Women victims of violence: A renewed commitment

The Autonomous Province of Trento has formally certified the inclusion of Fondazione Bruno Kessler among the organizations involved in initiatives to prevent and combat gender-based violence, particularly violence against women. This recognition follows the memorandum of understanding that FBK signed in the spring of last year, developed in collaboration with the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Trento , law enforcement agencies, the Trento province Healthcare System, the University of Trento, and the Federation of Cooperation.

By joining Together Against Violence Against Women, FBK strengthens its commitment to safety and prevention, becoming an active member of the board established to coordinate initiatives against gender-based violence. The Foundation contributes its expertise in research and technology innovation, helping to develop tools that can meaningfully support women victims of violence and raise public awareness of the issue.

In this perspective, FBK is already working on multiple fronts, using research as a lever to prevent, monitor, and intervene in risk situations and discrimination.

Among the many projects FBK is pursuing, one in particular focuses on preventing this ongoing emergency. In Italy, more than 6.5 million women are estimated to have suffered physical or sexual violence— a number that climbs even higher when considering psychological, economic, online violence and stalking. With support from the Autonomous Province of Trento and other local organizations, Fondazione Bruno Kessler’s Center for Digital Health and Wellbeing is developing a digital platform—scheduled  for official release in 2026—to prevent and combat male violence against women, an issue that remains largely hidden. The project adopts an “ecological” approach, engaging the entire community to promote a social and cultural environment that encourages people to seek help and helps prevent new incidents. The platform will offer educational and informational content while supporting existing local services. The initiative includes an experimental phase and a research phase dedicated to developing and validating targeted motivational interventions. It is built through co-creation with stakeholders and a qualified team, and will feature pilot studies to ensure continuous improvement and tangible community impact.

FBK also promotes many different projects aimed at identifying and addressing stereotypes in language and the distortions that can occur when such language is used to train algorithms.

Web language and hate speech are the focus of the Hatedemics project,  coordinated by the Language and Dialogue Technologies (LanD) group led by Marco Guerini, a computational linguistics researcher with the Center for Augmented Intelligence, in collaboration with the  Complex Human Behaviour Laboratory (CHuB) led by Riccardo Gallotti and the Digital Humanities Unit led by Sara Tonelli, both part of the Center for Digital Society.

The project’s goal is to create educational pathways that counter hate crimes fueled by misinformation and aimed at vulnerable groups, including women. These programs rely on an AI-based algorithms capable of detecting hateful content and misinformation on social media, as well as suggesting appropriate responses—called counter-narratives—to dismantle harmful arguments. Thanks to this FBK-developed platform, NGOs, journalists, fact-checkers, public authorities, and students can address online hate and misinformation quickly and effectively.

Foundazione Bruno Kessler continues its efforts with the launch of new initiatives: introduced last September, Eclipse aims to combat hate speech—of which women are often targets—and disinformation both online and offline throughout Europe. To accomplish this, advanced technologies are integrated with insights from the social, behavioral, criminological, and legal sciences. The goal is to develop effective tools and strategies that strengthen the resilience of professionals and citizens, helping them recognize and respond to these forms of abuse in digital spaces and in everyday life.

Fondazione Bruno Kessler is participating in the project through its Center for Digital Society and Center for Augmented Intelligence (the CHUB and LanD units, together with AnnaPaola Marconi’s Motivational Digital Systems group). All of the projects mentioned are part of the Resilient Society inter-center program, coordinated by project manager Serena Bressan. One of the main outcomes of Eclipse will be the production of policy briefs, in multiple languages, offering operational recommendations for policymakers at both the national and European levels. The goal is to promote common approaches to data collection and the implementation of countermeasures, while fully respecting fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and privacy.

One project already completed—but which highlights the long-standing commitment of the Foundation’s two Centers to raising awareness about gender-based violence—is StandByMe – Fight Violence Against Women (VAWG). The project, which involves the i3 and MODIs units, aims to combat online violence against women and girls through educational programs for students supported by AI tools. It has organized both online and in-person sessions, provided teaching materials and real examples of online abuse, and developed gamified applications to increase awareness and improve the ability to recognize misogynistic language.