Speaking Out as Sexual Violence Researchers
This event invites sexual violence researchers from different disciplines and institutions to reflect on how we speak out about our research. Through interdisciplinary conversations and workshops, we hope to navigate and address challenges in disseminating sexual violence research, including the risks and responsibilities that arise with increased visibility, exposure and engagement.
Book your free place via Ticket Tailor.
Together, we will explore the following questions:
- What emotional, psychological, reputational and legal risks are associated with personal disclosure on the topic of sexual violence (particularly for researchers who are also victim-survivors)?
- How might we navigate these risks while maintaining transparency about our own positionality?
- As researchers, how can we navigate speaking with and for victim-survivors of sexual violence, rather than speaking over them?
- What challenges arise from publicly disseminating research on a subject likely to be sensitive and potentially distressing for the audience?
- What are the risks to the researcher of speaking publicly on a sensitive and politically charged topic (exposure, backlash and hostility), and how can we equip ourselves to manage these?
- How can we develop our own messages and position our research in a way that prevents it from being co-opted and misrepresented, for e.g. racist, anti-migrant and transphobic political agendas?
These questions have evolved through discussion at a series of Sexual Violence Research Cafes, hosted by the organisers.
Schedule (with more details to come):
10 am | Registration, tea & coffee
10:30 am – 12 pm | Roundtable discussion and Q&A
A roundtable discussion will introduce questions for the day, featuring Professor of Feminist Theory, Tanya Serisier (Criminology, Birkbeck, University of London), socio-legal researcher and Reader in Digital Society and Justice, Dr Judith Townend (Law, University of Sussex) and writer, performer and storyteller, Tanaka Mhishi.
12 – 1 pm | Lunch
1 – 4 pm | Workshops
- Conducted by the media and communications charity HEARD, this workshop will focus on developing our messaging and framing for public audiences to be persuasive and avoid our research being co-opted.
- The second workshop will focus on navigating legal challenges in this area of research – e.g. the risk of being accused of defamation when discussing one’s own experiences of abuse, and the potential of being subject to online abuse.
4 – 4:30 pm | Closing Reflections
Wrap up activity to conclude and document the day
Participants:
This event is open to researchers across any discipline and career stage who are working on sexual violence and are interested in exploring ways to share our knowledge responsibly in both academic and public contexts. The aim is to facilitate shared learning between researchers, artists, media and legal experts to recognise the particular difficulties faced in public dissemination and engagement with sexual violence research.
The conduct of this event is one of inclusivity, empathy and respect. We will be operating in a relaxed, supportive and inclusive environment that recognises the sensitive subject matter and diversity of experiences.
Location:
The Creativity Zone (3C7)
Pevensey 3
University of Sussex
Brighton
BN1 9RH
Organisers:
This event is organised by Tanya Palmer, Tiffany Murphy and Kai Grygier. We are three researchers from across the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Media, Arts and Humanities who have connected through our work on sexual violence.
We hold a regular Sexual Violence Research Cafe at the University of Sussex; an interdisciplinary space for Sussex researchers working on sexual violence to meet, share experiences and provide peer support. Since spring 2024, we have hosted 3 informal meet-ups, one impact conversation with Prof Mark Walters, two film screenings, and a reading group on extracts from Tanya Serisier’s Speaking Out: Feminism, Rape and Narrative Politics (2018)—which this event builds on. The idea for this event has emerged from conversations across these meetings and is designed to address a specific need identified by members, particularly PGRs and ECRs, regarding the risks and responsibilities of speaking about sexual violence research.
If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch with us by email at T.Palmer@sussex.ac.uk, tiffany.murphy@sussex.ac.uk and k.grygier@sussex.ac.uk.
This event is jointly supported by the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Media, Arts and Humanities AHRC Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) Engagement and Opportunity Fund.