About this Event
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Below The Waterline : A Collective Approach To Criminal Exploitation
Wednesday 14 October 2026
9:30am–5:00pm
St Mary’s University, Twickenham, London
The Bakhita Centre for Slavery, Safety and Social Justice and the National County Lines Coordination Centre invite you to a FREE full day conference exploring how we can work collectively to understand, prevent and respond to criminal exploitation.
Criminal exploitation is complex, often hidden and cannot be addressed by one organisation, profession or sector alone.
Below the Waterline will bring together people with lived and learned experience, frontline practitioners, policing professionals, academics, specialists and experts to share knowledge, challenge current thinking and strengthen collective responses.
Through panel discussions, audience activities and opportunities for Q&A, the conference will explore the different forms and experiences of criminal exploitation, the vulnerabilities and harms that may exist beneath the surface, and the importance of coordinated, trauma-informed and person-centred responses.
Topics will include
- Contextual safeguarding
- Substance misuse and addiction
- Relational victimhood
- Lived experience in professional practice
- Mentorship and frontline intervention
- Knife crime and gun crime
- Domestic abuse
- Section 45 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015
- Child criminal exploitation legislation
- Criminal exploitation as modern slavery and human trafficking
- The criminal exploitation of women and girls
- Policing responses and multi-agency working
- Emerging academic research
Featured contributions
The conference will include contributions from:
- Passionate frontline practitioners
- Experienced academics and researchers
- Proactive policing professionals
- People with lived and learned experience
- Criminal exploitation specialists
- Experts working across safeguarding, modern slavery and related areas
Who should attend?
This conference is suitable for:
- Local authorities and safeguarding partnerships
- Children’s and adult social care professionals
- Police and law-enforcement professionals
- Health, housing and substance-misuse services
- Modern slavery and human-trafficking organisations
- Youth workers and frontline practitioners
- Violence against women and girls services
- Educators and safeguarding leads
- Researchers, academics and students
- Policymakers and commissioners
- Community members
- Anyone working with people affected by criminal exploitation
Agenda
The day will run from 9:30am to 5:00pm and will include panel discussions, interactive audience activities, Q&A sessions, breaks, a lunch break and networking opportunities.
• • • • • • • • • Raymond Sekalongo • • • • • •
Venue
St Mary’s University
Twickenham, London
Further information about the room, directions and accessibility will be provided to successful applicants.
Registration information
Due to limited capacity, registering through Eventbrite will be treated as an expression of interest and does not automatically guarantee a place.
Tickets will be issued to successful applicants. Please ensure that the information provided during registration is accurate so that we can contact you about the outcome of your application.
Questions and enquiries
If you have any questions or queries about the conference, please contact the Bakhita Centre at [email protected].
Please note that the programme and speakers may be subject to change.
Event venue & nearby stays
St Mary's University London, Waldegrave Road, Twickenham, United Kingdom
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