Catherine Knibbs

Catherine Knibbs is an author, clinician, supervisor, technology researcher, educator, trainer, deliverer of keynotes, a TEDx speaker and a mother with a background in the Armed Forces Engineering and Optronics, IT, Gaming and Psychology.

An advocate for ethical tech and our rights and freedoms to privacy and protection now and in the future, Catherine educates professionals on cybertrauma, online harms, data protection, cybersecurity and privacy laws and provides online safeguarding training to help those responsible for children. She is about to complete her PhD, has written two books, blogs, podcasts regularly, and uses technology for trauma.

Catherine is a Mental Health Advisor to Gamers Beat Cancer Charity, Mental Health VR member and editor for Frontiers Journal topic on cybersecurity for digital mental health. She runs burnout prevention training and on self care for content moderators.

As a young adult Catherine became fascinated by the way in which computers were becoming synonymous with home life and work. She went into the Army to train as the first woman Instrument Engineer and became interested in computer science.

She has always studied some form of computing and her MSc and PhD involved research in the area of online harms. She igets very passionate and excited about new technology developments (as well as considering the harms they can bring).

Catherine has also been highly proactive about educating girls and women about the possibilities of technoloy as well as the pitfalls.

"I support girls and women in my clinic from an early age to 'go get em' and how the standard 'route' into technology can be like mine and have many zig-zags. I educate girls and women in many of the spaces of tech (or health and tech) to believe in their abilities and how to take care of themselves over time so they can reach their potential and flourish.

"I have been asked by the British Psychological Society to edit a book, where I brought in a number of women as leaders in their field to contribute, allowing them to be seen as the experts they are in technology."