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This case study focuses on two related areas: the issue of violence against female students and how this is framed by `lad culture' in higher education (HE). It documents five areas where Alison Phipps' research has either directly led or indirectly contributed to change:
Since 2000 the Child and Woman Abuse Studies Centre (CWASU) has produced a body of research that has had significant impact for victim-survivors of violence against women (VAW) at policy and practice levels. We have evaluated new and emerging forms of support provision (Sexual Assault Referral Centres), tracked attrition in criminal justice responses to rape in England, Wales and Europe, mapped the `postcode lottery' of specialist services across Great Britain, and developed minimum standards for specialist services across Europe. Our research highlighted promising practices that led to a national rollout of specific forms of provision and central government funding for specialist services. We were among the first researchers in the UK to draw on human rights principles to illuminate the responsibilities of states to provide services, principles further elaborated in the 2011 Council of Europe Convention. Evidence here demonstrates that responses to victim-survivors across a number of arenas — criminal justice, specialist NGOs, and statutory health agencies — have been enhanced at an unprecedented level because of our work. More widely, our research has rekindled scholarship on sexual violence.
CWASU's role as independent academics... is crucial for both the voluntary and community sector and for statutory bodies like the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime. They understand the issues on the ground from the perspectives of women and girls and... have developed cutting edge research and responses to complex problems to provide a robust evidence base for the sector to use in their advocacy work (Policy and Delivery Officer, Violence against women and gangs, Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime).
The ... evaluations of models of service delivery are invaluable in providing us with the information and tools to undertake the work that we do, both nationally and locally. The knowledge that we gain from CWASU informs and shapes our work as we continue to strive for improved responses to violence against women (Manager, Women's Aid, England).
Research conducted at the University of Nottingham has played a key role in developing new guidance for judges giving directions to juries in rape trials in England and Wales. The research explored the influence of providing (mock) jurors with education to counter `rape stereotypes'. Its findings fed into the work of an Expert Panel, convened by the Solicitor-General, and played a key role in supporting the inclusion of `myth-busting' directions in the Crown Court Benchbook. These may alter the ways in which jurors deliberate and ensure greater justice. Beneficiaries include the CPS, judges, jurors, rape complainants, criminal justice practitioners and policy-makers, and the general public.
This case study focuses on Aisha Gill's ground-breaking research on violence against women (VAW) in the UK, Iraqi Kurdistan and India as part of the Crucible Centre for Human Rights Research. Gill's research has had a direct impact on local, national and international policy-making and professional practice, in particular, in relation to `honour' based violence (HBV) and forced marriage (FM). This has underpinned her work as an academic commentator, with a strong media profile, her reports and policy briefings on VAW for UK and international public and third sector agencies, as well as an expert witness for the Crown Prosecution Service on HBV and FM cases.
The product of the underpinning research is a dynamically searchable, on-line catalogue of the archives of theatrical producer, critic and cultural promoter Henri Brochet (1898-1952). Preservation and interpretation of historical memory is a major part of the impact, which comes from the discovery of an aspect of grassroots Catholic activity in France. Importantly, the catalogue is physically sited not in one of the metropolitan centres of France but in Auxerre, Brochet's home town (a major centre at the provincial level). Access to these materials has enabled an apparently peripheral (regional) public to understand local, national, and international heritage in ways that enrich civic and cultural life.
A high-profile campaign documenting the influence of public perceptions of gender-based violence in El Salvador led to greater public awareness, demands for change and new national legislation. Research for Oxfam America by Dr Mo Hume played a key role in driving the campaign, Una Vida Diferente, which was organised by a broad-based coalition of international and national NGOs and state organisations.