Joining efforts to improve prevention research

This month, Laura Castillo talks about her participation at the 2018 World Meeting of the International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA) and shares her reflections on how collaboration across different fields of prevention research could lead to better strategies to tackle behavioural problems.

Last month I went to the ISRA World Meeting in Paris. At this conference, a lot of prevention research was presented. The results of strategies and programs to prevent violent crime, intimate partner violence, child abuse, bullying and other forms of aggression in different ages were discussed. However, I was surprised that I had not seen any of these researchers at the European Society for Prevention Research (EUSPR) conference last year. Continue reading

Stay Safe @ Uni: Exploring students’ views about safety and sexual consent

In this post, Dr Emma L Davies, Lecturer in Psychology at Oxford Brookes University, shares details of an exciting new project to inform prevention activities addressing sexual violence in University settings. The project takes place in collabration with Dr Sarah Jayne Camp, Psychology Demonstrator at Oxford Brookes University, and Anna-Sherlock Smith MSc, Independent Researcher. Emma explains why this work is so important and is also able to present initial findings from this new research.

How the project started

In 2013, I attended a talk by Laura Bates, founder of Everyday Sexism, where she discussed the problem of sexual assault on university campuses. Colleagues and I felt that we wanted to do something to explore these issues further. However, at the time, I was writing up my PhD thesis and searching for employment and so it was put on the back burner for a while. Last September, a chance encounter with the Head of Campus Security led to a conversation about what approach we should take to tackle issues around sexual harassment and safety on nights out. Continue reading