By Dulcie
Faure-Walker, DForenPsy., & Kieran McCartan, Ph.D.
The
annual NOTA international conference took place in Belfast, Northern Ireland,
last week. This was the first time that the NOTA annual conference
had been in Belfast since 2019, our first post-covid visit. There were over 300
attendees across two days, with four keynote sessions and 38 parallel breakout
sessions. For the first time the NOTA conference moved from three to two days
and the organization and structure of the days took a different format. For this blog post, we talk through the
highlights of a successful, engaging, and thought-provoking conference.
The
conference kicked off on Thursday morning with a welcome to Belfast and
Northern Ireland by Lady Chief Justice Siobhan Keegan where she
discussed her journey to become chief justice and the importance of
understanding the causes of sexual and interpersonal abuse for all, especially
judges, in the criminal justice system. The chair for the day was Miriam
O’Callaghan, an RTÉ
journalist and TV news presenter based in the Republic of Ireland, who
discussed the importance of having an informed press when reporting on
sensitive, challenging and controversial issues. Which lead directly into her
chairing of the first keynote, a debate on whether the causes of paedophilia
are informed by nature or nurture. Dr James Cantor opened the debate, argueing
for the nature side stating that you cannot wholly explain paedophilia, not
necessarily child sexual abuse in general, in social and contextual factors. Dr.
Cantor highlighted research on mental health, psychology, biology and brain
structure as well as function. Professor Nick Blagden, countered, emphasizing
the need to recognize the importance of social and contextual factors. The two speakers
came to the consensus that what is most important is to look at the individual
and what the motivating factors are for them and that there is not a one
size fits all explanation. Which lead Miriam O’Callaghan to emphasize that
we need to do a better job at discussing these complex issues in our efforts to
educate individuals, communities and society.
After
the first keynote, the conference continued with two sets of parallel sessions,
followed by lunch. The day concluded with a roundtable debate on Extremism
& Online Child Sexual Abuse. This session was chaired by Iain Drennan,
head of We Protect Global Alliance, who laid out the current context of online
social harms, the role of social media, and the intersection between extremism,
toxic masculinity and violence against women and children. The other members of
the panel Professor Ethel Quayle, University of Edinburgh, Robert Richardson, National Crime
Agency, & Marcella Leonard MBE, private therapist and consultant,
discussed Iain’s remarks and the questions from their research, policy and
practice experience. This made for an interesting debate, which highlighted the
complexity of the online world and the challenges that we have in understanding
the motivations of people using and viewing sexual abuse material and how it
ties to extremist, not in terms of political, social and physical violence.
On Friday
the conference was opened by Dr Stephanie O’Keeffe, the CEO of Cuan the
Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence (DSGBV) Agency in the Republic of
Ireland, who stated that the need for a better understanding of the links
between child abuse, interpersonal violence, and violence within the home was
more important than ever. Which led into the first keynote by Prof. Parveen
Ali who discussed her new book, with Dr Michaela Rogers, on the overlaps between
sexual offending and domestic violence. The presentation reinforced the
importance of understanding sexual abuse in the family context and the need for
a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary approaches in responding to and preventing
harm. Additionally, as with Stepanie, Parveen argued that you need an informed
and educated workforce to effectively intervene. After the first keynote the conference continues
with two sets of parallel sessions and lunch. The day concluded with the final
keynote, which focused on place-based approaches to preventing sexual abuse in
children and young people (CYP). Dr. Nadine McKillop presented research,
policy and practice from Australia, emphasizing that taking a place-based
approach is the most effective way for protecting CYP from sexual harm, but also
in upskilling communities around the issue. She was followed by Professor
Carlene Firmin who discussed the role of contextual safeguarding in
preventing sexual harm across the UK.
Their
presentations dovetailed well together and reinforced the role of the community
in helping to prevent and respond to sexual harm in CYP. Notably, the final
keynote reinforced the messages of the opening one, that you need to focus on
the individual at risk of committing or who has committed sexual harm and work
with them in their context in an individualized and multi-systemic way.
Across
Thursday and Friday, we had 38 breakout sessions covering topics as broad as
research and treatment on sibling sexual abuse, harmful sexual behavior in CYP,
risk assessment, sexual abuse prevention, masculinity and online harm,
treatment, desistence, and updates from HMPPS on current policy as well as
practice. This year, like last year, the conference had a special online
edition of the Journal of Sexual Aggression curated by Dr. Nadine McKillop;
readers are invited to go to the journal website and twitter account for more
information.
In
closing, the conference was a great success, and the two-day format worked,
with lots of positive feedback. It was a great opportunity to reconnect and
reengage with colleagues as well as learn about innovative research, policy,
and practice. The next NOTA conference will be in Newcastle, England, in mid-May
2026, we hope to see you there!
