30+
Years Experience
1200+
Organisations Advised
19
Countries
1
Mission
International Keynote Speaker
Digital Risk Strategist
Governance & Leadership Advisor
Author
Kirra Pendergast moves leaders from incident to pattern, from reaction to foresight, from anxiety to evidence and action with impact. Not more noise about digital harm. The architecture to finally understand it.
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Thirty-five years in the field — from internet infrastructure and cyber security to online safety and AI digital governance.
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Founder of Safe on Social and Ctrl+Shft. Creator of Human Digital Risk Intelligence and Online Impact Economics.
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Trusted counsel to governments, regulators, law enforcement, schools and boards across nineteen countries.
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Architect of safeguarding-by-design and human-safety-centred governance frameworks.
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School online crisis management specialist — guiding school leaders, police and parents through the moment technology and harm collide.
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Adviser to the Australian Government's Age Assurance Technology Trial.
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Co-author, with Maggie Dent, of Digital Freedom (Macmillan Australia, 2026).
Based in Florence, with offices in London, Washington, New York and Sydney — and a genuinely global view of the AI regulation, online safety and children's privacy challenges now landing on every leader's desk.
Thirty years of turning online risk into duty of care. Trusted by schools, businesses and governments across nineteen continents.
INTERNATIONAL KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Kirra's keynotes trace the forces shaping our digital future — and what they mean for the organisations, families and communities who have to live inside it. She does not trade in fear. She trades in clarity.
Drawing on more than three decades at the frontline before the frontline, she takes the hardest, most tangled issues of the moment and makes them plain — giving every audience something it can grasp in the room and act on the moment it leaves. No jargon. No doom. Just the truth about what's happening, and what to do with it.
People walk away with the rarest thing in a world that refuses to sit still, a clear head about what's coming, and the confidence to move on it now.
FOBISIA Safeguarding Conference - Kellett School - Hong Kong - May 2026
"Kirra has a rare ability to translate the most complex digital safety issues into actionable insight. Her keynote left our leadership team genuinely changed in how they think about human online risk."
Chief Risk Officer — Global Financial Institution, London
KEYNOTE TOPICS
Talks that cut through the noise.
AI & THE HUMAN EQUATION
What artificial intelligence actually means for the organisations, families and individuals navigating it — beyond the hype and the fear. Practical, grounded, and relevant to everyone in the room regardless of their technical background.
RAISING CHILDREN IN THE DIGITAL AGE
A keynote for parent communities, school faculties and family-focused organisations. Practical, evidence-based and deeply human — covering gaming, social media, AI, screen time, and how to have the conversations that matter.
ONLINE SAFETY IN 2026 AND BEYOND
From sexual extortion and cyberbullying to algorithm-driven radicalisation and AI-generated content — the landscape has changed dramatically. What leaders and organisations need to know, and what they can actually do about it.
THE FUTURE OF SAFETY GOVERNANCE
For boards, regulators and senior leadership. How digital safety is evolving as a governance and compliance issue — and what forward-thinking organisations are already doing differently. Includes the EU AI Act and European legislative context.
LEADERSHIP IN DIGITAL CHAOS
The organisations that will win in the next decade are the ones that understand the relationship between digital risk and public trust. Kirra shows audiences how to see risk clearly and act on it with confidence.
CUSTOM & BESPOKE TOPICS
Kirra works with event organisers to develop tailored keynotes for specific industries, audiences or strategic contexts. If your challenge is real and urgent, there is a talk that meets it exactly where it needs to be met.
