims of sexual abuse, especially sexual exploitation, and online sexual abuse. Previously Linda was head  of the section for sexual abuse at Barnafrid, The Swedish National knowledge-centre against child abuse. She has also been competence centre coordinator for European Barnahus within the Promise project at the Council of the Baltic sea states. Now she is lecturer and researcher at Marie Cederschiöld university and involved in different research projects focusing on abuse of children including evaluation of support and treatment interventions from social services and child psychiatry.
 

  

Dr. María Rún Bjarnadóttir; Director for Internet Safety, Icelandic National Commissioner for Police.

„Protecting online sexual privacy of young people in Iceland“

Dr. María Rún Bjarnadóttir is the Director for Internet Safety at the Icelandic National Commissioner for Police and the Vice Chair of the Icelandic Media Commission. María has advised NGO’s, governments, and public entities on issues of online abuse, gender-based violence, gender equality, freedom of expression and privacy. Her research underpins the 2021 criminal and policy reforms in Iceland, aimed at protecting sexual privacy online. 
Prior to her current position, María made her career in the Icelandic Government Offices, where she held posts as Senior Legal Adviser in the fields of human rights, data protection and telecommunications. She holds a B.A. and mag.jur. in law from University of Iceland, and a PhD in law from University of Sussex.