Kim Barker

Profile

Biography

Professor Kim Barker

PhD (Aberystwyth University), LLM and Diploma in Legal Practice (Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University), LLB (Aberystwyth University)

Chair in Law

Professor Kim Barker is Chair in Law at York Law School. She is an internationally recognised legal scholar and policy expert specialising in technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (TFVAWG), online violence against women, online misogyny, online safety, artificial intelligence and the regulation and governance of digital spaces. She has been a foundational voice in establishing online violence against women as a distinct field of legal and policy inquiry, and her work has contributed to legal, regulatory and policy developments in the UK and internationally.

Kim holds a PhD from Aberystwyth University, an LLM and Diploma in Legal Practice from Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University, and an LLB from Aberystwyth University. Before joining York, she was Professor of Law at the University of Lincoln. She previously held academic posts at The Open University, the University of Stirling, the University of Wolverhampton and the University of Birmingham.

Her work has a particularly strong international, policy and practice-facing dimension. Kim serves as Lead Expert to the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on Combating Technology-Facilitated Violence Against Women and Girls, contributing to the development of international standards in this field. She authored the foundational discussion paper underpinning the Committee's work and subsequent comparative studies concerning the investigation and prosecution of TFVAWG and the regulation of ICT companies and internet intermediaries.

For 2026–2027, Kim holds a UKRI Policy Fellowship with the Scottish Government, embedded within Justice Analysis and Strategy. Her fellowship focuses on technology-facilitated violence against women and girls, including the drivers, characteristics and risk factors associated with perpetration and the evidence base for effective prevention. 

Kim has undertaken extensive international consultancy and expert work for organisations including the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). Her work encompasses legal and policy research, international standard-setting, professional education, capacity-building and the development of gender-responsive approaches to technology-facilitated violence.

A significant strand of her international work focuses on translating research into professional education and institutional practice. Kim was author, legal expert and project coordinator for the Council of Europe HELP course on Technology-Facilitated Violence Against Women and Girls, developing specialist training addressing the relevant human rights and legal frameworks, digital harms, victim-centred responses and TFVAWG across the justice chain. She has also designed specialist TFVAWG training and supporting resources for OSCE Field Officers.

Beyond government and international organisations, Kim works extensively with technology companies, NGOs, charities and civil society organisations across the UK, Europe and South Asia. Her external engagement encompasses policy development, expert advice, professional training, stakeholder engagement and the development of practical and regulatory responses to online and technology-facilitated violence.

Kim was also The Open University's academic lead for the development of PolicyWISE, the UK and Ireland comparative policy research and knowledge-exchange initiative established to strengthen collaboration between academics, policymakers and governments across the nations and support evidence-informed policymaking.

Professional recognition and memberships

Kim is founding co-director of the Observatory on Online Violence Against Women; Secretary of the British & Irish Law, Education & Technology Association (BILETA). Kim is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). She has also received UK Council for Graduate Education (UKCGE) recognition for doctoral supervision, reflecting her experience and professional practice in postgraduate research supervision and researcher development.

Kim is an award-winning academic whose work has been recognised for its research impact, leadership, public engagement and contribution to gender equality. In 2026, the UKRI Responsible AI UK-funded AI, Law and Legal Training project, to which she contributed, received the Digital Leaders AI Impact Award for AI Ethics, Trust and Governance. Earlier distinctions include the Zero Tolerance Write to End Violence Against Women Public Recognition Award (2020), the University of Stirling Research Culture Award for Best Research Leader (2020), and Women Staff Member of the Year at the University of Stirling Students’ Union Awards (2020). She was also a finalist for the First 100 Years Inspirational Women Awards – Champion of the Year in 2019. These awards recognise the breadth of her contribution across research leadership, policy impact, gender equality and public engagement.

Research

Overview

Kim's research sits at the intersection of law, technology, gender and regulation. Her principal area of expertise is technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (TFVAWG), encompassing online violence against women (OVAW), online misogyny, online harms and safety, artificial intelligence, platform governance and the regulation of digital spaces. She is a foundational voice in established TFVAWG and OVAW as areas of academic inquiry. 

A central concern of her research is the gap between rapidly evolving technologies and the legal and regulatory frameworks intended to prevent and respond to harm. Her work examines how legal and regulatory systems can better recognise the continuum between online and offline violence and develop gender-responsive, victim-centred and intersectional approaches to prevention, accountability and redress.

Her current work increasingly addresses the relationship between artificial intelligence and technology-facilitated violence, including the ways in which AI can enable, amplify and transform gendered abuse and the implications this creates for legal responsibility, platform governance, online safety and regulatory design.

Current and recent funded research

Kim has a strong record of securing and contributing to interdisciplinary, collaborative and policy-facing research funding. Her work has been funded by UKRI, EPSRC, ESRC, BILETA, and RAi.

Her most recent award is a UKRI Policy Fellowship with the Scottish Government (2026–2027). Embedded within Justice Analysis and Strategy, the Fellowship examines the evidence concerning the drivers, characteristics and risk factors for the perpetration of technology-facilitated violence against women and girls, alongside evidence concerning effective prevention. It provides an opportunity to embed specialist academic expertise directly within policymaking and to strengthen evidence-led approaches to preventing TFVAWG in Scotland.

Kim has also contributed to the UKRI Responsible AI UK-funded AI, Law and Legal Training (AILLT) project, undertaken in partnership with The Open University and Citizens Advice. The project developed research-informed, openly accessible resources and training addressing responsible and ethical uses of generative AI in legal practice, legal education, advice services and access to justice. The project received the 2026 Digital Leaders AI Impact Award for AI Ethics, Trust and Governance.

Kim was Principal Investigator of Protecting Girls from Online Harm: An Inner-City Exploration, funded by the EPSRC through the REPHRAIN National Research Centre. This interdisciplinary project placed teenage girls' lived experiences at the centre of research into online harms, examining how social, economic and cultural inequalities shape experiences of digital harm and considering the implications for law, policy, education and prevention.

Her externally funded international research also includes the Digital & Online Violence UK–South Korea project, supported through UKRI's Fund for International Collaboration. The project developed comparative research and knowledge exchange concerning legal and policy responses to online and digital violence.

Kim is also Principal Investigator of Meta Respawn: Technology, Inclusion & eSports (MeRTiE), an interdisciplinary project examining responsible and equitable governance within eSports ecosystems. The project brings together questions of online safety, platform regulation, game and platform design, inclusion, player welfare and community governance.

International standard-setting and policy research

Kim's research has substantial international policy impact. As Lead Expert to the Council of Europe Committee of Experts on Combating Technology-Facilitated Violence Against Women and Girls, she has contributed directly to the development of international standards concerning TFVAWG.

Her work for the Committee includes the foundational discussion paper informing its deliberations and major comparative mapping studies on investigating and prosecuting technology-facilitated violence against women and girls and regulating ICT companies and internet intermediaries in the context of TFVAWG.

She has also authored Council of Europe work on emerging practices in the investigation and prosecution of digital violence against women (2024).

A further major strand of this work concerns professional education and capacity-building. Kim authored and coordinated the Council of Europe HELP course on Technology-Facilitated Violence Against Women and Girls, translating developing international legal standards and research evidence into professional education for legal and justice-sector audiences. The course addresses TFVAWG across the justice chain, including human rights standards, legal frameworks, investigation and prosecution, victim-centred and gender-responsive approaches, and emerging forms of digital harm.

Her wider international consultancy includes work with the Council of Europe, OSCE, and EIGE, alongside extensive engagement with governments, regulators, technology companies, NGOs and civil society organisations across the UK, Europe and South Asia.

This combination of academic research, international standard-setting and direct policy engagement is central to Kim's work. Her research is designed both to advance scholarly understanding and to inform legal reform, public policy, professional practice and the development of more effective institutional responses to technology-facilitated violence.

Current research themes

Kim's wider research programme encompasses artificial intelligence and online violence; online safety and platform governance; digital violence and democratic participation; the online abuse of women in public and political life; misogyny, hate and harmful online content; eSports, video games and virtual environments; digital and human rights; and regulatory responsibility for emerging technologies.

She is also developing major work on the relationship between artificial intelligence, law and online / technology-facilitated violence. 

Research supervision

Kim welcomes enquiries from prospective doctoral researchers whose projects connect with her areas of expertise. She is particularly interested in supervising work on technology-facilitated violence against women and girls; online violence, misogyny and online hate; online safety and online harms regulation; artificial intelligence, gender and emerging technologies; social media and platform governance; digital regulation and human rights; and video games, eSports, virtual worlds and technology regulation.

She particularly welcomes projects combining rigorous legal analysis with interdisciplinary, comparative, empirical or policy-oriented approaches.

Publications

Selected publications

Kim has published extensively on online violence, gender, technology regulation, online safety and internet governance. Her outputs are central to her contribution to developing the fields of online violence against women (OVAW), online misogyny and technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV) and technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (TFVAWG).

Books and edited collections

• Kim Barker, Helen O'Shea and Talat Yaqoob (eds), Building a Feminist Nation: Scotland in the Era of Polycrisis (Scottish Universities Press, 2026). 
• Kim Barker and Olga Jurasz (eds), Routledge Handbook of Social Media, Law and Society (Routledge, 2025). 
• Kim Barker and Olga Jurasz, Violence Against Women, Hate and Law: Perspectives from Contemporary Scotland (Springer, 2022). 
• Kim Barker and Olga Jurasz, Online Misogyny as Hate Crime: A Challenge for Legal Regulation? (Routledge, 2019). 
• Her forthcoming work includes, AI and Online Violence (Oxford University Press), examining the rapidly developing relationship between artificial intelligence, online violence, law, regulation and responsibility.

Selected journal articles and chapters

• Kim Barker, 'Online Violence as a Digital Condition: A New Cultural Habit?', Pólemos 19(1) (2025).
• Kim Barker, 'Online Violence Against Women: A Contemporary Assessment of the Adequacy of the Online Safety Response', in In(Visible) Signs of Gender-Based Violence (Springer, 2025).
• Kim Barker, 'The Scottish Melting Pot – Social Media, Politics, Scotland and Online Violence Against Women', Scottish Affairs 33(1) (2024), 105–118.
• Kim Barker and Olga Jurasz, '#MeToo, Sport, and Women: Foul, Own Goal, or Touchdown? Online Abuse of Women in Sport as a Contemporary Issue', in Gender, Sports and Human Rights (Springer, 2024).
• Kim Barker, 'Sexual Violence in the Digital Age: A Criminal Law Conundrum?', German Law Journal 22(5) (2021), 784–799.
• Kim Barker, 'Online Violence Against Women as an Obstacle to Gender Equality: A Critical View from Europe', European Equality Law Review (2020), 47–60.
• Kim Barker, 'Online Misogyny: A Challenge for Digital Feminism?', Journal of International Affairs 72(2) (2019).

Policy, professional and international outputs

Kim's research also produces substantial policy and professional outputs. These include her Council of Europe work on combating TFVAWG, guidance on investigating and prosecuting digital violence against women, and the Council of Europe HELP course on TFVAWG, which she authored and coordinated.

She has additionally contributed expertise to reports, guidance and initiatives involving international organisations, governmental bodies, regulators, the International Olympic Committee, the National Police Chiefs' Council, REPHRAIN, Jisc, Ofcom, the Law Commission, alongside other national and international organisations.

Teaching

Other teaching

Kim's teaching reflects her wider interests in technology, regulation, private law and the relationship between law and contemporary society. She has extensive experience teaching across undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral programmes, including internet and technology law, intellectual property, media law, commercial and contract law, legal research methods and law and society.

Her approach connects doctrinal legal study with contemporary technological and regulatory developments, encouraging students to examine how law operates in practice and how legal systems respond to rapidly evolving social and technological challenges.

Her teaching is informed by her research and her direct work with policymakers, international organisations, regulators, technology companies and civil society, bringing contemporary legal, technological and policy developments into the classroom.

Kim particularly welcomes students interested in the intersections between law, technology, gender, online safety, artificial intelligence and digital regulation.