About the Conference

Child protection has traditionally been viewed as a policy issue. "Bridging the Sciences: New Approaches to Child Protection" seeks to reframe the conversation as a public health matter, highlighting that child protection concerns are much more profound than a singular corrective action. The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) in collaboration with Childlight has commissioned a new and timely conference to discuss solutions to address this public health emergency. For more information on ICMEC and Childlight please see https://www.icmec.org/ and https://childlight.org/

Plenary Lectures:

The Prevalence of Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse  Globally

Hidden in Plain Sight”: Insight, Explanation, and Influence- Lancet Report on Violence Against Women and Children

The importance of multidisciplinary teams and approaches to addressing CSEA in a U.S. context

Discussion Catalyzing Data 4 Change: case study and why public health interventions work

CARE.org talk

Efforts to prevent and remove Child sexual abuse material from the internet



The conference will include 5 panel discussions.

-Topics includes:

-Why CSEA should be viewed as a pandemic

-Enduring effects of CSEA

-Role of government in prevention

-Solutions at Scale: How to implement good practice

-Turning the tech tables, how to prevent online CSEA

Speakers & Panelists Include:

Raymond Schinazi, Emory University

Gregory Fenves, Emory University

Bernadette Madrid, University of the Philippines

Debi Fry, University of Edinburgh

Katelyn Gray, Washington University St. Louis, Missouri, Social Service Office of Violence Prevention

Emilio Puccio, Secretary General, European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights

Michael Salter, University of New South Wales

Emmanuela Gakidou is the co-founder of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation.

Elena Martellozzo, Co-Chair Violence Against Children

Xiangming Fang, Georgia State University

Afrooz Kaviani Johnson- UNICEF, Child Exploitation Expert

Sabine Rakotomalala, World Health Organization

Shara Barken, Chair of Pediatrics Emory University

Carl Sharpe, Accenture, AI Expert

Kelvin Lay, Tech Facilitated CSEA Data Specialist, Childlight

Paul Stanfield, CEO, Childlight

Steven Kavanagh, Secretary General, ICMEC

Joyce Sepenoo, CARE.org