Rachel O'Connell

Rachel O'Connell is the Director of Research at the Cyberspace Research Unit at the University of Central Lancashire.

Prior to working at the University of Central Lancashire Rachel managed an EU funded project entitled COPINE (Combating Paedophile Information Networks in Europe), based at University College Cork, Ireland. The particular focus of the Project was the sexual exploitation of children through the Internet. The Project staff worked closely with law enforcement and other agencies in this field in the development of practice related initiatives, as well as undertaking collaborative research into the nature of offending, and victim related issues.

In January 2000 Rachel on behalf of the Cyberspace Research Unit, University of Central Lancashire secured a grant of £500,000 from the European Commission to involve children in the development of web based educational tools designed to equip children and young people with the tools, knowledge and skills required to navigate safely on the Internet. The ONCE project had partners in Belgium, Greece and Ireland and developed a set of materials FKBKO (For Kids by Kids Online), which are available and are being promoted widely:

http://www.fkbko.org

The Cyberspace Unit is currently the UK co-ordinator within SafeBorders, another European Commission funded project working towards a multinational awareness campaign about a safer Internet.
The Unit has also carried out research for the Home Office and the Department for Education and Skills in the UK.

Rachel is well known for her work researching online criminal activity, and investigating these activities using forensic computing and also psychological approaches such as criminal profiling. She has good working relationships with various members of law enforcement agencies.

Rachel sits on the Home Office Task Force and Department for Education & Skills Schools Internet Safety Strategy Group. She frequently speaks at online safety and child welfare conferences, and is regarded as an expert in her field by both the British and Irish media.