RAYUELA

The Police Service of Northern Ireland have been part of an EU funded research program called RAYUELA, which is the Spanish word for hopscotch.

RAYUELA a fun way to fight cybercrime

The project is being coordinated by Comillas University in Spain and consists of a number of academics, computer scientists, legal experts and police services to develop innovative methodologies for enhanced cybersecurity. The project’s initiative combines cutting-edge technology with interactive storytelling to create a captivating video game experience that educates children between the ages of 11 and 16 about online safety.

We hope to better understand how young people react to certain types of cybercrimes that are especially targeted at minors. Within the game the players face situations inspired by real life and have a variety of options of how to respond. The game has several cyber adventures addressing cyberbullying, online grooming, phishing and fake news. This allows young people to learn good practices online while playing in a safe environment. In addition, the data collected from all partners, all over Europe will assist the developers to measure the most important risk factors which in turn could assist in the development of public policies based on scientific evidence to protect young people at risk and improve the online experience of many.

Game now being trialled in Europe

The game is currently being trialled in more than 10 European countries and is available in 12 languages. The Police Service of Northern Ireland are the only representative from a UK or Irish police service and are really excited to be part of such a large cutting edge project.

We would like to thank the three schools and students from Drumglass High, New-Bridge Integrated College and Dunclug College who joined us to take part in this research. We are really grateful for their participation, enthusiasm and feedback and are delighted that they are eager to explore the possibility to use Rayuela in future classes.

The research will help to identify potential key areas for teachers and police to support young people in their online lives. At the end of the project we aim to offer this useful tool to other schools throughout Northern Ireland. We would also like to extend our thanks to the teams at Capita and C2k for their generous support in assisting in the deployment of the game.

RAYUELA - screen shot of the actual game footage.
This is a screen shot of the actual game footage. Each student is asked to make an avatar and pick a fictional name so no personal data is ever shared with us or the school involved.

Further Information

This research will help to identify potential key areas for teachers and police to support young people in their online lives. At the end of the project we aim to offer this useful tool to other schools throughout Northern Ireland. 

For more information and to be informed of the results of the project: 

Website: https://www.rayuela-h2020.eu/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rayuela_h2020/ 

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rayuela_project 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rayuela_h2020 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RayuelaH2020/ 

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 882828. The sole responsibility for the content of this webpage in no way reflects the views of the European Union.