As we wrap up Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month 2023 we reflect on the research and events undertaken by QUT Centre for Justice as Queensland shines a spotlight on this very important issue.
QUT Centre for Justice has many researchers working in the area of Domestic and Family Violence, particularly in areas such as:
- interpersonal violence and its prevention, focusing on engaging men in violence prevention, and on men, masculinities, and gender justice
- technology facilitated violence in both Australian and international settings
- Women, violence and homelessness
- Domestic violence in family court cases, including the perverse consequences of The Hague Convention
QUT Centre for Justice hosts the ‘Stopping Gender Violence’ Advisory Board which includes QUT academics, representatives from industry and community practitioners from across Australia. The Board meet quarterly to share information and collaborate on policy, practice and research with the ultimate goal of reducing gender and family violence nationally. The Board is chaired by Professor Michael Flood.
During May QUT Centre for Justice hosted a seminar as part of Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month titled, “Lived Experience: Advocacy in Action”.
There has been a growing focus on victim and survivor voices of domestic and family violence, and increasingly these voices, stories and lived experience are contributing to policy and practice, and are being used to inform change.
Our panel discussion amplified these voices – their stories, impact, challenges and opportunities for future change.
Read more about this event here.
To mark the end of this important month QUT Centre for Justice is releasing a Queensland Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month 2023 Briefing Paper Series which shares some of our current research. These papers have been authored by QUT academics, PhD students and community practitioners.
The series includes:
“Community-level prevention: A vital next step in ending domestic, family and sexual violence” by Professor Michael Flood
Community-level strategies are a vital next step in preventing domestic, family and sexual violence. While much prevention activity has addressed risk and protective factors at the individual and relationship levels, community-level strategies move to more macro levels of society. Community-level strategies have a compelling rationale: they address the social norms, social relations and social inequalities that underpin domestic, family and sexual violence. They move violence prevention towards the general ideal that initiatives should be comprehensive, relevant, and engaging.
“Practitioner experiences of working with young people in domestic and family violence legal matters in Queensland” Phuntsho Choden, Megan Stewart, Melissa Bull
In 2020 Youth Advocacy Centre Inc (YAC) initiated a project that provided legal advice and support in domestic and family violence matters involving young people in South-East Queensland. The project sought to gain an in-depth understanding of the needs of young people in such matters. This paper presents an overview of practitioner perspectives relating to project outcomes, and recommendations to promote young people’s access to relevant support.
“Justice Claims of Sri Lankan Spa Workers Seeking a Professional Identity” Risini Ilangasingha, Deanna Grant-Smith and Robyn Mayes
Focusing on the distinctive nature of spas in the local context of Sri Lanka, this briefing paper explores the stigmatisation of masseuses’ work at spas caused by the conflation of sex work with spa work. Drawing on empirical data collected as part of the first author’s doctoral research, it centres on the experiences of female labour constituents of urban spas. Responding to calls to bring policy reforms to safeguard the labour rights of women in the Sri Lankan spa industry, it foregrounds the perspectives of these women who wish to construct a professional identity and recognition of the labour role performed in spas in a context where the industry is booming, but such work is socially condemned.
Read more about QUT Centre for Justice Briefing Paper Series here.
Future QUT Centre for Justice Briefing Paper series are in the pipeline. Next issues on this topic include a series in October around Technology Facilitated Violence.
QUT Centre for Justice values our partnerships with industry, not-for-profit organisations and other researchers. If you are seeking advice on, and solutions to, a complex social or environmental issue, we would love to work with you.
Comments are closed.