Child & Women Abuse Studies Unit
The Child and Women Abuse Studies Unit (CWASU) focuses on evidence based research into violence against women and children and the emergence of trafficking. CWASU works closely with the service providers and with the British Council across Eastern Europe and Asia to support local and international intervention strategies.
CWASU was founded in 1987 to develop feminist research methodologies, theory and practice, especially in relation to connections between forms of sexualised violence. CWASU now has a national and international reputation for its research, training and consultancy work, which involves a creative combination of large and small scale research projects, training, policy development and networking, bridging the worlds of academia, policy, practice and activism. Recent projects include:
- An evaluation of a programme for domestic violence perpetrators
- A review of current practice on sex offender registration and community notification funded by several national children's charities
- A study investigating children's understandings and experiences of domestic violence in association with colleagues from three other UK universities
- The first contemporary investigation of trafficking of women into the UK for the purposes of sexual exploitation
- A self-training manual on violence against women
- An overview of sexual exploitation of children in Europe
- A study of attrition in reported rape cases in Europe
- A review of research on the investigation and prosecution of rape cases
Current projects include:
- Two projects on attrition and best practice in Sexual Assault Centres with respect to reported rape under the Home Office Crime Reduction Programme
- In partnership with the International Organisation for Migration, a training for trainers project in the Balkans to enhance good practice in counter-trafficking
- Extending this project to destination countries
- A study of self-defence courses for women and girls across Europe
Further information
Professor Liz Kelly CBE
Department of Applied Social Sciences
Tel: 020 7133 5014
Email: cwasu@londonmet.ac.uk
Website: www.cwasu.org
