I have been a teacher for more than 20 years – in primary and secondary schools. Safeguarding has always been a huge part of schools’ responsibilities, but the challenges just seem to keep growing.

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Having a child and speaking with other parents made me much more aware of digital footprints and how we use (and misuse) images.  Images which, in some cases should never have been put onto the internet, may be used in identity theft, cyber bullying and even scraped and misused through AI. In a world where your face is increasingly your password, it became clear to me that images of faces need to be used with great care.

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I realised that schools faced a huge challenge in keeping image data safe. The solution would need to have security and safeguarding at its heart, while being efficient and friction-free for overstretched school staff. Working with a small team of data management specialists, cyber security experts and educationalists, Ecne software suite was developed to address the challenge.

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Ecne is the first - and currently only - AI Digital Image Asset Management system, deploying precision auto-anonymisation. Our aims are: easing the burden on schools, maintaining high safeguarding standards, and protecting personal data rights.

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I am proud to head a forward-thinking, innovative team of enthusiastic professionals and able to present a solution that provides protection – for students, staff and schools – legally, morally and easily.