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Domestic Violence and Abuse-Related Suicide: Evidence from Six Years of Irish Coronial Data

Domestic violence and abuse (DVA) and suicide are both major public health concerns, yet the relationship between them is less well understood. For people experiencing DVA, understanding their connection is key if support services and interventions are to respond effectively.

A new study, Domestic Violence and Abuse-Related Suicide: Evidence from Six Years of Irish Coronial Data, co-authored by Gemma Cox, Sarah Dangar, Katerina Kavalidou, and VISION researcher, Lizzie Cook, contributes new evidence to this emerging area of research. The study is the first in Ireland to examine the intersection between DVA and suicide using six years of national coronial data from the Irish Probable Suicide Deaths Study (IPSDS).

Using a mixed-methods approach, the study draws on coronial records of suicides to investigate the prevalence, circumstances, and characteristics where a link to DVA had been document. A total of 3622 cases of suicide were screened for evidence of DVA; of thse, 15 DVA-related suicides were identified, all of which were female. A series of composite narratives are used to highlight the complex interaction of factors shaping DVA and suicide.

The study highlights the importance of recognising DVA within wider suicide prevention efforts. However, it also raises important questions about how experiences of DVA are identified and recorded within coronial systems that investigates these deaths.

This paper will be of interest to researchers, clinicians, mental health professionals, domestic abuse practitioners, suicide prevention specialists, policymakers, coroners, voluntary and communtiy sector organisations, and others working across health, social care, and justic sectors.

To download the article in the Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine: Domestic violence and abuse-related suicide: evidence from six years of Irish coronial data

To cite: Cox G, Cook E, Dangar S, Kavalidou K. Domestic violence and abuse-related suicide: evidence from six years of Irish coronial data. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine. Published online 2026:1-8. doi:10.1017/ipm.2026.10220

For further information: contact Lizzie at elizabeth.cook@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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Sexual violence along migration routes: A qualitative systematic review and evidence synthesis

While all types of violence happen in the context of migration without state authorization, states have no directly tangible and clearly articulated incentives to protect migrants who travel in this way from violence. Migrants in transit, particularly those who travel informally without documents, are exceptionally vulnerable to exploitation from criminal gangs and smuggling networks, abuse by border forces, corrupt policing, and exposure to petty crime and violence during the journey.

The systems and structures that govern international migration without state authorisation create conditions of vulnerability for migrants, and sexual violence requires separate attention. Sexual violence in any context has unique causes and consequences and reporting follows distinct patterns, linked to different social meanings and gender dynamics. Thus, there is good reason for treating sexual violence differently from other more general forms of violence.

There is little or limited incentive for states to prevent sexual violence against migrants who might be travelling without authorization or be in the process of escaping adversity in their home state. These individuals who are not part of citizenry cannot easily call upon available mechanisms to report and seek support and retribution for crimes of sexual violence perpetrated against them. Yet, there is precedent to consider sexual violence an international ‘wrong’ and to advocate for the consolidation of action against it (for example in United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1825, which established sexual violence in conflict as warranting consolidated international action).

VISION researcher Alexandria Innes and Merili Pulleritis (City St George’s, University of London) conducted a systematic review and evidence synthesis to systematise and synthesize qualitative evidence of sexual violence experienced by migrants travelling without state authorization, during the course of their journeys. 

Their article, Sexual violence along migration routes: A qualitative systematic review and evidence synthesis, finds that sexual violence is widespread in the context of migration without state authorisation, and structurally embedded feature of undocumented migration. Findings were grouped around the six themes of agency, economics, climate of violence, normalisation of violence, perpetrators, and gender.

Data showed that migrant women expressed agency by adopting preventative or protective measures against expected sexual violence, at times including engagement in unwanted sexual contact. Economic deprivation intersected with sexual violence during migration journeys, increasing risk of sexual violence. The most severe cases of sexual violence were not mitigated by money. In some cases sexual violence victimisation was considered to be the only available way to prevent deportation or death.

Sexual violence was severe and indiscriminate, and included forced witnessing, and forced sex act perpetration on other migrants. Sexual violence along migration routes is executed by various types of perpetrators, including organised and systematic perpetration by state agents such as border guards and police, and by smuggling and trafficking gangs. Sexual violence is also carried out by opportunists who are often migrants in transit, or people who reside along the route. Sexual violence is used against men, women, trans and non-binary migrants, and people of all ages, but there are important gendered differences in the experience of sexual violence before and during a migration journey.

Sexual violence along irregular migration routes is an urgent issue demanding a response. Sexual violence is structurally embedded in the governance of international migration, suggesting the need for significant systemic change. This problem requires dedicated attention and resources directed towards prevention and protection.

To download the article: Sexual violence along migration routes: A qualitative systematic review and evidence synthesis

To cite: Innes, A., & Pullerits, M. (2026). Sexual violence along migration routes: A qualitative systematic review and evidence synthesis. PLOS ONE, 21(8), e0355474. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0355474

For further information: contact Andri at alexandria.innes@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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Public expectations for effective First Responder communication

Effective public communication during Mass Casualty Incidents (MCI) is essential for safeguarding life, maintaining order, and sustaining trust in emergency responders. Yet, high-pressure, information-scarce environments make this communication challenging.

The mixed methods study, Insights into Public Attitudes for Effective First Responder Communication during a Simulated Mass Casualty Incident, developed by VISION researcher Darren Cook (City St George’s University of London) and colleagues, examines public preferences for communication from emergency services during MCIs, drawing on data from a large-scale immersive training exercise.

Participants either completed a structured survey assessing the importance of specific communication attributes (N = 217) or participated in qualitative interviews (N = 181). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of questionnaire data identified a broad dimension of desired communicative leadership, with a distinct directive-authoritative dimension emerging for Police and Local Authorities.

Thematic analysis of interview data identified four overarching communication principles:

  1. Communication Strategies
  2. Emotional and Psychological Support
  3. Proactivity and Efficiency
  4. Building Trust and Resilience

Findings converge on a central requirement: effective communication during MCIs must balance clear, authoritative direction with transparent, empathetic engagement. Members of the public expect responders to provide both honest prognostic information and reassurance that acknowledges emotional needs.

This work highlights the need for emergency services to adopt a nuanced communication model that integrates leadership, clarity, and emotional intelligence. Embedding these principles into training and operational doctrine may enhance public cooperation, trust, and resilience during future large-scale emergencies.

To download the article: Insights into Public Attitudes for Effective First Responder Communication during a Simulated Mass Casualty Incident

To cite: Cook, D., Waring, S., Humann, M. & Alison, L. J. (2026). Insights into Public Attitudes for Effective First Responder Communication during a Simulated Mass Casualty Incident. Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management, https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/14685973.

For further information: contact Darren at darren.cook@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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Doing co-analysis justice: Guiding principles

Our inspiration to create principles for co-analysis with those with lived experience of the criminal justice system stemmed from a previous participatory project which prompted conversation about the benefits and challenges of doing co-analysis ‘properly’. This project asked what does best practice look like and how can those with lived experience effectively take part?

Participatory or co-produced research is increasingly common. However, people with lived experience tend to be involved in the earlier and/or latter stages of research projects and less so in the nitty gritty middle stage. Therefore, VISION and Revolving Doors’ staff and lived experience team members collaborated to develop guidelines to inform the co-analysis process. These principles were created to support the flourishing landscape of research involving people with lived experience in the analysis and interpretation of results, equipping teams with guidance to facilitate meaningful and positive co-analysis.

The principles are organised into six themes:

  1. Supporting diversity in co-analysis
  2. Prioritise emotional safety and support
  3. Address power, hierarchy and tokenism to ‘level the playing field’
  4. Relationship building and team dynamics
  5. Training and shared learning
  6. Experiment with creative methods and outputs

Inspired by this last theme, accompanying the principles is a co-designed illustration that visually represents some of the ideas shared. The image is above and also available for download below.

This resource is for researchers, regardless of background and experience, and practitioners and managers who work with people with lived experience of the issues being studied. The principles will also be useful for those with an interest in teaching or training co-production methods, and anybody involved in the funding or ethical review of research projects embedding lived experience expertise.

We are keen to know how the principles work in practice. If you use them to guide your work, we warmly welcome feedback on how helpful you found them. Please let Annie know at annie.bunce@citystgeorges.ac.uk.

To read the guidance: Doing co-analysis justice: Guiding principles

To find out more about the project: Exploring guiding principles for ‘Doing Co-Analysis Justice’

To find out more about Revolving Doors’ work: Revolving Doors – Breaking the cycle of crisis and crime

With thanks to the following individuals and organisations who co-developed the principles:

  • Revolving Doors: Lauren, Anthony, Charlotte, Charlie, De’Qeon, Jeanette, Leigh, Lucy, Mark, Rimona, Tony and Warren.
  • Dr Annie Bunce, VISION consortium, City St George’s University of London
  • Dr Danica Darley, University of Sheffield
  • Dr Elizabeth (Lizzie) Cook, VISION consortium, City St George’s University of London
  • Dr Les Humphreys, VISION consortium, University of Lancashire
  • Professor Sian Oram, VISION consortium, Kings College London
  • Dr Polina Obolenskaya, VISION consortium, City St George’s University of London
  • Professor Sally McManus, VISION consortium, City St George’s University of London

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Disability and intimate partner violence in England: Gender stratified analyses

By Dr Ladan Hashemi, VISION Senior Research Fellow 

Disabled people are widely recognised as being at heightened risk of gender-based violence, and intimate partner violence (IPV) is one of its most common forms. Yet few prior random probability sample surveys in England have examined the full range of IPV (physical, sexual, psychological, and economic abuse) across different types of impairment, for both women and men. 

Existing research in this area has tended to rely on small, service-based samples rather than the general population, to focus on women only, and to treat “any IPV” as a single outcome rather than distinguishing between different forms of abuse. This matters because different forms of IPV have very different risk profiles and levels of visibility, and because without a general population sample of both genders, it isn’t possible to say whether disability affects men and women’s risk in the same way. 

To address this, together with my co-authors Dr Hannah Manzur, Dr Annie Bunce, and Professor Sally McManus, all VISION researchers, we used the 2014 Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Survey, a nationally representative survey of 7,546 adults in England, to examine the 12-month prevalence of four types of IPV among people with and without four types of impairment: physical health conditions, sensory impairment, learning impairment, and restricted activities of daily living (ADLs). We tested the same disability types and IPV types for men and women, using models adjusted for age, ethnicity, marital status, and socioeconomic factors. 

Disabled women had almost twice the odds of experiencing psychological IPV, and around two and a half times the odds of experiencing sexual IPV, in the past year compared to non-disabled women. No significant difference was found for physical IPV. Women with a learning impairment reported the highest rates of IPV overall (around one in five had experienced some form of abuse in the past year), and women with restricted ADLs were at particularly high risk of economic abuse. For men, using the same measures and models, we found no significant differences in IPV risk between disabled and non-disabled men. 

This gendered pattern is consistent with the wider evidence base on IPV, in which women experience more frequent and more coercive forms of abuse than men, and it suggests that disability compounds this risk specifically for women. Disabled women’s risk was concentrated in the less visible forms of abuse (psychological and sexual, rather than physical), which points to a real gap: safeguarding responses attuned mainly to physical harm may be missing much of what disabled women experience. Isolation, dependency on a partner for care, and barriers to disclosure are all likely to play a part. 

The lack of a significant association for men may reflect several factors. Our sample of disabled men reporting IPV was relatively small, particularly for sexual IPV, which widens the uncertainty around these estimates. Disability may also interact with stigma and barriers to disclosure for men differently than for women, and the broader evidence base on men’s experiences of IPV, disabled or not, remains much thinner than for women. Further research with larger samples of disabled men would help clarify this pattern. 

These findings support investment in violence prevention programmes specifically designed for disabled women, particularly those with learning impairments or multiple impairments, and highlight the need for routes to disclosure that don’t rely on abuse being physically visible. They also point to the importance of coordination between domestic abuse services, disability support services, and health and social care, particularly where a partner also provides care. 

To download the article: Disability and intimate partner violence in England: Gender stratified analyses of a probability sample survey

To cite: Hashemi, L., Manzur, H., Bunce, A. et al. Disability and intimate partner violence in England: Gender stratified analyses of a probability sample survey. BMC Public Health (2026). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-026-28489-5

For further information, contact: Ladan at ladan.hashemi@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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Temporal trends in teenage relationship abuse among Welsh adolescents

Teenage relationship abuse (TRA) includes physical, emotional and sexual abuse in young people’s intimate relationships and is a growing public health concern. TRA has significant associations with other risk markers including (cyber)bullying, sexting and substance use, as well as negative short and long-term health and social consequences. It affects young people under 16 but remains largely invisible in national data. This study examines temporal trends (a pattern in data that shows how something changes over time) in TRA prevalence among Welsh adolescents and the age gradient in TRA by school year group.

The research team, led by VISION Senior Research Fellow Ruth Weir (City St George’s UoL), and  her consortium colleagues, Niels Blom (University of Manchester) and Polina Obolenskaya (City St George’s) and Katy Barrow-Grint (City St George’s) and Edna Ogada and Honor Young (Cardiff University), provide the first temporal trends in TRA among under 16-year-olds.

Data from four survey years (2017, 2019, 2023, 2025) of the Welsh School Health Research Network (SHRN) Student Health and Wellbeing Survey (SHWS) were analysed, comprising 345,796 pupils aged 11–16 from all maintained secondary schools in Wales. TRA victimisation and perpetration were measured using six items.

The team’s analysis confirms that TRA victimisation and perpetration remain prevalent among 11- to 16 year-olds. TRA among adolescents in Wales increased between 2017 and 2023 before declining in 2025, with a mixed pattern. The exception is emotional victimisation which both rose faster and remained at increased levels. Across the four survey years, one in five pupils reported TRA victimisation and one in eight reported perpetration. All six TRA outcomes increased between 2017 and 2023 before declining in 2025.

By 2025, any victimisation and physical perpetration had returned to 2017 levels; emotional victimisation remained elevated; and other outcomes fell below 2017 levels. A key finding across all four survey years is the bidirectional nature of TRA in under 16s. Sole perpetration is rare, most perpetrators are also victims, which challenges a more simplistic victim/perpetrator binary. Study findings have direct implications for prevention – interventions that separate young people into victim and perpetrator groups may therefore be inappropriate for this age group. 

Recommendation

Universal intervention and support are needed before entering secondary school and whilst in attendence. Any intervention should recognise the bidirectional nature of abuse among this age group.

To download the article: Temporal Trends in Teenage Relationship Abuse Among Welsh Adolescents: Analysis of the Student Health and Wellbeing Survey, 2017-2025

To cite: Weir, Ruth and Blom, Niels and Obolenskaya, Polina and Ogada, Edna and Barrow-Grint, Katy and Young, Honor, Temporal Trends in Teenage Relationship Abuse Among Welsh Adolescents: Analysis of the Student Health and Wellbeing Survey, 2017-2025 (June 23, 2026). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=6982259

For further information, contact: Ruth at ruth.weir@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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Measuring outcomes of safe accommodation: A rapid evidence review

Safe accommodation refers to safe, time limited accommodation for anyone escaping domestic abuse. It includes a range of settings such as refuge accommodation, specialist and dispersed accommodation, sanctuary schemes, and move-on or second-stage housing. In the short-term, support in safe accommodation provides immediate safety for victim-survivors fleeing domestic abuse, and, in the longer-term the aim is for victim survivors to be free from abuse and rebuild their lives.

The most recent national estimates from the Crime Survey for England and Wales showed that 3.8 million people aged 16 years and over experienced domestic abuse in year ending March 2025: 2.2 million females and 1.5 million males. The demand for safe accommodation for those experiencing domestic abuse persistently outweighs supply. Also, there is a shortage of safe accommodation and barriers to access for marginalised groups such as those with no recourse to public funds, or complex mental health and/or substance use need and/or disability access.

While existing evidence provides insight into demand and provision in the context of supported safe accommodation, it does not capture the outcomes experienced by survivors who access safe accommodation. Previous studies have highlighted the diversity and inconsistency of outcomes used to evaluate the impact of domestic abuse services on adults and children, and the need for a shared outcomes framework to develop a coherent national picture of what works.

In response, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) commissioned a study to assess the feasibility of establishing a shared outcomes framework for support delivered in safe accommodation. The first stage of the research was a rapid evidence review to synthesise outcomes measured to assess the impact of support for victim-survivors and their children provided in the context of safe accommodation, conducted by Dr Annie Bunce (City St George’s, University of London), Dr Katie Smith and Dr Estela Capelas Barbosa (University of Bristol).

The review constitutes a targeted update and extension of a recently published scoping review of outcomes used to measure the effectiveness of domestic abuse support services conducted by VISION researchers (Carlisle et al., 2024), which identified 426 outcome measures across 80 studies. The current rapid evidence review was restricted to forms of supported safe accommodation, the original searches were updated to include studies published from June 2022 onwards, and barriers to and facilitators of implementing a shared outcomes framework were also reviewed. Seven academic databases were searched alongside three grey literature databases and 164 organisational websites. To be included, papers were required to be UK specific, published in English and focused on interventions delivered within safe accommodation. For the outcomes element of the review, papers were only included if they reported empirically measured outcomes (i.e., outcomes based on data collected and analysed by the authors, rather than purely theoretical, proposed, or assumed outcomes). 

Across the 17 reports meeting the inclusion criteria, outcomes clustered around three core domains: safety, wellbeing, and empowerment, which map broadly onto the Domestic Violence and Abuse Core Outcomes Set. Safety outcomes were the most frequently reported, followed by mental health and psychological wellbeing, while empowerment outcomes such as independence and confidence appeared less consistently. Service-level indicators such as length of stay and move-on destinations were also widely reported but fall outside existing frameworks.

This finding that outcomes measured in the context of safe accommodation broadly cluster around three core domains of safety, wellbeing and empowerment indicates some convergence in how impact is conceptualised. However, outcomes are measured inconsistently across services, with considerable variation in what is captured and how. Furthermore, significant barriers remain to implementing a shared outcomes framework. Developing a consistent approach to outcome measurement could strengthen accountability and support learning across areas.

Recommendations

  1. Frameworks should allow for the capture of relational and subjective aspects of recovery not easily measured through conventional quantitative indicators.
  2. Any national framework must be supported by appropriate data systems, training and analytical capacity to avoid placing additional burden on frontline staff and further disadvantaging smaller (particularly by-and-for) organisations and victim-survivors from marginalised communities.
  3. Future research should focus on further development and validation of measurement tools suitable in the context of safe accommodation, with particular attention to the relevance/meaningfulness of outcomes for victim-survivors themselves. Coordination between research teams is needed to avoid duplication and ensure data collection is harmonised between stakeholders.

To download the rapid evidence review: Measuring Outcomes of Safe Accommodation: A Rapid Evidence Review 

To download the main research report: Domestic_Abuse_Safe_Accommodation_Main_Research_Report.pdf

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The link between Adverse Childhood Experiences and school engagement

By their eighth birthday, an estimated nine in ten New Zealand children will have experienced a form of serious adversity. They might have been neglected, grown up with family violence, lived through a separation, experienced bullying or coped with a parent’s mental illness or substance use problem. These experiences are relevant to education as they can have important and lasting consequences for academic achievement. When a child faces more adversity, it weighs heavily on how they fare at school. School engagement has a significant impact on students’ academic success underscoring the need for a thorough examination of the risk factors contributing to student disengagement within educational environments. The research has been less clear about why that link exists.

A recent study led by Maryam Ghasemi at the University of Auckland, with VISION Senior Research Fellow Ladan Hashemi (City St George’s UoL) and others, examines the longitudinal association between a relatively broad Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) index within Growing Up in New Zealand (GUiNZ) measured up to age 8, and low school engagement at age 12.

The team also explores the potential mediating role of children’s self-esteem and scholastic self-concept in this relationship. Using data from an ethnically diverse longitudinal birth cohort of 3858 children in New Zealand, they investigated how early exposure to adversity influences school engagement at age 12.

The research demonstrates that exposure to a greater number of adversities by age 8 is associated with lower levels of school engagement at age 12, even after adjusting for gender and area deprivation level. This effect occurs by undermining children’s self-esteem and scholastic self-concept, which highlights how early adversity can shape educational trajectories through internalized negative self-perceptions.

The findings highlight the importance of preventing ACEs, early identification of at-risk children, and prioritizing trauma-informed, equitable, and culturally sensitive interventions to improve school engagement. Children who stay engaged at school are more likely to do well later in life. Those who disengage face a greater risk of lower academic achievement, poorer mental health and leaving school early. To keep children connected to their school, supportive teachers, positive friendships, opportunities to succeed and extracurricular activities can all make a meaningful difference. So can giving students more say in their learning and recognising their achievements. Ultimately, schools cannot undo the adversity a child has faced at home. But they can still do much to help children believe in themselves, thrive in the classroom and reach their potential.

To download the peer-reviewed article: Understanding the Link Between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and School Engagement: Investigating the Role of Child Self-concept as a Mediator

To download the article in The Conversation: Adversity can follow NZ kids to the classroom. Can schools make a difference?

To cite: Ghasemi, M., Meissel, K., McIntosh, T. et al. Understanding the Link Between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and School Engagement: Investigating the Role of Child Self-concept as a Mediator. ADV RES SCI7, 43 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42844-026-00229-z

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Violence is a risk factor for adverse clinical outcomes in severe mental illness

A longitudinal study investigating the experiences of violence suffered by those with severe mental illness (SMI) was recently published in the British Journal of Psychiatry. VISION researchers Vishal Bhavsar, Angus Roberts, and Robert Stewart worked with lead author Ava Mason and others and found that people with SMI and who experienced violence are more likely to need future emergency and inpatient mental care.

The aim of their research was to understand whether violence recorded early in someone’s contact with mental health services could help predict these later outcomes. Anonymised electronic mental health records from approximately 6,000 adults who received care from South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust between 2007 and 2022 were investigated.

By applying Natural Language Processing (NLP) to records of those diagnosed with schizophrenia or related disorders, or bipolar disorder or mania, the researchers were able to determine whether any current or previous physical, domestic or sexual violence had been recorded in the first three months after someone first came into contact with services.

Results showed that people living with SMI who had violence recorded in their mental health records early in their care were at increased risk of crisis service use, hospital admission and detention under the Mental Health Act in the years that followed. This highlights the importance of identifying and responding to experiences of violence as part of routine mental health care.

In conclusion, experiences of violence, to the extent to which patients report their experiences and these are recorded, are risk factors for worse outcomes in severe mental illness, only partly accounted for by clinical status around the time of presentation. More systematic ascertainment and recording of victimisation needs to be considered if interventions are to be appropriately targeted.

To download the article: An investigation of recorded physical, domestic and sexual victimisation as risk factors for adverse clinical outcomes in severe mental illness: longitudinal study

To cite: Mason AJC, Bhavsar V, Roberts A, et al. An investigation of recorded physical, domestic and sexual victimisation as risk factors for adverse clinical outcomes in severe mental illness: longitudinal study. The British Journal of Psychiatry. Published online 2026:1-8. doi:10.1192/bjp.2026.10648

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Violence as a Boundary Object: Implications for the Field of International Political Sociology

Violence is an enduring global challenge: it can occur in the context of interpersonal relationships, as well as interstate and intercommunal conflict. The synchronous focus on the global and the social in international political sociology might naturally transcend some paradigmatic divisions over what constitutes violence and at which level of analysis it might be studied.

The study of violence is core to the study of International Relations (IR), however, there has been little analysis of the complex concept of violence and how it functions at the intersection of IR, sociology, and politics as well as other disciplines represented by journalism and health.

The entry point, then, is to consider whether working across academic disciplines can better account for this complexity. In order to do this, the researchers, led by VISION Co-Investigator Alexandria Innes, ask not simply what violence is, but how violence comes to be known at all.

Andri and colleagues Koen Slootmaeckers, Elizabeth Cook (VISION), Olumide Adisa (VISION), Lindsey Blumell, Gene Feder (VISION), Jana Kriechbaum and Laura Sjoberg, examine the conditions that shape how violence becomes intelligible within and across disciplines, and how these conditions are shaped by power that is operational in academic disciplines, and in the world. Violence in the world, whilst present in our discussions as a referent, is not our main focus; rather, the relationship between violence in the world and violence in the academy emerged as the central problematic shaping our discussion.

This collective discussion, follows from a series of roundtables, which situated violence as a “boundary object”: objects that are “plastic” enough to exist across different disciplines and languages, but “robust” enough to maintain a common identity. The roundtables were built around three themes, replicated below, to interrogate, test, and push the boundaries of plasticity and robustness on the concept of violence across disciplines. The conversation that emerged is presented in this collective discussion as a conversation, with representation of divergent positions and the thought processes they inspired.

To download the article: Collective Discussion: Violence as a Boundary Object: Implications for the Field of International Political Sociology 

To cite: Alexandria Innes, Koen Slootmaeckers, Elizabeth Cook, Olumide Adisa, Lindsey Blumell, Gene Feder, Jana Kriechbaum, Laura Sjoberg, Collective Discussion: Violence as a Boundary Object: Implications for the Field of International Political Sociology, International Political Sociology, Volume 20, Issue 3, September 2026, olag024, https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olag024

For further information: Please contact Andri at alexandria.innes@citystgeorges.ac.uk

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