Stakeholder engagement is ‘crucial’ to the impact of applied research taking place at the Centre for Child Protection. Written by Dr Ann Kinzer, Impact Officer, Research Excellence Team.<\/p>\n
The University of Kent\u2019s\u00a0Centre for Child Protection (CCP) was founded in 2012\u00a0by\u00a0Professor Jane Reeves and\u202fProfessor David\u00a0Shemmings\u00a0as a Centre of Excellence\u00a0for child protection simulations.\u00a0Since\u00a0November 2020\u00a0it is under\u00a0the\u00a0leadership of Dr Tracee Green.<\/p>\n
CCP\u00a0has developed\u00a0two simulation suites\u00a0to date.\u202fFirst, the\u202f\u2018Rosie Suite\u2019\u202f(\u2018Rosie1\u2019\u202f2011,\u202f\u2018Rosie2\u2019 2012 and \u2018Rosie\u202fmyCourtroom\u2019 2016),\u202fprovides\u202fimmersive training tools\u202fdesigned\u202fto improve knowledge and practice with professionals, parents and young people around complex child protection issues including sexual abuse, neglect\u202fand work within the family courts.\u202fSecond,\u202fa \u2018Grooming Suite\u2019\u202f(\u2018Zak\u2019 2013, \u2018Lottie\u2019 2014, \u2018Behind Closed Doors\u2019 [BCD] 2016, \u2018Crossing the Line\u2019 2019)\u202fwas\u00a0designed to tackle extremism, radicalisation, exploitation, grooming, gangs, knife crime and internet safety across the UK with professionals and\u202fadolescents.<\/p>\n
A Childline campaign using Lottie (2018) had 2.25 million visits and increased children contacting Childline about grooming. CCP is\u00a0continuously working on reaching\u00a0out\u00a0to\u00a0anyone involved in child protection. They do so,\u00a0for example,\u00a0through social media (incl.\u00a0Instagram<\/a>,\u00a0YouTube<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>),\u00a0conferences,\u00a0free webinars and\u00a0their mailing list and\u00a0MOOC<\/a>. Some of their students on the MA programme – many of which have longstanding experience working in industry – have also worked with KMTV on presenting their\u00a0MA\u00a0dissertations in\u00a05\u00a0minute\u00a0videos that are available to the public.<\/p>\n In 2020, CCP in\u00a0a\u00a0strong partnership with\u00a0Professor\u202fReeves,\u00a0was awarded \u00a3500k by UNICEF to collaborate on designing preventative education, online simulations for children and professionals in Thailand and Cambodia,\u202fwhere much online sexual abuse\u202fmaterial\u202fof children\u202foriginates.\u202fThis\u202fwork\u00a0is expected\u00a0to\u00a0extend to\u00a0South Africa in 2022.\u202fIn addition,\u00a0Professor Reeves has partnered with CCP\u00a0recently\u00a0to\u00a0start work\u00a0with the Lawn Tennis Association (funded by Sport England) tackling the grooming of children and\u202fadolescents\u202fin sport. Under\u00a0the\u00a0leadership of\u00a0Dr\u00a0Tracee\u00a0Green\u00a0the\u00a0Centre\u00a0continues to\u00a0work towards\u202ftheir\u00a0next\u00a0simulation\u202fand\u00a0build on\u00a0their community\u00a0service\u00a0via a series of\u202fwebinars\u00a0which have\u00a0reached\u00a0over 300\u202fprofessionals\u202fsince June 2020.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Would you like to get in touch? We\u2019d certainly be glad to hear from you. For enquiries about simulations and continuing professional development training, please email\u00a0lssjri@kent.ac.uk<\/a>. For new student enquiries (including for information on our MA Programme) please email\u00a0studylssj@kent.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n The Centre for Child Protection is being led by\u00a0Dr Tracee Green<\/a>. Other colleagues that are involved are\u00a0Professor Jane Reeves<\/a>,\u00a0Professor David Shemmings<\/a>,\u00a0Vanisha Jassal<\/a>,\u00a0Emma Soutar<\/a>,\u00a0Dr Aravinda Kosoraju<\/a>, Isobel Drew and Alice Loving.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nSince the development of Rosie1 – the very first\u202fof this type of\u202finteractive training for child protection workers\u202f\u2013\u202fthe Centre for Child Protection\u202fhas been commissioned by,\u202fand worked with,\u202fnumerous\u202fstakeholders,\u202fincluding\u202fKent Police, NHS, NSPCC,\u202fChildline,\u202fCafcass and the Home Office, to create relevant simulations meeting current demands and targets within child protection.\u202fThrough focus groups, user feedback, evaluations undertaken by CCP, additional research and material gathered from\u202finter-professional data sets, CCP continuously aims to improve existing software and\u202fits overall\u202fapproach to take the centre\u202fforward globally. Dr Tracee Green commented: \u2018Stakeholder engagement is crucial for us to disseminate our work and impact the life of young people, helping them keep safe and to support adults being able to do so.\u2019<\/p>\n