Family Violence Research Grants Unveiled

Announcement of 13 successful projects funded under the first phase of the Family Violence Research Program 2021-2024.

Published:
Tuesday, 9 August 2022 at 11:52 pm

On 9 August 2022, Minister for Prevention of Family Violence Ros Spence announced 13 successful projects funded under the first phase of the Family Violence Research Program 2021-2024. The research will identify evidence gaps and support service improvement and innovation in prevention responses to family violence and sexual assault. 

4 of the projects will be led by sector organisations and 9 by universities. 

Research topics include supporting recovery from violence for children and young people, challenges to accessing support for First Nations Victorians, and strategies to engage perpetrators and those who use violence. 

The first phase of the program is designed to develop a better understanding of the following areas: 

  • prevalence, nature and impacts of various forms of family violence, sexual violence and harm 
  • effectiveness of current interventions, services and supports 
  • needs of specific priority cohorts, and 
  • understanding and responding to barriers to programmatic and policy success. 

The Research Grants are part of a $2.5 million program to ensure Victoria can build an evidence base for best practice family violence interventions and service delivery and innovation leading to better outcomes for victim survivors. 

Phase 1 research project recipients

Project title Lead organisation Lead chief investigator
Children’s voices for change: A rights-based approach to understanding and implementing effective supports for children and pre-adolescents as victim-survivors of family violence Swinburne University of Technology Dr Georgina Dimopoulos
Windows of Opportunity: Therapeutic Family Safety Contact as a Pathway for Supporting Children and Young People who have experienced Family Violence Family Life Limited Sarah Waters
Wathaurong Ways for Community Led Approaches to Family Violence Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-operative Prof Neil Andersson
Measuring Success for Aboriginal Victim Survivors: Development of a Holistic, Culturally Relevant Measure of Client Outcomes in Aboriginal Family Violence Services for Women and Children Victim Survivors The Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) Amanda Jones
Improving family violence support for women in Victoria’s criminal justice system through evidence enrichment and new understandings of lived experience La Trobe University Dr Anna Booth
The REACH Project: Recovery And Care to promote Healing for Victorian survivors of sexual violence The University of Melbourne Dr Elizabeth McLindon
Family violence and sexual harm: Principles for responding to victim survivors with co-occurring experience of family and sexual violence RMIT University Dr Anastasia Powell
Interventions for young men and boys using IPV in early relationships: Analysing identification, referral and practices, and investigating motivating and protective factors for targeted intervention Western Sydney University Dr Lucy Nicholas
Building the evidence base on perpetrator program attrition and participant engagement strategies Monash University Dr Kate Fitz-Gibbon
Early identification, recognition, and referral of gay, bisexual, trans and queer (GBTQ) men who perpetrate violence: building new knowledge to inform self-referral and engagement in men’s behaviour change and perpetrator case-management programs La Trobe University Dr Adam Bourne
Strengthening Victoria’s family violence risk assessment and information sharing: Understanding effective capability building to support MARAM implementation through the experiences of victim-survivors Swinburne University of Technology Dr Rachael Burgin
Family Violence Crisis Continuum: Articulating and sharing best practice in a family violence emergency Safe Steps Tanya Corrie
Safe@Home: Experiences, Barriers and Access (SHEBA) University of Melbourne Prof Cathy Humphreys
New family violence research projects announced
PDF 542 KB
(opens in a new window)

Updated