In December 2023, Kathryn Seigfried-Spellar of Purdue Polytechnic’s Department of Computer and Information Technology held an event she co-founded and co-organized at Australia’s University of Adelaide.
This event “brought together academics, nonprofit institutions and law enforcement who are all focused on the problem of online child sexual abuse,” Seigfried-Spellar said.
The Child Sexual Abuse Reduction Research Network (CSARRN) workshop saw the Australian branch of the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children as its gold-level sponsor. The Centre states that its mission is “to support our partners in the child sexual exploitation response ecosystem to achieve enhanced detection, reporting, prosecution and prevention of technology-assisted sexual exploitation of children.”
The workshop was also financially supported by both Purdue Polytechnic and the University of Adelaide—and three different papers from Purdue partners were presented at this workshop attended by a variety of international participants.
Seigfried-Spellar and Marcus Rogers, associate dean for faculty and professor in computer and information technology both presented during the workshop itself. They also discussed research originally co-authored alongside fellow Polytechnic faculty Tatiana Ringenberg and Julia Rayz, as well as Purdue researchers Nina Matulis and Jacob Heasley.
Alongside 25 presenting organizations at the inaugural conference, the listed members of the initial organizing committee which brought the CSARRN workshop together are:
- Associate Professor Russell Brewer - University of Adelaide
- Associate Professor Bryce Westlake - San Jose State University
- Dr. Kathryn Seigfried-Spellar - Purdue University
- Dr. Sarah Napier - Australian Institute of Criminology
- Professor Julia Davidson - University of East London
- Dr. Katie Logos - University of Adelaide