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Domestic violence affects one in four women in England and Wales and two women are killed each week by their partner or ex-partner. It is recognised as an important policy issue and women's non-governmental organisations (NGOs) contribute to policy development at different levels of government. Research on gender and political processes in the context of devolution has contributed to campaigns conducted by the Violence Against Women Action Group in Wales, understandings of domestic violence within the policy community in Wales, and debates about women's political representation in the UK. It has informed debates about the use of statistics relating to domestic abuse and contributed to the withdrawal of misleading statistics from public display; raised questions about the gender-neutral definition of domestic abuse adopted by the Welsh Assembly Government and Swansea City Council in their domestic abuse strategies; fed into campaigns by third sector organisations relating to domestic abuse and violence against women; and contributed to and informed the debate on positive measures to increase the political representation of women.
Research on combating interpersonal violence carried out by Dr Erica Bowen (Reader in the Psychology of Intimate Partner Violence) has resulted in:
The impact of the research has been firstly, in informing the creation of a new kind of domestic violence court and secondly, in alerting domestic and European policy-makers to the problem of women rough sleepers which was previously effectively "invisible."
Short summary of the case study
The case study emerged from research conducted by the Central Institute for the Study of Public Protection and its predecessors (Policy Research Institute and Regional Research Institute). It informed the development of specialist domestic violence courts in the UK and brought to the attention of European and domestic policy-makers the plight of victims of domestic violence many of whom find themselves compelled to sleep rough, but do so in ways that result in them remaining invisible to the authorities.
Transitional Justice Institute's (TJI) work on gender, conflict and transition demonstrates remarkable international impact, showing effects and benefits to institutional norms and policies, civil society positioning and legal enforcement at the state level. Knowledge transfer provided by TJI research has influenced policy and legal change in the regulation of gender norms in conflict and post-conflict settings. Debates triggered by TJI scholarly outputs have shaped policy agendas and critical responses to them. The impact is regional, national and international.
Our evaluation of gang member rehabilitation and violence reduction programme in Glasgow has had considerable and enduring policy impact. Scottish Government policy is built on the principals our research espouses. Homicide rates in Scotland are now at a thirty-year low. The Prime Minister and national newspapers cited the initiative as a solution after the London riots and the UK Government incorporated the ethos of this program into their policy and practice. Working jointly with the WHO, we are having impact in South Africa, Jamaica and Lithuania. For example, the Western Cape Province of South Africa has, following our involvement and for the first time, initiated a violence reduction strategy. The most important impact of our work, however, is the change it creates in young people's lives, transforming their prospects from those of a lifetime of intermittent imprisonment to one of useful and meaningful societal involvement and contribution.
National and international policy on domestic violence has been strongly influenced since 2008 by a series of studies on domestic violence conducted at the University of Bristol, resulting for example in the piloting of a national disclosure scheme. The studies have also had a positive impact on the practical ways in which agencies such as the police respond to domestic violence as well as influencing the development of a European Police handbook on domestic violence. The criminal justice system, practitioners and victims have benefited from the studies' insights into the `attrition' that can occur between the reporting of an act of domestic violence to the police and the final outcome in court. They have also gained from Bristol's work on the profiles of perpetrators and the behavioural differences between male and female perpetrators.
Dr Kate Bedford's work has demonstrated the limits of existing frameworks for addressing gender and sexuality in development policy and has had a significant impact in four main ways. First, it has supported and influenced the work of the major NGOs (including Sexuality Policy Watch, and the Bretton Woods Project/Action Aid) in holding development institutions to account on questions of gender equality. Second, it has had substantial influence on the work of transnational public bodies (including UNRISD), challenging conventional wisdom and stimulating debate among policymakers. Third, it has had considerable impact on how development practitioners are taught, in the UK and beyond. Finally, it has enjoyed a sustained influence in shaping a new area of critical public debate, improving public understanding of sexuality and development and engaging diverse international audiences. In the light of increased global attention to gender and development (evident across several leading international institutions), Bedford's research has stimulated important debate about policy orthodoxy and has directly influenced several campaigns for policy change.
Den Boer's research into the relationship between extreme gender population imbalances and state security has shaped public and political debate within national and international media, influenced public policy and political campaigns, and affected the provision of data services within the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD). The researchers' argument regarding Asia's missing women continues to inform journalists', NGOs', institutions', policy makers' and the wider public's understanding of the role played by gender imbalances when assessing state stability and security in situations as diverse as gendercide in Asia, youth uprisings and revolts, and gang rape in India.
Domestic violence is a serious and pernicious problem, affecting one in four women, and a significant number of men. Despite this, in general, legal responses to domestic violence have not been as effective as they could be. Professor Mandy Burton has carried out wide-ranging research for UK government departments and public bodies, including the Home Office, Ministry of Justice (MOJ), Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the Legal Services Commission (LSC) specifically designed to inform legal and policy change on domestic violence. Her work informed the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act in 2004, and was important in helping to develop more than 100 Specialist Domestic Violence Courts across the country.
Interdisciplinary research on religious framings and ethical approaches to communications, conflict, the laws of war, media, peacebuilding, reconciliation, sectarianism and violence within Edinburgh's School of Divinity has been disseminated and tested through a grant funded research and knowledge exchange project sponsored by the Centre for Theology and Public Issues (CTPI). Involving multiple partners simultaneously in the generation and exchange of new knowledge and understanding, the project demonstrates civil society, ecclesiastical, governmental, other-HEI, media, and third sector impacts on belief, knowledge, practices and values in relation to peacebuilding and reconciliation in Bosnia- Herzegovina, and in Scotland. It also demonstrates the value of religious framings of mediation in the rebuilding of intergroup trust in communities which have experienced violent conflict linked to ethnic and religious identities, impacting on international donor behaviour.