Dr. Victoria Baines

Dr. Victoria Baines is an authority on online trust, safety, and cybersecurity, with a career spanning international law enforcement, technology, and academia. After studying Classics at Oxford and completing a doctorate in Roman literature, Baines transitioned from academia to law enforcement. She served as a higher intelligence analyst with Surrey Police, principal analyst at the Serious Organised Crime Agency's Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre, and later joined Europol as a strategy team lead.

Baines led the strategy team at Europol's European Cybercrime Centre, where she was responsible for the European Union's cyber threat analysis. She designed and developed the iOCTA, Europe's flagship threat assessment on cybercrime, and authored "Projects 2020" and "2030," scenarios for the future of cybersecurity that served as the basis for award-winning movies. She directed Facebook's trust and safety strategy for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, advising governments and intelligence agencies on countering cybercrime and harmful content. Baines also led the Virtual Global Taskforce's threat assessments on online child exploitation and the analytical arm of the European Financial Coalition against commercial sexual exploitation of children online.

Baines is Professor of Information Technology at Gresham College, where she delivers public lectures on technology and cybersecurity. She is the principal and founder of Cartimandua Insight, a resource for governments and technology companies navigating global cyber-diplomacy and online safety issues. Her publications address cyberspace governance, online surveillance, the future of cybercrime, and the politics of security. Her book "Rhetoric of Insecurity" explores 2,000 years of security discourse and provides a framework for understanding contemporary security debates.

Baines is a senior research associate at the Intellectual Forum at Jesus College, Cambridge, a senior research fellow at the British Foreign Policy Group, and a fellow of the British Computer Society. She is also a visiting fellow at Bournemouth University's School of Computing, a former visiting research fellow at Oxford University, and has served as a guest lecturer at Stanford University. Baines regularly addresses specialist and general audiences and has been recognized as one of the top 25 women in cybersecurity by IT Guru and SC Magazine. She co-hosts the award-nominated "Cyber Warrior Princess" podcast, which explains cybersecurity for a broad audience. Baines frequently contributes to major broadcast media outlets, including BBC Newsnight, Radio 4, and Sky News, on topics such as digital ethics, cybercrime, and the misuse of emerging technologies including extended reality and artificial intelligence.