It is our pleasure to announce that the project Game Changer, that is based on NORDREF's research into the perpetrators of online abuse against women and girls in the Nordic region, received a €250,000 grant from the Erasmus program. The project, which started in September 2023 and will last through 2024, is rooted in an international collaboration between partners in three countries Sweden, Finland and Iceland.
NORDREF's research reveals that men under the age of 25 are overrepresented amongst perpetrators of digital violence against women and girls. Studies show that young men spend much of their time online in gaming environments, which is why NORDREF brought the E-sports Federation of Iceland, as well as the Swedish gaming organisation SVEROK, to the table, along with the award-winning Finnish initiative Sua Varten Somessa (For You on Social Media) and the Violence Prevention School of Iceland. Together, our organisations will create evidence-based prevention material that counters online abuse among youth, thereby strengthening their digital rights and cyber citizenship. The project will also seek to create young people's "online utopia" by gathering information about the changes to digital environments that young people deem necessary for them to reach their highest potential - and help them craft it using methods of gaming, community-building and social
entrepreneurship.
The project's development will be updated continuously – watch this space!