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University of Hull research centre focuses on violence, victimisation and vulnerability in society

The University of Hull has launched its Centre for Violence, Victimisation and Vulnerability during the University’s Research Celebration Week.

The founding research team from the School of Criminology, Sociology and Policing and the Wilberforce Institute, has expertise in modern slavery, human trafficking, domestic abuse, victimology, restorative justice, community safety, serious violence and prevention of violence including weapon-carrying.

The centre’s co-directors Dr Alicia Heys and Dr Nicola O’Leary will be working with Associate Directors Professor Simon Green and Professor Iain Brennan.

Dame Diana Johnson, Minister of State for Policing, Fire and Crime Prevention in the Home Office, and MP for Kingston upon Hull North and Cottingham is set to attend the launch on 11 October.

The centre will investigate the interpersonal, systemic and cultural dynamics of violence, victimisation and vulnerability with a particular interest in violence reduction; combatting exploitation, abuse and gender-based violence; and improving the treatment and empowerment of victims. In doing so it will explore where people, neighbourhoods and communities find resilience to cope with the harms inflicted upon them.

Our aim is to collaboratively build the evidence and expert insight necessary to understand how society, justice and fairness can be realised and how people, households, communities, partners and policymakers can work to create positive change for victims of crime.

Dr Nicola O’Leary

Dr Nicola O’Leary said: “Our aim is to collaboratively build the evidence and expert insight necessary to understand how society, justice and fairness can be realised and how people, households, communities, partners and policymakers can work to create positive change for victims of crime.

“Our collective endeavours will engage critically with the evidence base in order to drive forward innovations in policy and practice in these important areas and make a real world difference for victims of crime.”

The research team intends to build world leading international collaborations to develop robust evidence with the goal of driving innovations in policy and practice using a blend of creative quantitative and qualitative research methods.

With a focus on both immediate and far-reaching impact, the research will investigate how to understand and respond to violence and victimisation around the UK – and across the world.

Recently funded research projects include:

  • Understanding Community Insights into the Impact of GRIP Hotspot Policing. (Home Office)
  • Triangulating the relationship between school exclusion and serious violence. (Youth Endowment Fund)
  • Humberside Violence Reduction Unit evaluation (Home Office)
  • The impact of childhood adversity on violent crime in adolescence and early adulthood (ESRC)

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