Using a Commercial Determinants of Health Lens for Online Safety Prof Deborah Fry, Global Director of Data for Childlight - Global Child Safety Institute, will lead a public lecture focussed on building safer digital environments for children.The lecture will be followed by an expert discussion panel with leading speakers from the World Health Organization and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, exploring the question: What can we learn from other areas of health about applying a commercial determinants lens, and what is unique to digital environments?This event is available in hybrid format. Tea and coffee will be provided for in-person attendees after the lecture and panel.About this eventTechnology-facilitated harms are a major global public health and child protection challenge, with more than 300 million children experiencing at least one type of technology-facilitated harm each year.Traditional prevention approaches focusing on individual behaviours - including digital literacy and parental responsibility - remain important, but cannot fully explain why harms occur at such scale.A public health approach to addressing technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) looks beyond individual behaviours, to the wider environments in which harm occurs. It seeks to maximise benefit across society by preventing harm before it occurs and by addressing the factors that shape risk.A commercial determinants of harm lens complements this public health lens and existing online safety approaches by examining how business models, product design, market incentives, data practices and corporate influence shape digital environments and ultimately patterns of harm.This perspective expands the conversation by asking how online environments themselves can be designed and governed to reduce harm before it occurs.Join Professor Deborah Fry for a public lecture on Using a Commercial Determinants of Health Lens for Online Safety.The lecture will be followed by an expert discussion panel, exploring what can we learn from other areas of health about applying a commercial determinants lens, and what is unique to digital environments.About the speakersLead speaker: Professor Deborah FryDeborah Fry is a Professor of International Child Protection Research at the University of Edinburgh and Global Director of Data for Childlight - Global Child Safety Institute. Childlight is a research centre, core funded by the Human Dignity Foundation, that aims to take a data driven, evidence-based approach to understanding the prevalence and nature of CSEA across the globe, and translate that data into sustainable action that safeguards children. Prof Fry leads from a public health lens to tackle CSEA globally using data.Expert discussion panelDr Amrit Kaur Purba, Lead of the Digital Determinants of Health Hub at London School of Hygiene and Tropical MedicineDr Monika Kosinska, Global Technical Lead of Social Determinants of Health Equity at the World Health OrganizationAgenda2:30-3:00 – Arrival3:00-3:05 – Welcome and opening remarks3:05-3:30 – Keynote presentation by Prof Deborah Fry3:30-4:00 – Expert panel discussion4:00-4:30 – Questions from the audience4:30-5:00 – Tea and coffeeFor any enquiries, please contact us at Childlight@ed.ac.uk. Tags Conferences, seminars and lectures Research centres, groups and networks Research events Dec 03 2026 2:30pm - 5:00pm Using a Commercial Determinants of Health Lens for Online Safety Join this hybrid public lecture to discover how a commercial determinants lens can help build safer digital environments for children. This public lecture is part of the Stewart Alan Robertson Lecture Series funded by the Robertson Endowment. Godfrey Thomson Hall, Thomson's Land, Moray House School of Education and Sport, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 8FF Godfrey Thomson Hall map Book free tickets on Eventbrite This article was published on Thursday 22 October 2026
Using a Commercial Determinants of Health Lens for Online Safety Prof Deborah Fry, Global Director of Data for Childlight - Global Child Safety Institute, will lead a public lecture focussed on building safer digital environments for children.The lecture will be followed by an expert discussion panel with leading speakers from the World Health Organization and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, exploring the question: What can we learn from other areas of health about applying a commercial determinants lens, and what is unique to digital environments?This event is available in hybrid format. Tea and coffee will be provided for in-person attendees after the lecture and panel.About this eventTechnology-facilitated harms are a major global public health and child protection challenge, with more than 300 million children experiencing at least one type of technology-facilitated harm each year.Traditional prevention approaches focusing on individual behaviours - including digital literacy and parental responsibility - remain important, but cannot fully explain why harms occur at such scale.A public health approach to addressing technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) looks beyond individual behaviours, to the wider environments in which harm occurs. It seeks to maximise benefit across society by preventing harm before it occurs and by addressing the factors that shape risk.A commercial determinants of harm lens complements this public health lens and existing online safety approaches by examining how business models, product design, market incentives, data practices and corporate influence shape digital environments and ultimately patterns of harm.This perspective expands the conversation by asking how online environments themselves can be designed and governed to reduce harm before it occurs.Join Professor Deborah Fry for a public lecture on Using a Commercial Determinants of Health Lens for Online Safety.The lecture will be followed by an expert discussion panel, exploring what can we learn from other areas of health about applying a commercial determinants lens, and what is unique to digital environments.About the speakersLead speaker: Professor Deborah FryDeborah Fry is a Professor of International Child Protection Research at the University of Edinburgh and Global Director of Data for Childlight - Global Child Safety Institute. Childlight is a research centre, core funded by the Human Dignity Foundation, that aims to take a data driven, evidence-based approach to understanding the prevalence and nature of CSEA across the globe, and translate that data into sustainable action that safeguards children. Prof Fry leads from a public health lens to tackle CSEA globally using data.Expert discussion panelDr Amrit Kaur Purba, Lead of the Digital Determinants of Health Hub at London School of Hygiene and Tropical MedicineDr Monika Kosinska, Global Technical Lead of Social Determinants of Health Equity at the World Health OrganizationAgenda2:30-3:00 – Arrival3:00-3:05 – Welcome and opening remarks3:05-3:30 – Keynote presentation by Prof Deborah Fry3:30-4:00 – Expert panel discussion4:00-4:30 – Questions from the audience4:30-5:00 – Tea and coffeeFor any enquiries, please contact us at Childlight@ed.ac.uk. Tags Conferences, seminars and lectures Research centres, groups and networks Research events Dec 03 2026 2:30pm - 5:00pm Using a Commercial Determinants of Health Lens for Online Safety Join this hybrid public lecture to discover how a commercial determinants lens can help build safer digital environments for children. This public lecture is part of the Stewart Alan Robertson Lecture Series funded by the Robertson Endowment. Godfrey Thomson Hall, Thomson's Land, Moray House School of Education and Sport, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 8FF Godfrey Thomson Hall map Book free tickets on Eventbrite This article was published on Thursday 22 October 2026
Dec 03 2026 2:30pm - 5:00pm Using a Commercial Determinants of Health Lens for Online Safety Join this hybrid public lecture to discover how a commercial determinants lens can help build safer digital environments for children. This public lecture is part of the Stewart Alan Robertson Lecture Series funded by the Robertson Endowment.
