Online grooming communication: from online groomer profiling to professional practice enhancement'

Despite an increase in Online Grooming (OG), research into its many characteristics is scant and relies principally on what is known about OG in offline settings. Moreover, despite wide acknowledgement that OG is a communicative process, there is hardly any research that examines its communicative (linguistic/discourse) features. Notable exceptions include the research programme conducted over the past four years by the OGC Project at Swansea University, which has succeeded in developing a pioneer model of Online Grooming Discourse (OGD) and identifying online groomer communicative profiles via certain discourse practices (e.g. praise/trust development), mapping them onto speed of grooming variables. The proposed studentship will enhance the OGC Project's work by:
1. conducting a detailed linguistic analysis of all the processes/strategies in the OGD model;
2. conducting a detailed discourse / ethnographic analysis of professionals (social workers) understanding of OGD.
3. mapping the findings of 1 and 2 in order to make recommendations to professionals (primarily, social workers and the NSPCC) on developing the communicative sections of a holistic suite of OG prevention approaches.