Hubs
HUB REPORTS FALL 2025
CYBERCRIME
In the past year, the Cybercriminology hub completed the 2025 wave of our annual cybercriminology national survey. We were also contracted to write a book to report on our criminology findings. Under the cybercriminology lab umbrella I received an extrnal grant from CCI (Awarded Dec 24th, 2025). As such we are completing the work on this grant as well as the GAP Pathways to Peace Grant. I'll write a separate report on that grant. Do you need it soon? We are done, other than the last report, so I can certainly write the closing report.
Below are the citations associated with the cybercriminology lab.
External Grants
2024 Dearden, T. E. Using honeypots to understand international differences in cybercrime.
Virginia Commonwealth CCI. Award amount - $9,479
Presentations
2025 Dearden, T.E. (May). The Victims and Offenders of Pump-and-Dump Schemes.
SECREV (Security Revolution). Online
Upcoming ASC presentations - and one on GAP, which I'll include in the report.
Non-Peer Reviewed Scholarship
2025 Parti, K, Dearden, T E., Hawdon, J., & Hasler, C. (2025). Cross-Sectional Survey of Cybercriminology – April 2022 International Sample
Invited Presentations
2025 Dearden, T. E., & Bergeron, A. (May 2025). Are hackers human? Using honeypot data to examine the person behind the hack. Michigan State University's Interdisciplinary Conference on Cybercrime. Lansing, MA.
Invited Podcast
2025 Dearden T.E., (2025). Cybercrimeology Podcast Episode 114 -Anomie.exe:
Geography, Strain and the Motivated Cyber Offender. Anomie.exe: Geography, Strain and the Motivated Cyber Offender | Cybercrimeology
FAMILY AND CRIME
As reported in the meeting today, I used the $4,000 in a variety of ways:
Data collection. More specifically, I paid participant incentives to both young adults and parents
I hosted Al Conley, one of my participants, as a speaker. He gave the talk “Chasing Chaos: A young adult’s reflection on parental incarceration.” Importantly, he spoke at both VT and Radford University.
I presented at SCJA 2025: "Making the most of it: System-impacted families find positive ways to cope with parental incarceration.”
Beyond the funding:
I am finalizing two papers related to this research and hope to have them submitted by the end of the calendar year.
I helped facilitate the event "Ripple Effects: Cause Tidal Waves: Community Impacts of Prisons in Appalachia
Hosted “A Conversation with Sophie Wenzel: Precursors to incarceration: Women’s stories from the New River Regional Jail."
I am in the process of organizing a Family and Crime Working Group, with members of the VT and RU communities, as well as people from other institutions
One last thing, which I plan to credit CPSVP for initiating: Sophie Wenzel and I were awarded a Policy Scholars Award, from the +Policy Network, today! We will propose policy recommendations (and hopefully get at least one publication) to jails. Our project title is: “Cultivating Healthier Futures through Policy: Contraceptive and Substance Use Education and Access for Incarcerated Women.”
VICTIMOLOGY
Conference presentations
Parti, K. (2024). Scam prevention through metaphoric photo journal technique. https://cyberinitiative-swva.org/news/events/AnnualMeeting-2024.html
Dearden, Parti, Hawdon (2024). Was Sutherland Right? An analysis of cryptocurrency offenders. American Society of Criminology annual meeting, San Francisco, CA, Nov 13-16, 2024
Parti, Roh, Gomez-Baya, Sanders, Englander (2024). Parenting style and parental phubbing: Mediators of children’s cyberbullying victimization. American Society of Criminology annual meeting, San Francisco, CA, Nov 13-16, 2024
Parti, K. & Abdelhamid, S. (2025). 21st Century Luddites: Age-Specific Insights for Enhancing Learning and Cybersecurity Programs. CCI Symposium, April 14-15, 2025, Richmond, VA.
Poster presentation: Armour, C., (presenter) Parti, K., Van Vorce, H., Taylor, B., Edgin, J. (2025). Developmental disability abuse prevention and response. "Whole Health, Whole Community: Dialogues to Reduce Rural Health Disparities," Whole Health Consortium (organizer) Virginia Tech, Roanoke, VA, May 19, 2025.
Panel organizing at conference: Parti, K. & Aravena, M. (co-convenors): Unwriting Narratives of Crime: Participatory Action Research and Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Strengthening Community Resilience to Crime, Violence, and Insecurity in Globalized Times. SIEF (International Society for Ethnology and Folklore) conference, Aberdeen, UK, June 3-6, 2025.
Parti, K. (2025). Performances to Reduce Online Scams (PROS): Empowering Older Adults Through Community-Based, Theatre-Informed Cybercrime Education. Keynote. Elder Care Symposium, Virginia Tech, Sept 10, 2025. https://news.vt.edu/notices/2025/08/hokie-wellness-elder-care-symposium-2025.html
Parti, K. & Csizner Z. (2025). PROS program - Description and adaptation to Hungary. Az online csalasok nyomozasi tapasztalatai. [Online scam prevention and investigations.] National University of Public Service, Sept 29, 2025. Online conference.
Parti, K. & Midkiff, A. (2025). Reducing Online Scams: Community-Based Interactive Theatre for Older Adults. Engagement Scholarship Consortium International Conference, Oct 8-9, 2025, Roanoke, VA.
Lectures other than conferences
STS guest lecture, Oct 25, 2024, about the Cybercriminology Lab and its research activities. Parti, K. (2024). Decolonizing practices: Using collaborative theatre to engage Participants in Knowledge Creation About Scams targeting older adults. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LezAfWJ8hes
Guest lecture: Parti, K. (2025). "Is this a scam?" Empowering Older Adults Through Community-Based, Theatre-Informed Cybercrime Education. Warm Hearth Village, The Village Center. October 24, 2025. Contact: Linda Kirkner.
Organized a Workshop at BB library about scam awareness for older people; Oct 18, 2025, 3-4:30pm. $750 Grant from the Center for Gerontology. Facilitators: Joelle Shenk and Mason Rosenthal.
Exhibitions
PROS project was exhibited at the CCI CyberArts Exhibition, Oct 18, 2024, Torpedo Factory, Alexandria. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grRlbQ6hZmM
PROS was selected to display at the CCI Research Paper Showcase 2025: https://cyberinitiative.org/research/research-showcase/2025.html?mc_cid=d524d0d662&mc_eid=974434986a
Parti & Rosenthal (2025). Devised theatre as a crime prevention tool in community settings. Is part of an art installation at Humboldt University, Berlin: Convivial Playful Multimodal Research Handbook, Iepke Rijcken (University of Salzburg, Germany) & Piotr Goldstein (Deutsches Zentrum für Integrations- und Migrationsforschung – DeZIM, Germany). Conference: https://easaonline.org/event/styles-of-experimentation-unsettling-the-anthropological-syllabus/
Grants
Not selected
Submitted CCI Fellows application (Parti co-PI) together with Sherif Abdelhamid (VMI, PI) titled "CREATE - Cyber Resilience through Engaging Art and Technology Experiences"; $50,000 (Parti's share: 50%, no indirects)
Submitted IMMERSAFE grant application (Parti co-PI) for CCI Experiential Learning grant w Sherif Abdelhamid (VMI, PI), $50,000 (Parti's share: 50%, no indirects)
Submitted 4 Letter of Interests to further develop PROS: Performances to Reduce Online Scams to: RRF, FINRA, Russell Sage Foundation, and CCI.
Selected
Whole Health Consortium (VT) Track II: Incubating Emergent Collaborations grant has been selected for funding. Team: Jamie Edgin (PI), Chelsea Armour, Katalin Parti, and Dana Sciullo, has been awarded $10,000 in support of your multidisciplinary project on “Developmental Disability Abuse Prevention and Response.”
Media
Updated scam prevention news on VT website: https://news.vt.edu/content/news_vt_edu/en/articles/2024/12/2024-holiday-round-up-experts-Virginia-Tech.html
Interview on scams to Detroit Free Press (Dec 17, 2024): https://www.freep.com/story/money/personal-finance/susan-tompor/2024/12/17/scammers-know-how-to-make-it-sound-like-someone-you-know-is-calling/76947200007/
Interview on local tv about scams: WSLS (Dec 19, 2024): https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2024/12/19/free-package-or-scam-experts-warn-about-rising-brushing-scam-during-the-holidays/
AARP interview about older people's scam victimization and their family as secondary victims: Sari Harrar: When fraud hits home. Cover story. AARP Bulleting March/April 2025. https://www.aarp.org/publications/bulletins/aarp-bulletin-march-april-2025/
Dan Tynan: Interview in scams, Apr 3, 2025: https://www.tanium.com/blog/i-almost-fell-for-this-online-scam-why-even-tech-pros-can-be-taken/
VT article on AI enhanced scams (Apr 30, 2025): https://news.vt.edu/articles/2025/04/ChatGPT-4o-scams-safeguards-AI-LLM.html
Publications
Parti, K., Silis, S., Teaster, P., Rinehart, S. and Dye, C. (2026). "This is not a scam!": Assessment of an awareness raising program tackling older adults' scam victimization in a multi-method study. Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice and Criminology, 15(1). Available at: https://dc.swosu.edu/qc/vol15/iss1/1
Dataset: Parti, Katalin; Dearden, Thomas; Hawdon, James; Chloe, Hasler (2025). Cross-Sectional Survey of Cybercriminology – April 2022 International Sample. University Libraries, Virginia Tech. Dataset. https://doi.org/10.7294/28303751
Parti, K., Tahir, F. & Teaster, P.B. (2025). The wisdom of the scammed: redefining older fraud victim support by utilizing the ecological systems framework. Security Journal 38(49). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41284-025-00487-z
Editorial: Kayser, C. S. , Dearden, T. , Parti, K. & Choi, S. (2025). Navigating the Digital Frontier: New Perspectives on Cybercrime and Governance. International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime, 8(2). DOI: https://doi.org/10.52306/2578-3289.1222
COMMUNITY RECOVERY AND MEMORIALIZATION
The CR&M Hub has been engaged in work surrounding community efforts to remember past violence. We have been working in collaboration with More Than A Fraction Foundation, a public history and educational research organization focused on descendants of Indigenous, Africans, and African Americans in Appalachia. The hub's work includes finding and drafting prospective grants and conducting a formal evaluation of programs offered, including a Symposium for Universities Studying Slavery in March 2025. The hub is also engaged in ongoing research surrounding the effects of memorialization on local communities, specifically the introduction of a United States Colored Troops Monument in Franklin County, VA.
Here are the funding requests:
Successful Internal grants:
Spring 2025: Unsolicited Proposal, Institute for Society, Culture, and the Environment ($17,000)
2025: “The Feasibility of Reconciliation, Intergenerational Trauma, and the Meaning of Modern Freedom Among Descendants,” Freedom Scholars Fellow, CLAHS ($5,000)
Unfunded Internal Proposals/Applications:
2025: “Modern Reactions to Representations of Freedom: The United States Colored Troops Monument in Franklin County, VA,” Freedom Scholars Fellow, CLAHS ($5,000)
Outstanding External Proposals:
2025: "The Feasibility of Reconciliation: Documenting emotion and decision-making during descendant conversations on the unfinished business of slavery." Russell Sage Foundation ($115,000)
2025: "Racialized Reactions to Counter-Monuments: Reimagining Civil War Memory in the U.S. South?" Russell Sage Foundation ($140,000)
Unfunded External Proposals:
2025: “The Feasibility of Reconciliation: Documenting emotion and decision-making during descendant conversations on the unfinished business of slavery,” Character Virtue Development – Study of Virtues (in collaboration with More Than a Fraction Foundation, John Templeton Foundation ($106,560)
2025: “The Feasibility of Reconciliation: Documenting the role of emotion and decision-making during descendant conversations on the unfinished business of slavery.” Waterhouse Foundation ($11,280)
Unfunded Concept Papers/LOIs:
2025: “Feasibility of Reconciliation: Documenting emotion during descendant conversations about slavery,” Community-Based Participatory Research Projects (in collaboration with More Than a Fraction Foundation), Sociological Initiatives Foundation ($25,000)
2025: “Public Reactions to a Counter-Narrative Monument in Rocky Mount, Virginia,” Community-Based Participatory Research Projects, Sociological Initiatives Foundation ($25,000)
2025: SBE-NSF RAPID
2024: Mellon Foundation (in collaboration with More Than a Fraction Foundation)
2024: Evidence for Action: Innovative Research to Advance Racial Equity (in collaboration with More Than a Fraction Foundation), Robert Wood Johnson Foundation