Dr Zoe Hilton is a Founder and Director of Praesidio Safeguarding. As a Director, Zoe brings her experience of operational and strategic work on child protection together with her research experience in the online space to lead research and insight projects on behalf of Praesidio.
In addition to research, Zoe has also led the development of a range of policy, practice guidance, training and tools for organisations to support their work to help keep children safe online. Before founding Praesidio with Helen, Zoe was the Head of Safeguarding and Child Protection at the National Crime Agency’s Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Command between 2009-2017 where she managed a range of high-profile complex abuse investigations as well as CEOP’s day to day public reporting function. In addition, Zoe led CEOP’s national research panel and chaired the National Crime Agency’s Protect board, which sought to reduce the thread posed to children from child sexual exploitation by leading a collaboration effort across industry, policing, education, and the voluntary sector. Previously Zoe served as the lead policy adviser for online safety at the NSPCC. Dr Zoe Hilton holds a PhD in Criminology.