A Social Sciences Week event.

Women and girls face abuse, exploitation and threats of violence in a wide range of online spaces. Safety by Design puts women’s safety at the heart of digital technologies, preventing harm before it occurs and holding perpetrators to account.

Join in a conversation envisioning a world of online safety and network with the eSafety Commissioner,Julie Inman-Grant, Swinburne researchers and Swinburne partner organisations working to end all forms of violence against women and children.

The event will be hosted by:

• Dr Rachael Burgin, Senior Lecturer in School of Business, Law and Entrepreneurship and CEO of Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy (RASARA)
• Professor Kay Cook, Associate Dean of Research in the School of Social Sciences, Media, Film and Education
   

Event highlights

• The event will commence with a keynote speech delivered by eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman-Grant.
• This will be followed by an engaging panel discussion involving Swinburne researchers and collaborating partner organisations
• Networking drinks and canapés
   

About the speaker

Julie Inman Grant is Australia’s eSafety Commissioner. In this role, Julie leads the world’s first government regulatory agency committed to keeping its citizens safer online.

Julie has extensive experience in the non-profit and government sectors and spent two decades working in senior public policy and safety roles in the tech industry at Microsoft, Twitter and Adobe.

The Commissioner’s career began in Washington DC, working in the US Congress and the non-profit sector before taking on a role at Microsoft. Julie’s experience at Microsoft spanned 17 years, serving as one of the company’s first and longest-standing government relations professionals, ultimately in the role of Global Director for Safety & Privacy Policy and Outreach. At Twitter, she set up and drove the company’s policy, safety & philanthropy programs across Australia, New Zealand & Southeast Asia.

As Commissioner, Julie plays an important global role as Chair of the Child Dignity Alliance’s Technical Working Group and as a Board Member of the WePROTECT Global Alliance. The Commissioner also serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Coalition for Digital Safety and on their XR Ecosystem Governance Steering Committee on Building and Defining the Metaverse. Under her leadership, eSafety has joined forces with the White House Gender Policy Council and Government of Denmark on the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Harassment & Abuse.

In 2021, Julie oversaw significant increases in the eSafety office’s budget, increased staffing levels and launched the global Safety by Design initiative. As Commissioner, she has led work to stand up novel and world-first regulatory regimes under the new Online Safety Act 2021, with implementation of a sweeping new set of reforms beginning on 23 January 2022. Commissioner Inman Grant was reappointed for a further 5-year term by the Australian Government in January 2022. 

The Commissioner was recently named one of Australia’s most influential women by the Australian Financial Review and a leading Australian in Foreign Affairs by the Sydney Morning Herald. In 2020, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and Apolitical appointed the Commissioner as one of the #Agile50, the world’s most influential leaders revolutionising government.