Deborah 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 large data institute, core funded by the Human Dignity Foundation that aims to take a data driven, evidence-based approach to understanding the prevalence and nature of child sexual exploitation and abuse across the globe and translating that data into sustainable action that safeguards children. The mission is to establish a world leading independent institute that gathers, translates and visualises the prevalence of child sexual exploitation and abuse across the world. Prof Fry leads from a public health lens to tackle child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) globally using data. At Childlight Prof Fry leads the annual Into the Light Index on the prevalence and scale of CSEA globally (https://intothelight.childlight.org) and the Searchlight publication bi-annually on the nature of CSEA (https://childlight.org/searchlight-2023-dashboard).From 2019 to present, Professor Fry serves as the academic lead for the University of Edinburgh for a Long-Term Agreement with UNICEF on child protection research, administrative data and training. Professor Fry leads studies commissioned by UNICEF offices globally on understanding the nature and drivers of violence against children and using this data for evidence-based programming and policy changes and recommendations. In addition, Professor Fry was the academic Principal Investigator of a multi-country study exploring the drivers of violence affecting children in collaboration with the UNICEF Office of Research, Innocenti from 2013 to 2018.  And in 2012, Professor Fry secured a prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship to longitudinally examine the knowledge, attitudes and perceived self-efficacy of new teachers in responding to issues of bullying and safeguarding in the classroom. Professor Fry also undertakes postgraduate teaching and administration and teaches courses on research methods and child protection research and is a course convener on the MSc in Child Protection Data Futures. Prior to joining the University, Professor Fry was Research Director at the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault. During her time at the Alliance, she was the Principal Investigator (PI) on nine primary research studies on sexual violence and abuse in New York City ranging from participatory action research with immigrant communities to research with young people. Deborah has a PhD by Research Publications from the University of Edinburgh, a Master of Arts degree from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University, her Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University. Professor Fry was also a Fulbright Research Scholar from 2001 to 2002 and a Marie Curie Fellow from 2012 to 2015.

‍