FOSI 2025 European Forum

Henry Adams is Director of Trust & Safety (strategy, partnerships & policy) at Resolver, a Kroll business. He has spent the past decade working across domains to mitigate risk in high-harm settings. Henry is a former Head of Intelligence with a background in counter terrorism, national policing operations and crisis negotiation. At Resolver, he initially led global intelligence operations with a focus on rapid response services, before overseeing product development and advanced network analysis capabilities. Today, Henry leads Resolver's strategy and engagement with wider industry, as a passionate advocate for the protection of children online; and a proponent of the power in taking proactive intelligence-led approaches to online safety.

For the past 30 years, Stephen Balkam has had a wide range of leadership roles in the nonprofit sector in both the US and UK. He is currently the Founder and CEO of the Family Online Safety Institute (FOSI), an international, nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, DC. FOSI’s mission is to make the online world safer for kids and their families. FOSI convenes the top thinkers and practitioners in government, industry and the nonprofit sectors to collaborate and innovate and to create a “culture of responsibility” in the online world.

Prior to FOSI, Stephen was the Founder and CEO of the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) and led a team which developed the world’s leading content labeling system on the web. While with ICRA, Stephen served on the US Child Online Protection Commission (COPA) in 2000 and was named one of the Top 50 UK Movers and Shakers, Internet Magazine, 2001.

In 1994, Stephen was named the first Executive Director of the Recreational Software Advisory Council (RSAC) which created a unique self-labeling system for computer games and then, in 1996, Stephen launched RSACi – a forerunner to the ICRA website labeling system. For his efforts in online safety, Stephen was given the 1998 Carl Bertelsmann Prize in Gutersloh, Germany, for innovation and responsibility in the Information Society and was invited to the first and subsequent White House Internet Summits during the Clinton Administration.

Stephen’s other positions include the Executive Director of the National Stepfamily Association (UK); General Secretary of the Islington Voluntary Action Council; Executive Director of Camden Community Transport as well as management positions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts (London) and Inter-Action. Stephen’s first job was with Burroughs Machines (now Unisys) and he had a spell working for West Nally Ltd – a sports sponsorship PR company.

Stephen received a BA, magna cum laude, in Psychology from University College, Cardiff, Wales in 1977. A native of Washington, DC, Stephen spent many years in the UK and is now has dual citizenship. He writes regularly for the Huffington Post, appears often on TV and has appeared on nationally syndicated TV and radio programs such as MSNBC, CNN, NPR and the BBC and has been interviewed by leading newspapers such as the Washington Post, New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, radio and in the mainstream press. He has given presentations and spoken in 15 countries on 4 continents.

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Tami Bhaumik is the Vice President of Civility and Partnerships at Roblox where she spearheads the platform's digital civility initiative and works to foster a global community of internet safety leaders to ensure good digital citizenship on Roblox. To establish a healthy and safe community, Tami is focused on providing kids, teens, parents, and caregivers with skills needed to create positive online experiences, in partnership with the world’s leading safety and industry organizations. At Roblox, she empowers platform users to self-govern and create a confident, resilient online community with the knowledge and tools to create positive experiences for themselves and others in the metaverse.

Julia Davidson OBE, PhD(LSE) is Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice, Executive Director of Research and Director of the Institute for Connected Communities at the University of East London. She is one of the UKs foremost experts on policy and practice in the area of cybercrime, online safety and internet regulation and is internationally recognised for her work in this area. She is Chair of the UK Council for Internet Safety (UKCIS) Evidence Group. Prof Davidson provides expert advice to international and national organisations such as the Technology Coalition, UNICEF , the US Sentencing Commission, and the UN ITU, the Home Office, DCMS, she is a member of the Europol EC3 Expert Academic Advisory Group and a Member of the Advisory Board of the International Criminal Court Hague Justice Portal. She has directed a considerable amount of national and international research spanning 35 years and has recently led an H2020 project exploring the human and technical drivers of cybercrime and has directed research for OFCOM to underpin VSP guidance in the context of the Online Safety Act, she is currently leading a UKRI project exploring child safety in the metaverse and co-leading a project focusing upon the impact of screen time upon young children. She has also acted as an advisor on child Internet safety and children online to governments and practitioners in the MENA region, South America and has worked with the Bahrain Government and the Rwandan Government to develop a child online protection policy, she is currently working with partners in 5 African countries on child online protection. She has been awarded a substantial amount of research funding in excess of 10 million and was awarded an OBE in the Queens Birthday Honours in 2020 for services to Internet Safety. Professor Davidson has worked with the media since 2003 and has published widely in the cybercrime and Internet safety area, she has written 6 books and many academic articles. She has a PhD in Criminal Justice Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science and was made Honorary Research Fellow at Royal Holloway University of London in May 2010, Adjunct Professor at Queensland University of Technology in 2014 and she is a Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.

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* Denotes member of FOSI Board

Eric Ebenstein is a Senior Director of Public Policy at TikTok where he is responsible for US strategic policy initiatives and government affairs at the federal, state and international levels. He has more than a decade of experience working on regulatory and policy issues for technology companies.  

Prior to joining TikTok, Eric was Head of North America Public Policy at DJI–the world's leading civilian drone company. During his tenure, he led DJI's advocacy efforts for regulatory and legislative issues on the federal and state level as well as internationally for Mexico and Canada. Before this, Eric was at POET, a sustainable energy company where he built the state Government Affairs team and mandate. He also served as Chief of Staff for Government Relations at Hewlett Packard where he advised on the North American government affairs program.

Eric holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Lehigh University, from which he graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa and a Juris Doctor degree from the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. He is based in TikTok’s Washington, DC office and lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and two children.

Pete Etchells is professor of psychology and science communication at Bath Spa University. His research looks at the behavioural and wellbeing effects of playing video games, and he's also interested in metascientific issues regarding best practice in digital technology effects research. He is the author of the award-winning book Unlocked: The Real Science of Screen Time (and how to spend it better) and Lost in a Good Game: Why We Play Games And What They Can Do For Us. His writing has been featured in New Scientist, Science Focus, the Guardian, the Observer, the New York Times, WIRED, the Telegraph and more.

Jessica Piotrowski is a Professor in the Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA), where she holds the Chair of Communication in the Digital Society. She serves as the Director of the Center for research on Children, Adolescents, and the Media (CcaM) and the Graduate School of Communication. Additionally, she is the co-Director of the Faculty Teaching & Learning Center, the faculty lead for the national Human Factor in New Technologies sector program, and the co-principal investigator of the Youth Digitality Research Priority Area at the University of Amsterdam.

Jessica is committed to the power of translation, which includes frequent engagement with stakeholders such as the European Commission, Google, Meta, YouTube, European inSafe, and NASA. She also serves on numerous (inter)national boards, including the ODISSEI Management Board, the Wetenschappelijke Raad van het Netwerk Mediawijsheid, and the YouTube Youth and Families Advisory Committee. Outside of her professional work, she enjoys running (often for charity), has a weakness for dark chocolate and espresso, and is always in search of sunshine despite living in Amsterdam.

Andrew Zack is the Policy Manager for the Family Online Safety Institute, supporting policy and research work relating to online safety issues, laws, and regulations. He works with federal and state legislatures, relevant federal agencies, and industry leaders to develop and advance policies that promote safe and positive online experience for families.
Andrew joins FOSI after five years in Senator Ed Markey's office, where he worked primarily on education, child welfare, and disability policies. Andrew studied Government and Psychology at the College of William and Mary.