Having started with a staff of two (Gill Hague and Ellen Malos) and a single research project focusing on the housing needs of women fleeing domestic violence, the centre, in the School for Policy Studies, now has eight core staff, 10 PhD students from around the world at any one time, and researchers working on a range of national and international projects. 

Also speaking is Nazand Begikhani, a Senior Research Fellow at the centre, on her recent research into the rape and sexual slavery of Yezidi women as part of ISIS’s war strategy.  Nazand heads a project with our sister centres at the University of Sulaimani and the University of Soran, in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region.

The first keynote speech is given by Professor Evan Stark, author of Coercive Control, a book that helped to influence UK law and policy around domestic violence and abuse, and which was partly written while he was a visiting fellow at the Centre. Also speaking are representatives from national and local specialist service providers including Women’s Aid, Respect, Devon Rape Crisis, and Safe Lives.

Several past and present PhD students will presenting their work at the event, covering topics such as: harm caused by memories of child sex abuse; child welfare and domestic violence; feminist movements; and the provision of domestic violence services to lesbian women.

Dr Emma Williamson, a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre, said: ‘This is an opportunity to reflect on the work of the centre over the past 25 years and to see how far we, and the movement as a whole, have come. We want to thank those who have taken part in our research and those who have helped to ensure it has made an impact on policy and practice.’

The keynote address will be given by Professor Marianne Hester, the current head of the centre, who will look how at its current work fits within global challenges to gendered violence through policy/practice, activism, and theory.