Wendy Thomas
Uwch–reolwrPolisi/Senior Policy Manager
Y GrwpAddysg a GwasanaethauCyhoeddus/ Education & Public Services Group
Is-AdranDyfodolTecach/Fairer Futures Division
Ffon/Tel 029 2082 6002
Ebost/email:

Update 13

Current Perspectives, Practices and Solutions

Hate Crime Awareness Week 2015

Thursday 15th October 2015

The Orangery, Margam Park, South Wales

10:30am -16:00pm

Keynote speakers include:

Lesley Griffiths AM, Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty

Nick Pickles, Head of Policy at Twitter UK

Paul Giannasi, UK Government Hate Crime Lead, Ministry of Justice

Claire Lilly, Head of Child Safety Online, NSPCC

Alun Michael, Police and Crime Commissioner for South Wales

Who should Register?

The Welsh Government and the Social Data Science Lab at Cardiff University invite you to attend the National Conference on Hate Crime and Bullying in the Age of Social Media in Hate Crime Awareness week on Thursday October 15th 2015. The Conference is aimed at practitioners, policy makers and criminal justice agencies.

The Challenges of 21st Century Social Media

Estimates put social media membership at approximately 2.5 billion non-unique users globally. Social media has fundamentally altered the ways in which members of the public interact. While social media can be used to foster positive relationships, there is mounting evidence to suggest it is also being used to target hate crimes and bullying against people and communities. The 2014 All Wales Hate Crime Project evidenced that ethnic minorities and young people continued to face abuse and harassment on a daily basis, and new evidence from the Social Data Science Lab at Cardiff University shows how these crimes are migrating to Social Media.

The problem is now recognised as a priority by the UK Government. The former UK Justice Secretary Chris Grayling announced plans in 2014 to amend the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill to increase the maximum sentence for online abusive and hateful content from six to twenty-four months. The Welsh Government continues to implement ‘Tackling Hate Crimes and Incidents: A Framework for Action’ and the fast paced evolution of social media is providing significant challenges for partners and agencies.

Despite this recognition, practitioners can remain in the dark about the nature, prevalence and resourcesavailableto tackle cyberhate and bulling on social media. This conference aims to address thisknowledge gap via a series of keynote presentations from high-profile leaders in the field and via hands on workshops. The Conference also aims to draw upon attendee experiences to set out the current barriers and to identify potential solutions to draw together national recommendations.

How to Register

To register your interest in attending please visit the eventbrite page below and complete the on-line registration process:

During the registration process please select the workshops you would like to attend in order ofpreference. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee your preference, but we will make every effort to do so.

Please note places are limited and we are restricting attendance to two individuals per organisation. The deadline for applications is 11thSeptember 2015 and we will write out to applicants to confirm your place by 15th September 2015.

Nathan Cook (WelshGovernment) and MatthewWilliams (Social Data Science Lab, CardiffUniversity)

Conference Coordinators