From the Field
grassroots knowledge. global action.
Building the future of online safety from the ground up starts with listening to and learning from the people closest to harm. This is where we share what we have gathered so far.
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Beyond the Headlines: Where Work Actually Goes in an AI Economy
Conference Records
The SHIELD Global Online Safety Conference brings together practitioners, researchers, young people, and community leaders to map where digital harm originates and what it actually takes to address it. These documents are the permanent record of that work.
SHIELD Global Online Safety Conference 2026
80 speakers. 25 countries. 5 continents. Three days of sessions, testimony, and argument examined for structural patterns.
Click on the images below to download the documents.
Briefing and Positioning Statement
A short introduction to the conference, its findings, and SHIELD's position on what the evidence requires.
Executive Summary
A structured synthesis of the reference document: what the conference found, who said it, and what it means for the field.
Conference Reference Document
The complete record: session summaries, practitioner voices, frameworks, tools, and a full index for locating specific contributions.
Event Recordings
SHIELD convenes gatherings throughout the year across formats and geographies.
Click on the images below to access the dedicated event page.
2026 Global Online Safety Conference
A three-day conference examining why online harm persists and what it actually takes to address it, bringing together practitioners, educators, young people, researchers, and community leaders working across harm types, disciplines, and regions to map both the structural conditions producing harm and the ground-level responses already working to address it.
Therapy Bots and the Future of Mental Health
A focused examination of AI-powered tools entering mental health care, exploring the ethical, clinical, and practical questions they raise: who they serve, what risks they carry for vulnerable users including young people and the elderly, and what responsible design and deployment in this space actually requires.
AI Companions: Understanding the Risks and Staying Safe
A close look at the growing use of AI chatbot companions, covering the psychological mechanisms that drive attachment, the societal conditions that make people turn to them, the specific risks they pose to children and vulnerable adults, and what it means to engage with them without losing sight of their limitations.
Youth Voices in Digital Wellbeing: Leading the Change
A dedicated day of conversation led by young people from five countries, speaking on their own terms about how they experience the online world, what adults consistently get wrong about it, and how they are already building their own approaches to staying well within it.
2025 Global Online Safety Conference
SHIELD's first annual conference, covering the full landscape of online harm including child safety, content moderation labor, data privacy, platform accountability, trafficking, digital literacy, and the experiences of communities whose specific realities are rarely centered in mainstream safety conversations.