Patrick Burton is executive director of the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention (CJCP), South Africa. He has extensive experience at both a research and policy level on child and youth victimisation, school violence prevention and youth resilience. He has worked on the development and implementation of a National School Safety Framework for the National Department of Basic Education in South Africa, and the integration of online safety into national education policies. His current research interests lie in cyberbullying, online safety and young people’s online experiences, both positive and negative. His recent research includes a UNICEF-partnered qualitative study exploring how young people navigate their online safety. His current work includes the Optimus Foundation Study South Africa, a national incidence and prevalence study of 10,000 children looking at child abuse, violence and neglect in South Africa; a global review of evidence of what works in preventing child online exploitation, violence and abuse and in promoting digital opportunities; a regional study on policies, legislation and interventions addressing child online sexual exploitation for the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa) (in Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Jordan); a scoping and mapping exercise of the child online protection landscape in Uganda; and providing technical assistance to UNICEF Namibia on their child online safety research. Patrick is the group chair of the Violence in Schools Learning Group of the Know Violence in Childhood Global Learning Initiative.
Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention, South Africa
