Professor Victoria Baines is a prominent online trust, safety, and cybersecurity expert. She has a rich background in the internet industry and international law enforcement, having served as Facebook’s Trust & Safety Manager for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. In this role, she provided operational support to law enforcement and engaged with policymakers on online criminal activity.

Before Facebook, she led the Strategy team at Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, where she was responsible for the EU’s cyber threat analysis and developed Europe’s flagship cybercrime threat assessment. Victoria began her career as a Higher Intelligence Analyst for Surrey Police and later worked as a Principal Analyst at the UK Serious Organised Crime Agency.

Victoria is a Senior Research Fellow at the British Foreign Policy Group and a Visiting Fellow at Bournemouth University. She is also a Professor of Information Technology at Gresham College, where she delivers public lectures on technology and its implications for society. Her research interests include electronic surveillance, the future of cybercrime, and security politics. She has published extensively on these topics, including her book, Rhetoric of Insecurity, which explores the language of security over the past 2000 years.

In addition to her academic work, Victoria contributes to major media outlets, including the BBC and Sky News, discussing digital ethics and the misuse of emerging technologies. She co-hosts the Cyber Warrior Princess podcast, aimed at making cybersecurity accessible to a broader audience.

Victoria serves on several advisory boards, including those for Snapchat and the Lucy Faithfull Foundation, and is a Freeman of the City of London.

Victoria holds a degree from Trinity College, Oxford, and a doctorate from the University of Nottingham. She has been recognised as one of the top 25 women in cybersecurity and continues to influence the field through her research and public engagement.