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REPHRAIN: National Research centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial Influence online (Phase II)

Lead Research Organisation: University of Bristol
Department Name: Computer Science

Abstract

The REsearch centre on Privacy, Harm Reduction and Adversarial INfluence online (REPHRAIN) brings together the UK's substantial academic, industry, policy and third sector capabilities to address the current tensions and imbalances between the substantial benefits to be gained by full participation in the digital economy and the potential for harm through loss of privacy, insecurity, disinformation and a myriad of other online harms.

Combining >150 world-leading experts from 17 universities across the UK, the REPHRAIN Centre uses an interdisciplinary approach - alongside principles of responsible innovation and creative engagement - to develop new insights that allow the socio-economic benefits of a digital economy to be maximised whilst minimising the online harms that emerge from this.

The work of REPHRAIN is focused around three core missions and four engagement and impact objectives. Mission 1 emphasises the requirement to deliver privacy at scale whilst mitigating its misuse to inflict harms. This focuses on reconciling the tension between data privacy and lawful expectations of transparency by not only drawing heavily on advances in privacy-enhancing technologies (PETs), but also leveraging the full range of socio-technical approaches to rethink how we can best address potential trade-offs. Mission 2 emphasises the need to minimise harms whilst maximising the benefits from a sharing-driven digital economy, redressing citizens' rights in transactions in the data-driven economic model by transforming the narrative from privacy as confidentiality only to also include agency, control, transparency and ethical and social values. Finally, Mission 3 focuses on addressing the balance between individual agency and social good, developing a rigorous understanding of what privacy represents for different sectors and groups in society (including those hard to reach), the different online harms to which they may be exposed, and the cultural and societal nuances impacting effectiveness of harm-reduction approaches in practice.

These missions are supported by four engagement and impact objectives that represent core pillars of REPHRAIN's approach: (1) design and engagement; (2) adoption and adoptability; (3) responsible, inclusive and ethical innovation; and (4) policy and regulation. Combined, these objectives deliver co-production, co-creation and impact at scale across academia, industry, policy and the third sector. A fifth strand focuses on developing the REPHRAIN data archive as well as systematic evaluation frameworks for rigorous evaluation of online harm mitigation mechanisms.

These activities are complemented by a capability fund, which ensures that REPHRAIN activities remain flexible and responsive to current issues, addressing emerging capability gaps, maximising impact and cultivating a public space for collaboration. REPHRAIN is managed by a Strategic Board and supported by an External Advisory Group, the REPHRAIN Ethics Board, and works with multiple external stakeholders across industry, public, and the third sector.

Outcomes from the centre are synthesised into the REPHRAIN Toolbox - a one-stop resource for researchers, practitioners, policy-makers, regulators and citizens - which will contribute to developing a culture of continuous learning, collaboration and open engagement and reflection within the area of online harm reduction.

Overall, REPHRAIN focuses on interdisciplinary leadership provided by a highly experienced team and supported by state-of-the-art facilities, to develop and apply scientific expertise to ensure that the benefits of a digital society can be enjoyed safely and securely by all.
 
Description REPHRAIN aims to address the fundamental tensions and imbalances pertaining to protecting citizens online through three over-arching missions. - Mission 1: Deliver privacy at scale while mitigating its misuse to inflict harms - Mission 2: Minimise harms whilst maximising benefits from a sharing- driven digital economy - Mission 3: Balance individual agency vs. social good Transecting these missions, cross-cutting strands in Design and Engagement, Policy and Regulation, Adoption and Adoptability, and Responsible Inclusive Ethical Innovation, draw together good practice in co-production, co-creation and impact at scale for implementation across academia, industry, policy and the third sector. The Centre has grown from the initial 5 founding academic partners to 23 and from initial 40 researchers to 160 across the UK working across 53 research projects so far funded through the centre. The centre also undertook a major scoping exercise which underpinned the UKRI call for complementary projects. Four such projects have been funded each with a value of ca. £2.5M. Each of the Centre's projects produces fundament research that results in scientific publications, policy guidance, data sets or novel technical artefacts. These are captured as part of the centre's outputs. However, the Centre also synthesises these outcomes into large-scale resources. These large-scale resources include: The REPHRAIN Map (launched on 04 October 2022) provides a co- created and shared understanding of the online harms landscape to establish a baseline of current state-of-the-art. It is a dynamic resource that will be incrementally built to include functions that drill down to find tools, techniques, references, research advances from REPHRAIN to address each harm.The categorisation within the Map is based on how harms relate to six positive or desirable attributes: Privacy; Safety; Reputation; Financial Security; Freedom of Speech; Fairness. The REPHRAIN Toolbox brings together the project outcomes into cohesive reference scenarios, benchmarks, datasets and methods and tools for use by policy and practice audiences as well as end-users. The REPHRAIN Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS) testbed incorporates network and end- nodes on which PETs can be rolled out and evaluated from both the system and human viewpoint. Its goal is to enable researchers to investigate interactions between PETs and the feasibility of privacy-as-a-generic function that may be used by any application or use case. The testbed can assist software developers, system administrators, and privacy professionals, to run a large scale analysis without the need to deploy any infrastructure or have access to several (potentially costly) target devices. They will be able to instantiate multiple virtual devices with various versions of operating systems to facilitate executing privacy related analyses. The Privacy Clinics provide both a direct engagement with citizens - especially marginalised and vulnerable populations - in build agency and capacity to protect themselves from privacy violations and online harms. They also provide invaluable insights into the challenges faced by citizens and the methods, tools and techniques to support their agency with regards to online harm mitigation. The REPHRAIN Policy Reports provide consolidated evidence-based responses to government and regulatory consultations - ensuring that the Centre's collective capability is leveraged to provide scientific input into critical debates and regulations regarding online safety and protection of fundamental rights such as privacy.
Exploitation Route The REPHRAIN Måp, Toolbox, Testbed and Data Archive provide a range of resources for use by academics, policy makers, practitioners, 3rd sector organisations and citizens for privacy and safety from online harms. The Privacy Clinics not only provide direct benefits to citizens but also invaluable insights to drive future research, policy, regulations and practice with regards to protecting citizens online.
Sectors Agriculture

Food and Drink

Communities and Social Services/Policy

Creative Economy

Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software)

Education

Financial Services

and Management Consultancy

Government

Democracy and Justice

Security and Diplomacy

Transport

Other
URL https://www.rephrain.ac.uk
 
Description This is a continuing impact from work in REPHRAIN Phase I which has been carried forward in Phase II. REPHRAIN Map. The REPHRAIN Map is a globally first and unique living, interactive, resource providing insights into ongoing research within the centre as well as identified research gaps, relevant literature, and useful research tools and materials linked to particular themes pertaining to privacy, harms and risks online. The Map provides a shared understanding of this landscape, establishing a baseline of current state-of-the-art. The content of the Map is co-created and routinely updated by the core researchers within REPHRAIN, based on developments within the field and community feedback. The Map also facilitates the communication of research findings and policy recommendations to different stakeholders within and outside academia. The scientific paper detailing the co-creation of the Map and its role as a key facilitator across multiple stakeholder communities received the Methods Recognition Award at the ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) 2023. REPHRAIN Toolbox. The REPHRAIN Toolbox complements the Map by providing a one-stop shared set of resources for researchers, practitioners, policymakers, regulators and citizens. These include benchmarks, reference scenarios, tools, datasets, methods, prototypes and frameworks resulting from the research in the projects being conducted across REPHRAIN. Outcomes are also substantied as REPHRAIN Evaluated Artefacts providing a clear evidence base about the criteria and methods used to evaluate their effectiveness. A key element of the Toolbox is the Adoption Guide which provides stakeholders with clear and concise guidelines on how to utilise a particular output. REPHRAIN Data Archive. Development of a rigorous evidence-based on online harms and effectiveness of mitigation mechanisms as well as scientific underpinnings for policy decisions require high quality rigorous datasets. REPHRAIN has developed a systematic Data Archive, bringing together the datasets emerging from its various research projects into a single one-stop resource for the community. This is even more critical in the current landscape as online harms researchers have suffered a serious impact from several online platforms blocking API access. REPHRAIN is also the UK node in the EU SoBigData initiative, a Horizon funded programme to create, implement and operate a research infrastructure for large-scale data sharing across Europe. REPHRAIN Testbed. Application developers find it difficult to verify the privacy implications of their products, or the behaviour of third party APIs they are using in their application or the remote entities with which they are exchanging data and information. The situation is equally if not more opaque for end-users, researchers as well as regulatory authorities. For a typical user it is nearly impossible to ascertain what data about them are collected by whom and for what purposes. The regulatory regime is unable to proactively understand the data flows between various entities and end-users, while academic researchers need easy, systematic and repeatable means to generate data on privacy behaviours of applications. REPHRAIN has developed the first Privacy Testbed to address these needs. The testbed has evolved into an infrastructure platform - a testbed operating system - that researchers can utilise other evaluate privacy properties of a variety of software applications. REPHRAIN Privacy Clinics. Citizens find it difficult to protect their privacy given the myriad applications and services that collect and synthesise their data. Furthermore, the most marginalised and vulnerable either do not participate in digital services due to fears about data sharing or cannot defend themselves against invasive or controlling technologies such as stalkerware. Building on the concept of clinical computer security, REPHRAIN has developed a programme of privacy clinics in collaboration with a range of third sector organisations. Services offered through such clinics include help to set up new technology, advice on configuring existing technologies or privacy considerations for existing/future devices or services. The clinics not only aim to deliver direct impact from the research advances within REPHRAIN but also build capacity in: (i) citizens through agency in managing their privacy, (ii) partner organisations to run the clinics, and (iii) researchers and PhD students to deliver public engagement and impact to citizens including those who are from marginalised and vulnerable groups. REPHRAIN Policy Impacts. REPHRAIN has a systematic programme of work to shape policy and regulatory debates. We have synthesised the Centre-wide expertise to provide input into multiple policy and regulatory consultations including: DCMS App Security and Privacy Consultation (followed by invitation by DCMS to a special meeting to discuss future directions); DCMS Connected tech: smart or sinister - call for evidence, which led to citation in House of Commons CMS committee report; Ofcom's Online Harm consultation; DCMS Misinformation and trusted voices inquiry; Home Office Unauthorised access to online accounts and personal data consultation; UK Parliament (Science and Technology Select Committee) The Right to Privacy: Digital Data call for evidence; UK Government Data: A New Direction consultation (joint response with CGLI); and All-Party Parliamentary Group call for papers on the Metaverse and Web 3.0 - which led to REPHRAIN White Paper (Metaverse and Web 3.0). REPHRAIN played a central role in the debates on end-to-end encryption (E2EE) and privacy-impacting clauses in the Online Safety Bill. We were invited by DCMS to undertake an independent evaluation of the prototypes selected as part of the government's Safety Tech Challenge Fund, producing not only the scientific evidence but also the first systematic evaluation framework for child abuse detection tools. The report was referenced in open letters by UK and EU researchers to their respective parliaments, highlighted by the BBC and subsequently led to interviews and coverage on BBC Newsnight, Al-Jazeera and TechCrunch.
First Year Of Impact 2024
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Education,Financial Services, and Management Consultancy,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Government, Democracy and Justice,Security and Diplomacy,Transport,Other
Impact Types Societal

Policy & public services
 
Description How to promote media literacy - Ofcom response
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
 
Description REPHRAIN Safer Streets: A Blueprint for Integrated Data Systems Linking Online Harms and Street Crime
Amount £499,998 (GBP)
Organisation United Kingdom Research and Innovation 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 05/2025 
End 03/2026
 
Description SoBigData IP
Amount € 1,499,832 (EUR)
Organisation European Commission 
Sector Public
Country Belgium
Start 05/2026 
End 05/2029
 
Title SaferVR toolkit 
Description A methodological toolkit outlining onboarding, session structuring, and ethical considerations for inclusive VR research with vulnerable populations.( 
Type Of Material Improvements to research infrastructure 
Year Produced 2026 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact The SafeVR toolkit will be made available on the REPHRAIN toolbox. 
 
Title DAARC (Design Against AR Crime) 
Description The DAARC project team have offered the community a valuable dataset of anticipated crimes enabled by AR devices (currently under embargo). 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2025 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact The data will support the other outputs from the REPHRAIN funded project and will be added to the REPHRAIN data archive. 
 
Title SaferVR dataset 
Description The REPHRAIN funded SFC 5 project SaferVR undertook interviews to create datasets of both quantitative and qualitative date looking to understand how adults with intellectual disabilities (ID) experience and navigate social virtual reality (VR). 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2025 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact The dataset was used to support other outputs from the project which will be included in the REPHRAIN Map, Toolbox and Data Archive. 
 
Description REPHRAIN Safer Streets pilot study funding call - Head to Head with Data 
Organisation University of Sheffield
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The REPHRAIN Safer Streets project has provided funding for the Head to Head with Data project held at the University of Sheffield under its pilot study funding call.
Collaborator Contribution The Head to Head with Data project will provide key findings, insights and outputs that will feed directly into the final Safer Streets report plus the REPHRAIN Map and toolbox.
Impact The Head to Head with Data project team have become part of the wider Safer Streets and REPHRAIN team and are actively engaged in all activities. The final outputs of the project will feed directly into the REPHRAIN Map and toolbox (publication and dataset).
Start Year 2025
 
Description REPHRAIN Safer Streets pilot study funding call - Neighbourhood Signals: Online Discussions and Crime. 
Organisation Queen Mary University of London
Department Queen Mary Innovation
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The REPHRAIN Safer Streets project has provided funding for the Neighbourhood Signals: Online Discussion and Crime project held at the Queen Mary University of London under its pilot study funding call.
Collaborator Contribution The Neighbourhood Signals project will provide key findings, insights and outputs that will feed directly into the final Safer Streets report plus the REPHRAIN Map and toolbox.
Impact The Neighbourhood Signals project team have become part of the wider Safer Streets and REPHRAIN team and are actively engaged in all activities. The final outputs of the project will feed directly into the REPHRAIN Map and toolbox.
Start Year 2025
 
Description REPHRAIN Safer Streets pilot study funding call - Understanding and Tackling VAWG through research, co-design and multi-stakeholder review project. 
Organisation University of East London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The Safer Streets project has provided funding for the Understanding and Tackling VAWG through research, co-design and multi-stakeholder review project held at the University of East London, under its pilot study funding call.
Collaborator Contribution The Understanding and Tackling VAWG through research, co-design and multi-stakeholder review project will provide key findings, insights and outputs that will directly feed into the Safer Streets final report to funders and also into both the REPHRAIN Map and REPHRAIN toolbox.
Impact The Understanding and Tackling VAWG project team have become part of the wider REPHRAIN Safer Streets team and are actively involved and engaged in all activities. The final outputs of the project will feed directly into the REPHRAIN Map and toolbox.
Start Year 2025
 
Description REPHRAIN Safer Streets pilot study funding call - VR-CLiCS project 
Organisation University of Glasgow
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The REPHRAIN Safer Streets project has provided funding for the VR-CLiCS (Child Local Clinics for Safety in Virtual Environments) project held at the University of Glasgow under its pilot study funding call.
Collaborator Contribution The VR-CLiCS project will provide key findings, insights and outputs that will feed directly into the final Safer Streets report plus the REPHRAIN Map and toolbox.
Impact The VR-CLiCS project team have become part of the wider Safer Streets and REPHRAIN team and are actively engaged in all activities. The final outputs of the project will feed directly into the REPHRAIN Map and toolbox (publication and dataset).
Start Year 2025
 
Description REPHRAIN Strategic Funding call 5 - University College London 
Organisation University College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The REPHRAIN research centre has provided funding for the UseCRT - User experience and useability of content reporting tools in online social media platforms and their user-to-user messaging services research project held at University College London, under its fifth Strategic Funding Call.
Collaborator Contribution The UseCRT project will provide outputs that will directly feed into both the REPHRAIN Map and REPHRAIN toolbox.
Impact The UseCRT project team have become part of the wider REPHRAIN team and are actively involved and engaged in all activities. The final outputs of the project will feed directly into the REPHRAIN Map and toolbox. One expected output from this project will be a set of usability and best practice guidelines refined for online social media content reporting tools. These could be used by developers to help them develop more usable reporting tools, and by developers and researchers to evaluate the usability of online social media content reporting tools.
Start Year 2024
 
Description REPHRAIN Strategic Funding call 5 - University of Glasgow 
Organisation University of Glasgow
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The REPHRAIN research centre has provided funding for the DAARC - Design Against AR Crime research project held at the University of Glasgow, under its fifth Strategic Funding Call.
Collaborator Contribution The DAARC project team have become part of the wider REPHRAIN team and are actively involved and engaged in all activities. The final outputs of the project will feed directly into the REPHRAIN Map and toolbox.
Impact The DAARC project will provide the following outcomes: 1. Dataset of prospective AR crime scenarios 2. Taxonomy of AR crime and proposed mitigations
Start Year 2024
 
Description REPHRAIN Strategic Funding call 5 - University of Kent 
Organisation University of Kent
Country United Kingdom 
PI Contribution The REPHRAIN research centre has provided funding for the SaferVR - Investigating the opportunities and risks of social virtual reality for adults with intellectual disabilities research project held at the University of Kent, under its fifth Strategic Funding Call.
Collaborator Contribution The SaferVR project will provide outputs that will directly feed into both the REPHRAIN Map and REPHRAIN toolbox.
Impact The SaferVR project team have become part of the wider REPHRAIN team and are actively involved and engaged in all activities. The final outputs of the project will feed directly into the REPHRAIN Map and toolbox. The project is expected to provide the following outcomes: Research report Scenario catalogue for social VR online safety Guideline document for enhancing online safety Data and insights on VR interaction Training, support, and methodology resources
Start Year 2024
 
Description Safer Streets - Strand 1 - Community group 1 
Organisation Unseen
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The University of Bristol Strand 1 team ran a workshop with the community group.
Collaborator Contribution The community group facilitated and hosted the workshop.
Impact Keys findings and insights from the workshop will feed and help inform the Safer Streets final report to funders.
Start Year 2025
 
Description Safer Streets - Strand 1 - Community group 2 
Organisation Wellspring Healthy Living Centre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The University of Bristol Strand 1 team ran a workshop with the community group.
Collaborator Contribution The community group facilitated and hosted the workshop.
Impact Keys findings and insights from the workshop will feed and help inform the Safer Streets final report to funders.
Start Year 2025
 
Description Safer Streets - Strand 1 - Community group 3 
Organisation Knowle West Media Centre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The Bristol Strand 1 team ran a workshop with the community group.
Collaborator Contribution The community group facilitated and hosted the workshop.
Impact Keys findings and insights from the workshop will feed and help inform the Safer Streets final report to funders.
Start Year 2025
 
Description Safer Streets strand 2 - Law enforcement 
Organisation North Yorskshire Police
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The project team worked with law enforcement teams to collect data to support the study.
Collaborator Contribution The project team worked with the police force to collect data to support the study.
Impact All key findings and insights will be incorporated into reports to the funders.
Start Year 2025
 
Description Understanding and tackling violence against women and girls - Law enforcement 
Organisation Essex Police
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution The project team (funded by REPHRAIN Safer Streets) have undertaken focus groups with law enforcement teams.
Collaborator Contribution The project team (funded by REPHRAIN Safer Streets) have undertaken focus groups with law enforcement teams.
Impact The key findings and insights from the focus groups will feed into the final reports and all outputs will be included in the REPHRAIN map, toolbox and data archive.
Start Year 2025
 
Description VR-CLiCS - Community Centre 2 
Organisation Eric Liddell Centre
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution The VR-CLiCS ran a workshop with young people.
Collaborator Contribution The Community Centre hosted and facilitated the workshop.
Impact Results and key findings from the workshop will form the Safer Streets final report to stakeholders.
Start Year 2025
 
Description VR-CLiCS - Community group 
Organisation Glasgow Clyde College
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The VR-CLiCS project ran a workshop for young people and adults.
Collaborator Contribution The community group hosted and facilitated the workshop.
Impact Key findings and insights from the workshop will feed into the Safer Streets final report to funder.
Start Year 2025
 
Description 'Transforming Resilience by Rethinking the Cyber Security Ecosystem with Sociotechnical Approaches' - Academic Panel at CyberUK 2025, Manchester, 7 May 2025 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Academic Panel at CyberUK 2025 on 'Transforming Resilience by Rethinking the Cyber Security Ecosystem with Sociotechnical Approaches'.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
URL https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/section/keep-up-to-date/cyberuk
 
Description Head to Head with data workshop - session 1 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Street funded pilot study Head to Head with Data ran a workshop with young people on 27-28 January 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description Head to Head with data workshop - session 2 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Street funded pilot study Head to Head with Data ran a workshop with young people on 11 February 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description Head to Head with data workshop - session 3 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Schools
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Street funded pilot study Head to Head with Data ran a workshop with young people on 12-13 February 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description Invited speaker, discussions and lab tour - Visit to Bristol Cyber Security Group and Centre for Doctoral Training - Prof Gene Tsudik, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine - 20-21 November 2026 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Hosted a visit to Bristol Cyber Security Group and Centre for Doctoral Training for Prof Gene Tsudik, Distinguished Professor of Computer Science at the University of California, Irvine. This included an invited talk, project meetings and lab tour.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
 
Description Lunch & Learn Presentation and Q&A with the Home Office, Tackling Child Sexual Abuse Unit - 12 March 2026 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Findings and insight from research projects focused on tackling the CSAM presented at a Home Office Lunch & Learn session, followed by Q&A.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description Panel member at Bristish Society of Criminology Conference 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The Safer Streets strand 3 team from the University of Bath will be on the panel at the British Society of Criminology conference in Nottingham, 07-10 July 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description Presentation at Bath P-ACE+ 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The Safer Streets University of Bath team presented the results from Strand 3 on 03 March 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description Privacy Clinic at Knowle West Healthy Living Centre - 27 March 2025 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Privacy Clinic for Fun & Fab Women's Wellbeing Group at Knowle West Healthy Living Centre. Privacy Clinics are a free one-stop service providing advice to members of the public on online privacy and security, including securing devices and online accounts e.g. banking and emails, concerns around location tracking and smart devices, and addressing issues such as social media harassment. These clinics provide confidential, personalised consultations, and the queries received help researchers identify ongoing privacy challenges and areas where greater public understanding is needed.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
URL https://www.knowlewesthealthpark.co.uk/
 
Description Privacy Clinic at University of Bristol (in association with Wellbeing Services), 5 March 2025, Bristol 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Undergraduate students
Results and Impact Privacy Clinics are a free one-stop service providing advice to members of the public on online privacy and security, including securing devices and online accounts e.g. banking and emails, concerns around location tracking and smart devices, and addressing issues such as social media harassment. These clinics provide confidential, personalised consultations, and the queries received help researchers identify ongoing privacy challenges and areas where greater public understanding is needed.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
URL https://www.rephrain.ac.uk/privacy-clinics/
 
Description Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) Workshop convened by DSIT Cyber Security Policy team, 18 February 2026 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETs) Workshop convened by DSIT Cyber Security Policy team bringing together a range of experts to discuss, provide networking opportunities, and to gather and record findings to inform PETS policy development across Government.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description Safe Online website publication 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The REPHRAIN evaluation of child safety technologies developed for deployment in end-to-end encrypted (E2EE) environments to detect and prevent CSAM was published and cited on the Safe Online website.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
URL https://safeonline.global/rephrain-centre-university-of-bristol-evaluating-ai-tools-with-ethics-fair...
 
Description Safer Streets - all team meeting - February 2026 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The Safer Streets team at Bristol, Bath and Sheffield held an in person all team meeting to include all partner projects in Bristol on 04-05 February 2026 to discuss bringing all results together.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description Safer Streets - all team workshop 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The Safer Streets project teams at Bristol, Bath and Sheffield held an in person all team workshop to discuss plans and priorities in Bristol on 03 September 2025.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
 
Description Strand 1 workshop in person 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Streets Strand 1 at the University of Bristol ran a workshop on 11 November 2025.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
 
Description Strand 1 workshop in person 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Streets Strand at University of Bristol ran a workshop on 19 November 2025.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
 
Description Strand 1 workshop in person 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Streets Strand 1 (University of Bristol) ran a workshop on 21 October 2025.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
 
Description Strand 1 workshop in person 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Streets Strand 1 at University of Bristol ran a workshop on 12 December 2025.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
 
Description Strand 1 workshop in person 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Streets Strand 1 (University of Bristol) ran a second workshop on 06 November 2025.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
 
Description Strand 1 workshop in person 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Streets Strand 1 (University of Bristol) ran a workshop on 05 November 2025.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
 
Description Strand 1 workshop in person 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Streets Strand 1 (University of Bristol) ran a workshop on 18 September 2025.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
 
Description Understanding and tackling VAWG project - focus group 1 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Street funded pilot study Understanding and tackling VAWG ran a focus group with law enforcement on 29 January 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description Understanding and tackling VAWG project - focus group 2 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Street funded pilot study Understanding and Tackling VAWG ran a focus group with law enforcement on 19 February 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description Understanding and tackling VAWG project - focus group 3 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Street funded pilot study Understanding and Tackling VAWG ran a focus group law enforcement on 11 February 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description VIRRAC project - interview on LBC Radio 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact During LBC Radio's Online Safety Day Program, researchers highlighted concerns over children's safety in the metaverse. The VIRRAC report recommends expanding digital literacy education, with lessons beginning in primary schools to instil positive online behaviours from an early age. The UK government is currently reviewing online safety guidelines for teachers, with online safety already integrated into the mandatory Relationships, Sex, and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum. Under the Online Safety Act, platforms must proactively remove illegal content, ensuring a safer online environment for children.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
URL https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/exclusive/children-exposed-psychological-disturbingly-real-harm-metaverse...
 
Description VIRRAC report 
Form Of Engagement Activity A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The team from the REPHRAIN funded VIRRAC project published their final report.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
URL https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7308119727120211968-YS3D?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_...
 
Description VR-CLiCS workshop in person 1 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The Safer Streets funded project VR-CLiCS team ran a workshop for young people on 14 February 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description VR-CLiCS workshop in person 2 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Street funded pilot study VR-CLiCS ran a workshop for young people on 18 February 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description VR-CLiCS workshop in person 3 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Street funded pilot study VR-CLiCS ran a workshop with young people on 24 February 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description VR-CLiCS workshop online 1 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Streets funded pilot study VR-CLiCS ran an online workshop for young people and adults on 15 February 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description VR-CLiCS workshop online 2 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Streets funded pilot study VR-CLiCS ran an online workshop for young people and adults on 16 February 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description VR-CLiCS workshop online 3 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Streets funded pilot study VR-CLiCS ran an online workshop for young people and adults on 16 February 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description VR-CLiCS workshop online 4 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact The project team from the Safer Streets funded pilot study VR-CLiCS ran an online workshop for young people and adults on 18 February 2026.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2026
 
Description William Tantam -Challenging silences blog 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact A blog was published by William Tantam on his work funded by REPHRAIN in February 2025.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2025
URL https://challengingsilences.blogs.bristol.ac.uk/virtual-abuse-infinite-harm-survivors-experiences-of...