Talking Research

Dr Melanie O'Brien is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Western Australia and an award winning teacher of International Humanitarian Law and Legal Research. Her research examines the connection between human rights and the genocide process; and sexual and gender-based crimes and against women in conflict zones. She has conducted fieldwork and research across six continents. In this conversation, she shared her research on

Research Discussed:

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13642987.2015.1091562

Dr Sameena Mulla is Associate Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Social and Cultural Sciences at Marquette University. She is the author of the Violence of Care: Rape Victims, Forensic Nurses and Sexual Assault Intervention. Her work broadly theorises the gendered regimes of sexual assault intervention that emerge among the state and sexual assault survivors in the contemporary USA. In this episode, Sameena shared her work on forensic interventions for sexual assaults, how they are failing to do justice to victim-survivors and how they can be improved.

Research Discussed:

https://nyupress.org/9781479867219/the-violence-of-care/

Dr Chloë Kennedy is a Senior Lecturer in Criminal Law at the University of Edinburgh. Her main research interests are criminal law, legal theory, legal history, and the relationship between these areas. Her research also focuses on law and gender and law and religion. Chloë is undertaking an AHRC research leader fellowship on identity deception, focussing in particular on inducing intimacy.

In this conversation, Chloë shared her research on deceptive sex, what it is, what forms it takes, debates around its criminalisation and the framework she has devised for its criminalisation.

Research Discussed: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/legal-studies/article/abs/criminalising-deceptive-sex-sex-identity-and-recognition/7A5589286B535E30B88A9765A5844CFC

Samantha Freeman is a PhD candidate at Northwestern University's Screen Cultures programme and holds dual certificates in Teaching and Gender & Sexuality Studies. Her dissertation traces how television has represented sexual violence since the 1950s, with a particular focus on the medium's narrative conventions and aesthetics. In this conversation, we spoke about tv representation in the 1950s, two contemporary shows Unbelievable and I May Destroy You, how representations of sexual assaults in tv shows can be improved, and other themes.

Research Discussed:

http://mediacommons.org/imr/content/sexual-violence-crime-dramas-1950s

Dr Gemma Hamilton is a lecturer in criminology and justice studies at RMIT University. Her research focuses on violence against women and children, with expertise on policing, family violence, sexual offending and forensic interviewing. In 2016, she won a prize for her phD research that focused on improving investigative interviews with Australian Aboriginal children in cases of sexual abuse.

In this conversation, Gemma shared her research on improving police attitudes, forensic interviews.

Research discussed :

Tidmarsh, P., Hamilton, G. and Sharman, S.J., 2020. Changing Police Officers’ Attitudes in Sexual Offense Cases: A 12-Month Follow-Up Study. Criminal Justice and Behavior, p.0093854820921201.

Erin O'Callaghan is a Phd Candidate at the University of Illinois at Chicago, US. Her dissertation will be a mixed methods study of survivors of sexual assault involving substance use at the time of the assault, in addition to investigating survivors' pleasurable and/or wanted experiences. In this conversation, Erin expanded on these topics.

Research Discussed:

Ullman, S.E., O’Callaghan, E. and Lorenz, K., 2019. Women’s experiences of impairment and incapacitation during alcohol/drug-related sexual assaults: Toward a survivor-informed approach to measurement. Archives of sexual behavior, 48(7), pp.2105-2116.

Dr Jane Meyrick is a Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology at the University of West England, Bristol. She is qualified as a Chartered Health Psychologist and is a Public Health Specialist. She has worked at policy and service levels on sexual health for the last 20 years and leads on sexual health, sexual and reproductive rights/violence. She also co-leads the research on sexual abuse/violence at UWE, Bristol.

In this conversation, Jane shared her forthcoming research on the prevalence of sexual abuse at universities and experiences of survivors with reporting procedures at universities. She explained the various ways universities can 'earn' disclosures from survivors.

Dr Rachel Simon-Kumar is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at the University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand. Her key areas of research are in women's studies and public policy. Her research interests lie in the intersections of gender, ethnicity and policy, in the context of Aoetaora/New Zealand as well as the geopolitical south, particularly India.

In this conversation, Rachel shared her research on under-reporting in ethnic minorities in NZ, the factors behind it, how this can be remedied, and more.

Research Discussed:

Setayesh Rahmanipour, Shannon Kumar & Rachel Simon-Kumar (2019): Underreporting sexual violence among ‘ethnic’ migrant women: perspectives from Aotearoa/New Zealand, Culture, Health & Sexuality, DOI: 10.1080/13691058.2018.1519120

Riya Singh is a part of Core Leadership Group in India's single and largest Dalit women collective, Dalit Women Fight. She works on ground with the survivors of caste atrocities of Dalit community in five states of northern India. She is also a PhD scholar at Ambedkar University Delhi and her research focuses on atrocities and the Scheduled Castes - Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act

In this conversation, Riya shared her work and research on combating caste atrocities including sexual violence against Dalit women.

More info on Dalit Women Fight: https://dalitwomenfight.org/

Dr Rachel Lovell is a Research Assistant Professor at the Begun Centre of Violence Prevention Research and Education at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a Sociologist and methodologist who works with law-enforcement, community based agencies and public systems to examine the impact of violent behaviour that is primarily directed at women and girls.

In this conversation, Rachel shared her research on rape kits and how they can be used to identify serial rapists.

Research discussed:

Lovell, R., Luminais, M., Flannery, D.J., Overman, L., Huang, D., Walker, T. and Clark, D.R., 2017. Offending patterns for serial sex offenders identified via the DNA testing of previously unsubmitted sexual assault kits. Journal of criminal justice, 52, pp.68-78.