As part of VISION’s campaign to support the 2025 United Nations’ 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, “End Digital Violence Against Women and Girls”, we invite you to a lunchtime webinar on Monday, 8 December.
We will showcase a series of animations created to raise awareness about digital violence including technology-facilitated abuse and sextortion (image-based abuse).
The webinar will explore research behind the animations and how animation can be used as a creative, accessible tool to engage audiences, share lived experiences, and promote safer digital spaces for all.
Do you work with text data in the field of violence prevention?
Are you interested in exploring how Natural Language Processing (NLP) can be used as an analytical tool?
Research Fellow Darren Cook from the UKPRP VISION Consortium and the Violence & Society Centre at City, St George’s, University of London will demonstrate how NLP techniques can be applied to domestic violence and abuse data in an upcoming webinar on 13 November 2025 from 10 – 10:50 am.
What is NLP?
Natural Language Processing (NLP) focuses on the interaction between computers and human language, such as interpreting and categorising free text from police or medical notes. This approach enables machines to understand, interpret, and generate human language in meaningful and useful ways. It allows computers to analyse and process text data, capturing not only the content but also the intent and emotion behind the words.
We are pleased to announce our next webinar for the VISION and Violence & Society Centre (VASC) Webinar Series on Tuesday, 28 October, 11.00 – 11.50.
Dr Nicola Sharp-Jeffs is a leading international voice on economic abuse and author of Understanding and Responding to Economic Abuse.
She also founded Surviving Economic Abuse (SEA) in 2017 following her Churchill Fellowship to the US and Australia to learn about best practice in responding to financial abuse. After seeing the innovative responses to economic abuse in these countries, Nicola was determined to ensure that women in the UK had access to the same support. Throughout her leadership, SEA has pioneered innovative practice, policy and legislative approaches to economic abuse in the UK.
After seven successful years, Nicola Sharp-Jeffs stepped down as CEO in May 2024 and now works as an expert advisor and consultant to organisations working to build women’s economic safety and secure economic justice.
In this webinar, Nicola will share her expertise and insight about economic abuse. She will highlight the need to develop effective responses, and the imperative that all women, everywhere, should have equal access to and control over the economic resources they need to live the life they want.
Please join the VISION research consortium and the Violence and Society Centre at City St George’s University of London to hear more about Nicola’s research and practical experience to raise awareness and implement effective measures to reduce and prevent economic abuse.
The purpose of the VISION/VASC webinar series is to provide a platform for academia, government and the voluntary and community sector that work to reduce and prevent violence to present their work / research to a wider audience. This is a multidisciplinary platform and we welcome speakers from across a variety of fields such as health, crime, policing, ethnicity, migration, sociology, social work, primary care, front line services, etc. If interested in presenting at a future Series webinar, please contact: VISION_Management_Team@city.ac.uk
Join us for a hybrid seminar at City St George’s on 10 September exploring two VISION systematic reviews:one on experiences of violence among people in insecure migration status andthe other on the effectiveness of UK domestic and sexual violence and abuse support services and interventions.
The interdisciplinary UK Prevention Research Partnership (UKPRP) Violence, Health and Society (VISION) consortium brings together evidence on violence prevention from across health, social, crime and other sectors. A key method for producing comprehensive evidence syntheses is the systematic review.
In this seminar, we bring together two very different systematic reviews of evidence on violence:
The first presentation, by Alexandria Innes and Hannah Manzur, is global and examines the nature and prevalence of violence among people in different types of insecure migration status.
The second presentation, by Annie Bunce and Sophie Carlisle, focuses on the UK and summarises what we do and don’t know about the effectiveness of domestic and sexual violence support services and interventions.
For further information, please also see the VISION Policy Briefings stemming from the research:
We are pleased to announce our next webinar for the VISION and Violence & Society Centre (VASC) Webinar Series on Tuesday, 17 June, 11.00 – 11.50.
Mary-Ann Stephenson is the Director of Women’s Budget Group (WBG), a feminist think tank that works in research, advocacy and training to realise a gender equal economy in the UK. As an influential link between academia, the community and voluntary sector, and through their activities of government building and exchanging evidence, data, knowledge, and capacity, WBG’s work often interlinks with violence-prevention research and policy.
A commitment to long-term grant funding for specialist women’s services, including ringfenced funding for services led ‘by and for’ Black and minoritised women, Deaf and disabled women and LGBT+ survivors.
More specialist training for police dealing with VAWG cases.
Reform social security (including uprating benefits and scrapping the benefits cap and two-child limit) to ensure women’s economic independence and their ability to leave abusive relationships.
In this webinar, Mary-Ann will highlight WBG’s programme of work demonstrating that a gender equal economy and the embedding of gender equality policymaking are necessary in the reduction of violence against women.
Please join the VISION research consortium and the Violence and Society Centre at City St George’s University of London for what will be a fascinating exploration of economic inequality through a gendered lens.
The purpose of the VISION/VASC webinar series is to provide a platform for academia, government and the voluntary and community sector that work to reduce and prevent violence to present their work / research to a wider audience. This is a multidisciplinary platform and we welcome speakers from across a variety of fields such as health, crime, policing, ethnicity, migration, sociology, social work, primary care, front line services, etc. If interested in presenting at a future Series webinar, please contact: VISION_Management_Team@city.ac.uk
Join us for an in person seminar on 6 May exploring the picture of economic abuse in the UK and the systems that enable it followed by a morning tea
Economic abuse is a legally recognised form of domestic abuse that often occurs within the context of intimate partner violence. Control over an individual or family’s money and the things that can be bought can have long-lasting and damaging effects. New research is crucial to building the knowledge base and contributing to the burgeoning scholarship.
Join the Violence & Society Centre and the UKPRP VISION research consortium on Tuesday 6 May from 10 am – noon in Rhind Building at City St George’s, University of London, for a seminar highlighting:
the nature and impact of economic abuse in the UK;
the perpetuation of this abuse through family-owned companies; and
the misuse of financial products, services and technologies provided by banks in order to harm intimate partners
Dr Vanessa Gash will chair the seminar and introduce our guest presenters with expertise in researching economic abuse:
Rosa Wilson Garwood, Surviving Economic Abuse
Dr Vivien Chen, Monash University
Dr Belén Barros Pena, City St Georges
Agenda
10:00 – 10:10 Welcome from the Chair, Dr Vanessa Gash, City St George’s
10:10 – 10:30 Understanding the nature and impact of economic abuse in the UK, Rosa Wilson Garwood, Surviving Economic Abuse
10:30 – 10:50 Hidden risks of economic abuse through company directorships,Dr Vivien Chen, Monash University (Australia)
10:50 – 11:10 Addressing fintech-facilitated economic abuse through participatory design methods, Dr Belén Barros Pena, City St George’s
11:10 – 11:30 Panel Q & A facilitated by Vanessa Gash
11:30 – Noon Tea / networking in the Violence & Society Centre
The seminar will be in Rhind Building, St John Street, London, EC1R 0JD, and end with a panel discussion and Q&A followed by a morning tea in the Violence & Society Centre.
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.
We are pleased to announce our next webinar for the VISION and Violence & Society Centre (VASC) Webinar Series on Tuesday, 21 January, 1100 – 1150.
Deborah Fry, Director of Data at Childlight – Global Child Safety Institute and Professor of International Child Protection Research at University of Edinburgh, will present on the Into the Light Index, published last year on the prevalence of technology-facilitated child sexual exploitation and abuse. She will also discuss some of the measurement challenges in this field and how they are documenting and exploring those challenges.
Professor Fry undertakes primary research to measure the magnitude, drivers and consequences of violence against children, barriers and enablers to appropriate prevention and response systems including in school settings and the effectiveness of existing interventions.
She leads the data division at Childlight – Global Child Safety Institute. The Data Institute, funded by the Human Dignity Foundation, aims to take a data driven, evidence-based approach to understanding the prevalence of child sexual exploitation and abuse across the globe and translating that data into sustainable action that safeguards children. The mission is to establish a world leading independent institute that gathers, translates and visualises the prevalence of child sexual exploitation and abuse across the world.
The purpose of the VISION/VASC webinar series is to provide a platform for academia, government and the voluntary and community sector that work to reduce and prevent violence to present their work / research to a wider audience. This is a multidisciplinary platform and we welcome speakers from across a variety of fields such as health, crime, policing, ethnicity, migration, sociology, social work, primary care, front line services, etc. If interested in presenting at a future Series webinar, please contact: VISION_Management_Team@city.ac.uk
We are pleased to announce our next webinar for the VISION and Violence & Society Centre (VASC) Webinar Series on Tuesday, 1 October 2024, 1300 – 1350.
Joht Chandan, Clinical Professor of Public Health at the University of Birmingham, will present his research on measuring the global burden of morbidity associated with violence against women and children.
Joht has spent considerable time working on designing and delivering a public health approach to abuse and violence. This includes research into finding what works to support survivors of violence, abuse and maltreatment as well as methods to improve surveillance in the context of violence against women and children. For example, his research has shown that survivors of domestic abuse are nearly three times more likely to suffer from mental ill health during their lifetime and have above-average rates of diabetes, heart disease and death.
The purpose of the series is to provide a platform for academia, government and the voluntary and community sector that work to reduce and prevent violence to present their work / research to a wider audience. This is a multidisciplinary platform and we welcome speakers from across a variety of fields such as health, crime, policing, ethnicity, migration, sociology, social work, primary care, front line services, etc. If interested in presenting at a future Series webinar, please contact: VISION_Management_Team@city.ac.uk
We are pleased to announce the VISION and Violence & Society Centre (VASC) Webinar Series.
The purpose of the series is to provide a platform for academia, government and the voluntary and community sector that work to reduce and prevent violence to present their work / research to a wider audience. This is a multidisciplinary platform and we welcome speakers from across a variety of fields such as health, crime, policing, ethnicity, migration, sociology, social work, primary care, front line services, etc.
Our first webinar is Tuesday, 20 February 2024, 1300 – 1350. We welcome Dr Steven Maxwell, Research Associate in the School of Social & Environmental Sustainability and Associate in the School of Health and Wellbeing, at the University of Glasgow.
Steven will present his research on intimate partner violence within the LGBTQI+ communities. He is a former mental health nurse and completed his PhD in Global Public Health at University College London in 2021. Steven’s PhD explored HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake/adherence among men who have sex with men who engaged in sexualised drug use. His current interest is researching health inequities/social justices across minority and deprived populations, particularly sexual & mental health, and related substance use.
To register for the event in order to receive the Teams invitation and / or if interested in presenting at a future Series, please contact: VISION_Management_Team@city.ac.uk
