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Upcoming event: Weaving Stories of Peer Sexual Abuse 

    Insights from a youth co-created animation project

    Weaving Stories is a pilot animation project developed by County-Durham arts education company, Changing Relations, and funded via the VISION research consortium through the Small Projects Fund.

    The animation was co-produced with Secondary-aged students, survivors of peer sexual abuse, and an artistic team, to amplify young people’s voices on the theme of unwanted sexual behaviour and the culture that enables it. The students and young survivors shaped every aspect of the animation.

    An interdisciplinary Steering Group of academic researchers, creative practitioners, and child protection and sexual violence specialists from a North East school and Rape Crisis centre, were also involved in the project.

    With this animation and associated school based learning programme, Changing Relations seeks to influence knowledge, behaviour, and institutional change using the impactful animation as stimulus for reflection. Following this pilot project, VISION and Changing Relations have organised a one-hour webinar for UK policymakers and practitioners to:

    • Watch the co-created animation (20 minutes)
    • Hear young people’s perspectives on the key themes and co-production approach
    • Explore the animation’s potential impact on school cultures, disclosure, help-seeking, and victim-blaming attitudes
    • Engage in academic-informed analysis of trauma-informed safeguarding and youth-centred approaches to sexual violence prevention
    • Gain practical insights on using creative participatory approaches to engage young people in conversations about violence and abuse
    • Consider actionable recommendations for policy and practice
    • Contribute your reflections

    This webinar will be of interest to a wide range of professionals who work with adolescents and / or in violence-prevention. Educators, social workers, academics, and third sector, central and local government policy analysts and researchers in particular may be interested.

    There are two dates providing the option to choose between a more practice or policy oriented session:

    • Thursday 8th May 1-2pm for policymakers
    • Wednesday 14th May 3-4pm for practitioners

    Speakers and facilitators

    • Lisa Davis, Managing Director, Changing Relations
    • Kate Gorman, Creative Producer and Artistic Director, Changing Relations
    • Kimberly Cullen, Knowledge Exchange Manager, UKPRP VISION research consortium, City St George’s UoL

    Webinar registration

    To register for free for either the 8th or 14th of May, please visit our page on Ticket Tailor.

    The webinar will be on Microsoft Teams and you will receive the link on the day you choose to attend.

    For further information, please contact VISION_Management_Team@citystgeorges.ac.uk

    VISION-funded research: Surviving Economic Abuse survey initial findings released

      Tackling economic abuse should be part of the solution to meet the new government’s ambitious target to halve violence against women and girls in a decade. It is important that the government’s measurement approach can understand the range of ways that economic restriction, exploitation and sabotage that victim-survivors experience at scale across the UK.

      Recent survey results from Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) tell a powerful story that highlights experiences of economic abuse across the UK. The full report will be launched by SEA in March 2025, but their early release of key findings include:

      • Economic abuse is often understood to only be about creating dependency through restriction, but it can take many forms e.g., having a partner or ex-partner steal money, refuse to pay bills, or scare their partner into taking out credit. Early analysis suggests that a wider range of behaviours may continue post-separation than previously thought.
      • The data shines a light on the dangerous situation for young women- an area that SEA and VISION are seeking funding to explore further. 18–24-year-olds experienced more economic abuse than any other age group, for example 12% of this sample had been prevented from having log-in information (e.g. passwords, usernames) to key accounts such as online banking, utilities accounts, emails by a partner or ex-partner compared to 4% of all women.
      • Black, Asian and racially minoritised women in the UK may be more than twice as likely to experience economic abuse from a partner or ex-partner than White women, with women with a Black/African/Caribbean or Black British ethnicity particularly at risk.
      • Disabled women in the UK may be nearly twice as likely to experience economic abuse from a partner or ex-partner as non-disabled women

      The VISION consortium was delighted to financially support SEA’s research, A rapid impact survey to monitor the nature and prevalence of economic abuse in the UK, through our Small Projects Fund in spring 2024. Their full report will be widely shared in 2025, including on the VISION website and through our networks.

      Photograph from Adobe Photo Stock subscription

      Small projects funded by the VISION consortium

        We are pleased to announce the five successful proposals for the VISION Small Projects Fund.

        Over 70 proposals were submitted to our call for projects that contribute to VISION  objectives. This incredible number highlighted not only the strong interest there is in violence-related research, but also the urgent need for increased funding for this type of work.

        It was a difficult selection process, and we were sorry that we could not fund more.

        The successful projects were selected by a panel that included experts by experience, and representation from specialist services and a range of academic institutions from around the country. The final portfolio was selected to ensure some diversity of sectors, disciplines, methodologies, and regions.

        Each project will enhance the VISION research and inform our work. We are excited to work with each of the Principal Investigators (PIs) and their partners.

        •  Changing Relations Community Interest Company (C.I.C), Weaving stories of peer sexual abuse, PI: Lisa C Davis
        •  Surviving Economic Abuse, A rapid impact survey to monitor the nature and prevalence of economic abuse in the UK, PI: Rosa Wilson-Garwood
        • Anglia Ruskin University, ‘Nothing about us without us’: Investigating the impact of the leadership of ethnic minority women on domestic abuse service provision in East England, PI: Mirna Guha
        • University of West London, Enhancing the wellbeing of victims of Hate Crimes who occupy multiple minority identities, PI: Maya Flax
        • University of South Wales, Stalking and Young People in Wales: Exploring and increasing knowledge, awareness and understanding, PI: Sarah Wallace

        For further information on the individual projects, please see the VISION Small Projects Fund webpage: Funded Small Projects – City Vision

        Final reports from each of the projects will be published on the VISION website when available. We will also organise project presentations via the VISION and VASC Webinar Series and advertise the events on the VISION Publications, Events & News webpage.

        Illustration from licensed Adobe Stock library