Centre for Child Protection

Centre for
Child Protection

Shaping the future of safeguarding through world-leading research, training, and innovation.

At the Centre for Child Protection (CCP), we’re redefining how professionals learn to protect and safeguard children. Based at the University of Kent, we are a global leader in innovative, research-informed child protection education and training. Our work brings together expertise from social work, policing, education, law, the third sector, and international safeguarding contexts. We equip professionals with the skills, knowledge, and critical perspective needed to respond to today’s most complex safeguarding challenges.

Whether you’re looking for flexible, distance-learning postgraduate programmes or immersive CPD opportunities, our teaching is grounded in lived practice and designed to make a lasting difference in children’s lives.

We work in close collaboration with national and international partners, including the NSPCC's Childline, the NHS, the Home Office, Kent Police, Cafcass, A21, ECPAT, the Lawn Tennis Association, and many more — ensuring our training remains practical, current, and impactful. 

Why choose CCP? 

  • Globally recognised for pioneering research and interdisciplinary safeguarding education
  • Innovative learning tools, including award-winning serious game simulations
  • Trusted by professionals in social work, policing, health, education, the non-profit sector, and international child protection
  • Flexible distance learning for students across the UK and worldwide
  • Active research programmes tackling emerging and urgent safeguarding challenges 

Join a global community committed to advancing child protection through critical thinking, innovation, and applied learning. 

Our teaching style

At the Centre for Child Protection, we combine creative digital tools — like interactive online simulations — with practice-informed teaching from experienced professionals. You’ll build the critical thinking, communication, and research skills needed to navigate the realities of safeguarding work.

Our team brings: 

  • Frontline expertise across social work, education, and law 
  • Award-winning innovation in experiential child protection training 
  • Local and global research leadership on trauma, exploitation, sexual abuse, and digital harms 
  • A strong commitment to equity, inclusion, and anti-racist practice 
  • A focus on real-world application, supporting professionals to reflect, adapt, and lead meaningful change

We don’t promote one-size-fits-all approaches. Instead, we support you to think critically, act with confidence, and respond sensitively to the needs of children and families in your context. 

Hear from our alumni

Meet our team

Dr Tracee Green

Head of the Centre for Child Protection

Vanisha Jassal

Senior Lecturer and Director of Studies for the MA in Advanced Child Protection, CCP

Dr Aravinda Kosaraju

Senior Lecturer in Child Protection

Emma Soutar

Training Officer in child exploitation at the Centre for Child Protection Educator for CCP's MOOC on 'Effective communication with vulnerable children'

Training and study options

Postgraduate study

You can take a standalone module or work towards a postgraduate qualification (MA, PDip or PCert) in Advanced Child Protection.

Training simulations

Our award-winning simulations are a safe way to raise your own awareness and can be used in groups or in one-to-one sessions with children and young people.

Critical conversations

A webinar series aimed at facilitating learning from the latest research, practice knowledge, theory and lived experiences around safeguarding children and young people.

Alumni spotlights

Kendra Houseman

Going Country: An analysis of county lines and professional interventions to safeguard children.

Johansen Kasenene

Associate Protection Officer for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Iraq.

Jacky Cador

An exploration of pupil assessment, parental support and what works in the school environment for children with attachment difficulties.

Brenda Etukei Meyer

Program Support Specialist with Compassion International.

Nicola Eschbaecher

Designated Nurse within an Integrated Care Board Safeguarding Team, NHS

Hayley Cameron

The importance of using every piece of the jigsaw: A critical analysis of secondary data exploring the causes and consequences of poor multi-agency working.

Sam Wright

Understanding Young Minds: Developing Emotional Literacy Self-Harming Adolescents.

Chloe Banks

Can Institutional Care Play a Role in a Child Protection System and Where Should it be Eliminated, Transformed or Improved.

Hannah Tait

Head of Primary and Executive Safeguarding Lead.

Anastasiia Doroshenko

Regional Child Protection Advisor for Europe region at the Regional Office of Terre des hommes (Tdh)

Research

The Centre for Child Protection (CCP) has a proud history of innovation in child protection research and training. We were the first academic centre in the UK to develop serious game simulations for safeguarding professionals — interactive tools that allow users to explore complex situations in a safe, reflective environment. These award-winning tools remain central to our work.

Alongside our pioneering simulation development, CCP leads a broad programme of interdisciplinary research focused on today’s most pressing safeguarding issues. Our projects explore:

  • Trauma-informed policing and responses to child sexual exploitation
  • Holistic, evidence-informed interventions with vulnerable families
  • Sexual abuse and exploitation across national and international contexts
  • Cultural and racial dynamics in safeguarding, including intersectionality and disproportionality
  • Online safety, grooming, and digital exploitation.

Our work is supported by major funders including the ESRC, Home Office, UNICEF, REPHRAIN, and the Department for Education. We work closely with stakeholders to ensure our research has practical relevance and meaningful impact.

At CCP, research informs everything we do — from training and teaching to policy engagement — so that professionals are empowered to protect children in an ever-changing world. 

Our research site
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Award-winning centre

Home Office’s Joint Security and Resilience Centre Academic Innovation Award (2025) - Highly Commended

Home Office’s Joint Security and Resilience Centre Academic Innovation Award (2025) - Highly Commended

ESRC Impact Prize Finalist (2024)

ESRC Impact Prize Finalist (2024)

Strategic Prevention Head of Command Award from Kent Police

Strategic Prevention Head of Command Award from Kent Police

BERA Public Engagement and Impact Award 2021

BERA Public Engagement and Impact Award 2021

Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) 2017

Collaborative Award for Teaching Excellence (CATE) 2017

Guardian University Awards Trophy for digital innovation

Guardian University Awards Trophy for digital innovation

Making an impact

Since its founding in 2012, the Centre for Child Protection (CCP) has been at the forefront of reshaping how we understand, teach, and deliver child protection.

Our interactive training tools, co-developed with frontline professionals and grounded in research, have reached thousands of users across the UK and internationally. These tools empower young people to recognise risk, build resilience, and change online and offline behaviours — helping to reduce vulnerability to grooming and exploitation. For professionals, our simulations offer a safe space to practise decision-making, deepen reflective thinking, and explore alternative approaches to complex safeguarding cases.

Beyond digital tools, our wider teaching and research activities continue to shape policy and practice. From trauma-informed policing to intersectional safeguarding, our work drives real-world change.

Over the past decade, we’ve secured sustained funding from organisations such as the ESRC, Home Office, UNICEF, and the Department for Education — a testament to the trust placed in our work and its relevance to safeguarding today. 

Report grooming

Suggested resources for reporting grooming together with suggested sources for online support:

  • CEOP (Child Exploitation and Online Protection, a National Crime Agency command): If you have been a victim of sexual online abuse or you're worried this is happening to someone you know, you can make a report to one of CEOP's Child Protection Advisors
  • Fearless is part of Crimestoppers. It provides a safe place to give information about crime, anonymously
  • NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children): If you're worried about a child, you can seek advice from the NSPCC website. There is also a facility to make a report online
  • Childline: Young people aged under 19 can seek support and advice through ChildLine, a free, private and confidential service. You can talk about anything either online or on the phone, any time day or night.

We're accredited

We've received the CPD Certification Service for our simulation training, namely:  myCourtroom, Looking out for Lottie, and Crossing the Line.

Latest news

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