Teenage relationship abuse research collaboration wins award
VISION Senior Research Fellow, Dr Ruth Weir, was recently awarded the Police Research Partnership award from the Society of Evidence Based Policing (SEBP). Alongside her collaborator, Deputy Chief Constable Katy Barrow-Grint, they accepted the honour in recognition of their work since 2024 investigating teenage relationship abuse (TRA).
Ruth and Katy’s research has established TRA as an issue in its own right instead of historically falling between adult domestic abuse and child safeguarding. Interest in their work has reached across research, policy and practice culminating in three separate nominations for the award: Aisling Barker, VAWG Operational Advisor at the Cabinet Office; Sophie Jarrett, VAWG Policy and Strategy Lead at the Gloucestershire Constabulary; and Annie Bunce, Research Fellow at VISION and City St George’s University of London.
Examples of their collaboration and resulting impact include:
- Co-founding the National Working Group on Teenage Relationship Abuse, which has over 60 organisational members from central and local government, police constabularies, school trusts, academia and the third sector. The group shares their expertise to shape ongoing national conversations on how teenage relationship abuse is defined, recognised, and responded to, particularly for those under 16.
- Hosting a series of roundtables across England bringing together policing, social care and academia to discuss TRA and solutions
- Securing the inclusion of TRA in the government’s national Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) strategy
- Shaping and influencing TRA guidance through the National Centre for VAWG and Public Protection, a direct translation of evidence into a national policing priority
- Publishing a series of VISION Policy Briefs:
- Publishing research articles on TRA with VISION colleagues and others:
- Hosting a conference in 2024 at City St George’s
Many congratulations to Ruth and Katy!
Photograph (left to right): Deputy Chief Constable Katy Barrow-Grint and Dr Ruth Weir
