Aston University is launching a new online safety resource – said to the first of its kind in the UK – designed to help protect young women and girls from violence and abuse on the dark web.
The new toolkit features helpful tips for parents and guardians on warning signs of abuse as well as an emoji definition guide which can be used to identify hidden meanings behind the graphics when used on social media.
The CyberDIVA (Dark Web Investigation of Violence & Abuse) initiative was formally launched on 25 February during an event at Aston University with West Midlands Police.
The project is being funded by Innovate UK and is being led by Dr. Anitha Chinnaswamy at Aston University in partnership with Forensic Pathways. It is also being supported by the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT), and West Midlands Police, including the Regional Cyber Crime Unit.
The website is designed to strengthen prevention, governance and response to technology-facilitated abuse. Developed through interdisciplinary research and extensive consultation, the toolkit was refined using structured feedback from schools, third-sector organisations and corporate partners, including BT, ensuring it reflects real-world operational needs rather than purely academic theory.
Contributors were invited to evaluate the framework, identify gaps, and recommend enhancements, resulting in a resource that is both evidence-led and practitioner-informed.
Dr Chinnaswamy said the project comes amid the evolution of gender-based violence and abuse across digital ecosystems, including both visible social platforms and hidden or encrypted online environments.
She adds that while significant public attention has focused on online abuse in mainstream digital spaces, harm facilitated through encrypted channels, anonymous networks, and dark web environments remains comparatively under-examined. This creates operational, investigative, and policy gaps that limit effective safeguarding and coordinated response.
Beyond the toolkit, a new policy-focused briefing paper has been published to inform national dialogue on digital governance and systemic accountability.
The project will also convene senior stakeholders through a dedicated roundtable at the House of Lords later this year, strengthening engagement across government, policing, industry and civil society.
Dr Chinnaswamy said: “I am immensely proud and humbled to lead CyberDIVA, because protecting young people in an increasingly complex digital world is not just urgent, it is non-negotiable.
“Initiatives such as CyberDIVA are of national strategic importance, and increasingly a global one, because the harms we are addressing do not respect borders, and the pace of technological change demands collective, coordinated responses. It is a collective responsibility to ensure young people can use technology safely, ethically, and to their advantage, so that digital progress remains a force for good.”
The CyberDIVA website can be accessed here: https://main.d3q1myeyadoup6.amplifyapp.com/