Woman and Child AbuseMA

Researching Violence and Evaluating Interventions

On this module you will gain a solid grounding in methodological approaches to researching forms of violence against women and children and evaluating support and prevention initiatives/interventions. You will be taught about: feminist epistemologies and power in the research process (including standpoint theory and the need to take account of intersecting relations of power throughout the research process); how to conduct literature searches; the importance of a literature review for research projects; formulating research questions; ethical dilemmas and practices; how to make sense of quantitative data, including prevalence data; a range of qualitative research methods – interviewing, focus groups, ethnography and qualitative data analysis techniques (thematic, discourse, narrative, content, semiotic); undertaking research with children and young people, including through the use of creative and arts-based methods; producing impactful, policy-oriented research; and approaches to evaluation and the specific issues, challenges and opportunities of creating knowledge through evaluating interventions with victim-survivors and perpetrators of violence. You will also benefit from expert guest lectures on completed research projects, detailing the researcher’s approach to the production of knowledge, consideration of multiple power relations, reflections on ethics and key findings, and the impact of their research / evaluation.

The aims of the module are:

• To develop students’ understanding of research projects and the research process.
• To introduce feminist epistemological and methodological approaches to research.
• To explore the range of methods used to build the evidence base on violence against women and children, and the connections to policy contexts.
• To assess the strengths and limitations of qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods for answering research questions on violence against women and children.
• To address ways to collect, organise, store and analyse data.
• To critically examine approaches to evaluating interventions with victim-survivors and perpetrators of violence.
• To explore the creation and critique of knowledge claims about violence and interventions.

Sexual Exploitation of Children and Young People

This module focuses on the sexual exploitation of children and young people in the UK and also looks at forms of sexual exploitation in the Global South. On this module, you will be introduced to debates about definitions, policies and legal frameworks as well as key feminist debates on the ethics and practice of researching sexual exploitation. You will learn about specific forms of sexual exploitation around the world including online harms, image based sexual abuse, early/forced marriage, transactional sex, peer on peer abuse and sex trafficking.

You will also learn about varied contexts for sexual exploitation such as the sexualisation of popular culture, religious values and institutions, local authority care, gang-association, and sex tourism. You will be offered an introductory session on what the research evidence tells us about abusers and coercers. You will be encouraged to think critically about effective disruption, protection and prevention especially in relation to the criminal justice system, child protection systems and new practice developments. Throughout the module you will be asked to attend to intersecting axes of power and how these might impact or shape the experiences and barriers for minoritised children, boys/young men, neuro-divergent children and children with a range of disabilities and working-class girls. Where the conversation is about the Global South, you will be asked to consider the specific impacts for minorities within those countries.

Sexual Violence: Causes, Consequences and Interventions

Through this module, you will be introduced to feminist approaches to gender, sexuality and crime, and you will learn to critically examine theoretical, conceptual and explanatory frameworks. From an intersectional framework, you will learn about forms of sexual violence in childhood and adulthood; incidence, prevalence and reporting; impacts and meaning for victims/survivors; and sexual violence within different contexts such as the workplace, universities and conflict zones. You will learn about research on perpetrators and approaches to prevention. You will be taught about the criminal justice system, legal reform and the development of policies and support services. Specific lectures will reflect on the cultures and norms or conducive contexts – such as media representation and the sexualisation of popular culture - that support and legitimise sexual violence within the contemporary globalised world. Throughout the module you will also learn about the specific dimensions for minoritised women in the UK – in terms of their intersecting experiences of racism and sexism in the criminal justice system or cultural norms and barriers that suppress or penalise disclosure – as well as the way that sexual violence is implicated in histories of colonisation and slavery.

Violence Against Women: Issues, Research and Policy

Within an intersectional framework, you will be introduced to the range of forms of violence against women, their prevalence and consequences, as well as the structures, contexts and cultural norms that enable and reproduce violence, and the impacts / consequences of violence/abuse. You will learn about key concepts and frameworks for understanding violence against women and children. You will be taught specific sessions on intimate partner violence including coercive control, its impact on children, street harassment, trafficking for sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation, honour-based violence, and various barriers to support including immigration controls. The classes will draw your attention to the current evidence base and the conceptual frameworks used in addressing and responding to violence and abuse. We will critically assess explanatory frameworks and current policy approaches.

Woman and Child Abuse Dissertation

The dissertation is a major part of the MA Woman and Child Abuse programme and for this reason it carries triple the weight of a normal module [i.e. 60 credits]. It allows you to conduct an extended investigation into a topic of your choice within the area of violence against women and children. It may be the biggest test of the academic skills that you have developed during the MA.

This module aims to enable you:

-To integrate the skills and knowledge-base that you have acquired through the other four core modules on the Woman and Child Abuse programme and to focus these on a specific topic.
- To learn how to identify a specific research question and develop a project around this.
- To apply appropriate skills of analysis and knowledge of methodologies.
- To manage your own research project.
- To demonstrate your ability to plan, organise and write a lengthy prose work.
- To engage in critical reflection on the process of producing a sustained piece of work.

Explaining Violence

This module will allow you to investigate the complex issue of violence through a multidisciplinary approach. Indicative topics include serious youth violence, murder, football hooliganism and violence in the home. The module will be structured to identify and explain violent behaviour both in the West and the Global South. These will then be tied to the wider criminological field and possible prevention strategies will be considered.

There is a negotiated element to the module, allowing you to focus on topics specific to your own interests.

You are expected to attend and contribute to all seminar sessions, and attendance will be monitored. Sessions will require you to do some preparation, including the reading of academic journal articles, book chapters and research reports.

The module aims to:

1. Explore the prevalence of and trends in violence in the UK and globally
2. Identify and assess violent crimes
3. Recognize and contextualize various types of violence
4. Use various theories within the field of criminology and sociology to explain violent
behaviour

Human Rights and the International Order

Human Rights and the International Order analyses the institutionalized practice of human rights, their emancipatory achievements and legitimatory function, their internationalization in the 1940s and 2001’s thwarting of the ambition of a “responsibility to protect”, the present plight of both them and the order along with which they were internationalized, and their prospects.

The module aims to enable its participants to critically analyze:

1. the causes of, and reasons for, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the broader development of human rights as a globalizing and institutionalizing force in relations between states;

2. the variety of particular states, domestic and foreign policies, non-state actors, cultures, and motivating ideologies with which human rights has come into conflict, and to explain such conflict;

3. the role of human rights in justifying wars, in legitimating international organizations, and in maintaining international order.

Humanity in Peril: Navigating Security Concerns

Human Security is an approach to politics that focuses on the well-being of individuals and communities. Its particular focus is to identify and understand threats to peoples’ security that are not confined to armed conflict, not understood at the level of the state, and not encompassed by the general understanding of national security.

The goal of this module is to introduce a range of issues that have been construed as relevant to security in recent years, and which have changed and expanded the notion of security within the study of international relations. In the post-war period, and particularly since the end of the Cold War, it has become apparent that safety, peace and the pursuit of prosperity can be threatened in many ways other than by armed conflict.

This module will explore the concept of security as it is understood within the International Relations discipline. What has been the rationale for the development of a distinct concept of ‘human security’? What are the implications of the concept of human security for our understanding of security in the international system? It will then examine the application of the concept to substantive problems and policy areas. These include the impact of poverty and inequality, gendered violence, the impact of environmental degradation, food insecurity, mass population movement, human trafficking and international crime. Finally, it will assess the impact of the concept on the strategies and policies of international organisations and states.

Modern Slavery, Human Trafficking & Organised Crime

This module examines the phenomena of modern slavery, human trafficking and organised crime from critical and theoretical perspectives. It explores an understanding of the forms, patterns and trends of modern slavery, human trafficking and organised crime. It will also include consideration of some relevant policy and legislation needed to address modern slavery, human trafficking and organised crime.

The module aims to:

1. Consider a variety of terms associated with human trafficking; its relationship with modern slavery, the sex industry and forced labour.
2. Examine the broad social, cultural, economic and political aspects of modern slavery, human trafficking and organised crime.
3. Evaluate the geographical and global influences on trafficking; such as migration flows, globalisation and conflict zones.
4. Understand the impacts and consequences of modern slavery, human trafficking and organised crime activities.
5. Discuss the relationship between the various forms of trafficking and organised crime, and both national and international legislation that has been established to address this growing criminal enterprise.

Psychology and Crime

The main aim of this module is to provide you with core knowledge and understanding of approaches to explaining criminal behaviour and its impact upon individuals and society.

During the course of studying this module you will cover some diverse topics including an overview of the major perspectives in criminology, a discussion on the measurement of crime and following from this workshops focusing on psychological elements to forms of crime and violence, such as sex offending, domestic violence, stalking and homicide.

When studying this module you will:

● Provide an overview of the measurement of crime and factors influencing the degree of error in this measurement.
● Provide an account of psychological factors that are related to or help to explain crime at both a general level and in terms of specific offences (e.g., arson) and specific offender groups (e.g., juveniles).
● Evaluate the contribution of psychology to the explanation of criminal behaviour relative to and in interaction with explanatory frameworks and factors from other disciplines.

Radicalisation and counter-radicalisation strategies

This module is an opportunity for students to engage with the growing literature in this field, to learn about statutory obligations like the Prevent Duty and to critically analyse socio-political movements and state responses to those movements from a human rights perspective. This module will challenge students to think about the usefulness and operationalisation of particular concepts (extremism, radicalisation, terrorism, racism, fascism, and fundamentalism), it will provide a detailed analysis of current modes of radicalisation (face to face, online, offline, through networks and through institutions like prisons) and specific right wing or extremist formations (white supremacist, Incels & the Manosphere, Christian Right, Muslim fundamentalism or Islamism, Zionism, Sikh and Hindu fundamentalism) and consider in detail the impact on specific groups of people (women/girls, children/young people, dissenters and minorities). The module will enable critical engagement with government responses and a comparative view of where the UK sits in relation to counter-radicalisation strategies in other countries.

The module aims are as follows:

• To consider and critically engage with key concepts;
• To provide an understanding of the ideological projects of the groups concerned and their mobilisation tactics;
• To nurture a human rights framework for responding to radicalisation;
• To encourage a comparative analysis of these formations;
• To encourage a comparative analysis of state and civil society responses.

This module is of relevance to a number of postgraduate programmes in CSPIR including the MA Woman and Child Abuse (because of the focus on gender relations and the targeting of women/girls) and Masters programmes being offered by the International Relations team. It provides an important foundation for anyone that wants to make a contribution to countering racial and religious supremacy and misogyny, the rise of racism, fascism, fundamentalism and terrorism.

Safeguarding and Ethical Practice

This module will allow you to develop your understanding of the ethical principles outlined in the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy’s (BACP) Ethical Framework. It will help you to develop your understanding of core aspects of ethical practice, including safeguarding, confidentiality, data protection, and ensuring the integrity of the practitioner-client relationship. It will enhance your knowledge of policy and legislation relevant to counselling and psychotherapy, including the Mental Health Act (2007), the Mental Capacity Act (2005), the Children’s Act (2004), and the Health and Care Act (2022). The module will support your capacity to work safely and ethically in clinical and healthcare settings with vulnerable individuals and groups, your ability to assess and appropriately manage different types of risk and will thus help to maintain high standards in the counselling and related professions.

Security Studies

By the end of the module you will

1. Appreciate what is at stake in security, both as a theoretical concept and as an ontological category.

2. Gain an understanding of how the concept of security has been rearticulated and challenged in our contemporary context through an engagement with some of the most pressing issues of our day.

3. Be able to question the ethical dimensions of the Westphalian order based on notions of sovereignty and narrow State interests and determine whether theories highlighting human emancipation need to be strengthened.

4. Be able to demonstrate a grasp of public policy, especially the processes and structures of decision-making in the area of international security.

5. Be able to examine the contemporary themes in international security, such as the legacy of the Cold War, the impact of terrorism, the proliferation of dangerous weapons, the rise of great powers, the impact of globalisation, the rise of failed states, mass migration, and climate change.

Understanding the Policy Process

This Module uses a range of theoretical and practice-based perspectives from social science disciplines to examine the varying contexts in which public policy is developed and implemented and those that shape health and social care policy, in particular. Hence, you will have an opportunity to learn the theories that explain the processes and challenges of both policy development and policy implementation, and apply them to real policy examples in different countries you are familiar with. The linear design of the Module learning along the policy process from agenda setting to policy evaluation will help you to develop a knowledge base on the policy process that is embedded in critical examination of real world examples at each stage. You will also be able to participate in a policy simulation of a live policy consultation which is designed to give you a deeper insight into health and social care policy-making process in the UK. The activity is a valuable tool for reflection on your own practice and for contrast with health and social care policy-making process in other countries.

The Module aims to:
• introduce students to a range of theoretical perspectives related to the policy process.
• provide a critical understanding of the policy process and of challenges confronting countries in health and social care policy development, analysis, implementation, monitoring and evaluation.
• develop an awareness of the varying social, political, economic and institutional contexts that influence the development of health policies in different countries.
• foster an engagement with major contemporary issues and debates in the policy process through group participation.