GroSafe’s Big Win: €1 Million Boost to Help Protect Children and Young People from Grooming
When a small, determined research team at TU Dublin set out to build a new kind of safety net for children online, the goal was simple: give young people the knowledge, support and confidence to recognise and resist grooming. On Friday, 5th of December 2025, that vision took a major step forward.
TU Dublin’s GroSafe project has been awarded the €1 million top prize under the National Challenge Fund – OurTech, a Research Ireland initiative supported by the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Facility, following an announcement by James Lawless, Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
In making the announcement, Minister Lawless said:
These research teams are driving innovative projects that will help Ireland transition to a clean and secure energy system, strengthen our ability to anticipate and respond to flood risks, protect children by recognising and resisting grooming tactics, and advance our move towards an environmentally sustainable, climate-neutral economy. I congratulate all the teams on their success in this highly competitive programme.
GroSafe is a technology-enabled safeguarding platform designed to help children spot grooming early, know what to do, and feel safe speaking up. It is informed by three simple ideas:
- INFORM – Teaching children to recognise grooming tactics through gamified learning
- SUPPORT – Offering trauma-informed guidance through an AI-powered support tool
- REPORT – Giving children a safe, anonymous way to share their experiences
Unlike static apps or one-off programmes, GroSafe is built as a living system. It evolves constantly, learning from anonymised reports, real-world experiences and the input of safeguarding professionals to make sure it stays relevant as threats change. Over the past two years, GroSafe has quietly become one of Ireland’s most promising child safeguarding innovations. More than 600 young people have helped co-create elements of the platform, including its interactive learning game.
GroSafe is led by Dr Christina Thorpe and Dr Matt Bowden at Technological University Dublin, working closely with Fiona Jennings of the ISPCC.
Dr Christina Thorpe said:
We’re absolutely delighted to receive the final Prize Award for GroSafe. It’s a real testament to the hard work of the whole team and the support of our Societal Impact Champion and the ISPCC. I’m incredibly grateful to our researchers and to TU Dublin for backing this work from the start. I also want to thank all the stakeholders who shared their time and insights with us, especially the 600-plus young people who helped co-create the GroSafe game.
Dr Matt Bowden added:
This award is an important recognition of the need to strengthen how we protect young people in a rapidly changing digital world. From a sociological perspective, GroSafe shows what can happen when research, community insight, and technology come together with a shared purpose.
Fiona Jennings of the Irish Society for the Protection of Children (ISPCC) said:
Being part of GroSafe is a real privilege. This project has the power to make a lasting difference for children and young people. The ISPCC are grateful for the recognition from the Research Ireland National Challenge Fund, proud of the team’s commitment to listening to stakeholders and children, and thankful for the leadership of Dr Christina Thorpe and Dr Matt Bowden. Tackling child grooming requires strong collaboration, and Research Ireland’s ongoing support has been invaluable.
This funding means GroSafe now moves from prototype into real-world rollout across Ireland. Over the next two years, the team will focus on:
- Final development of the platform
- Preparing it for use in schools, youth services and community settings across Ireland
- Running pilot programmes
- Building international partnerships to bring GroSafe beyond Ireland
Find out more about Grosafe as it has been featured in national and sector publications:
- Students to test game designed to spot signs of grooming
- Computer game to spot the signs of online grooming to be rolled out in schools next term
- "GroSafe: In-classroom Technology-enabled Solution to build Societal Re" by Christina Thorpe and Fiona Jennings
- Students to test new computer game designed to tackle online grooming - Kildare Now