The time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging for all of us, both professionally and personally. The pandemic and associated lockdowns, alongside other key events, such as the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests and the murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa and other women all around the world, have brought important questions to the fore about violence, care and the state. Many of us have found ourselves isolated, grappling with these questions, and wondering if the ways that we have conceptualised GBV and attempted to tackle it are fit for purpose.

In response to this, the LEX and VAWG Research Networks invite you to connect and reconnect with fellow researchers working around the issue of gender-based violence. Our purpose is to offer a forum to imagine alternatives based on your recent research activity. Primarily, this is an opportunity for us to discuss and share our recent research findings since the onset of the pandemic. We offer a platform to support each other in what can be a very bruising environment both personally and professionally. In the spirit of mutual support and inspiration, we welcome submissions from PGRs and ECRs!

We seek papers (of around 20 mins in length + 10 mins for questions) from the frontiers of GBV scholarship, with particular attention to silenced/marginalised voices (both in terms of researchers and those whose lives we research), and on building alternative ways of addressing GBV in different contexts. Papers need not directly address the impact of Covid-19 on GBV, but should explore topics such as: Building justice and equality in multilevel ways, including outside the state;

Imagining alternative and more effective/sustainable routes to ending GBV;
➔ Challenges for the GBV ‘sector’ in the current context and how to overcome these;
➔ New theoretical approaches to research and practice;
➔ New areas of research interest and
➔ Opportunities for collaboration across different issues and positionalities in GBV research.

About the Workshop

This 1.5-day workshop will provide a supportive and inclusive environment that we intend to enable colleagues to (re)engage with one another about our research, hopes and fears after a challenging year and a half of reflection, disruption and loss.

Dr Tina Sikka will give the keynote address on the first evening. Dr Sikka’s book Sex, Consent and Justice envisions new ways of tackling gender-based violence. This will set the scene for what we hope will be a day of productive and collaborative discussions around ways forward for research in this area.

Participants will have the opportunity to contribute to a special issue for the open access feminist journal, Gender, Justice and Social Transformation

DAY 1

16:30 – 18:00 Keynote Address
Dr Tina Sikka, Newcastle University
Transformative Justice in Sexual Violence

In conversation with Dr Anna Carline, University of Liverpool

18:00 – 19:30 Drinks Reception
Followed by dinner for those who wish to join.

DAY 2

09:15 – 09:45 Teas & Coffee
09:45 – 10:00 Welcome
10:00 – 11:30 Panel Sessions 1 & 2
11:30 – 12:00 Break
12:00 – 13:30 Panel Sessions 3 & 4
13:30 – 14:30 Lunch
14:30 – 16:00 Panel Sessions 5 & 6
16:00 – 16:45 Roundtable (Concluding Thoughts)

Pricing

Online Attendance Free
PhD Researcher £15
Part-Time or Fixed-Term Posts £45
Full-Time Permanent Posts £75