FemIDEAS

This project investigates sexual and gender-based violence in higher education, a widespread and pressing global issue. We aim to develop a survivor-centred approach to better understand and respond to sexual and gender-based violence by integrating insights from survivors, activists, academics, and policymakers in South Africa, Nigeria, Brazil and Argentina. Our focus is on prevention, holistic responses and fostering cultural change in higher education institutions.

The project is called FemIDEAS, an acronym for the frameworks and principles guiding the study: Feminism, Intersectionality, Decolonisation, Equality, Abolition, and Survivor-centred.

We have identified five key gaps in our understanding of sexual and gender-based violence in higher education settings:

1. Insufficient data on the prevalence and nature of violence, as well as the effectiveness of support mechanisms.
2. A lack of focus on empirical research from the Global South.
3. Inadequate understanding of how structural violences intersects with the formation, maintenance, and transformation of higher education institutions.
4. Insufficient knowledge exchange among institutions, academics, and policymakers.
5. Limited sharing of knowledge between higher education institutions across different countries, particularly between the Global South and the Global North.

• Centre voices of people with lived experiences of sexual and gender-based violence and survivor-centred methodologies throughout the project.
• Contribute to theoretical scholarship on sexual and gender-based violence in higher education by analysing institutional structures and integrating perspectives from feminist institutionalism, gender studies, and public health.
• Decolonise sexual and gender-based violence theories by incorporating knowledge from the Global South and applying it to the Global North, and create a repository of sexual and gender-based violence theories, policies, and practices from the Global South.
• Shift the focus from criminalisation to prevention and explore ways to transform dominant gender norms in higher education for cultural and institutional change.
• Establish a global network of scholars, activists, policymakers, and individuals with lived experience, committed to an international, intersectional, and interdisciplinary approach to eliminating sexual and gender-based violence in HE.

We will employ a range of methods to gather data, centring the voices of individuals with lived experience of sexual and gender-based violence. We will begin by conducting interviews with people at each of our fieldwork sites.

We will speak to:

• People with lived experience of sexual and gender-based violence in higher education (victim-survivors)
• Students at universities and other higher education institutions
• Academic and non-academic employees at universities
• Student and employee activists at universities

Advisory groups

We are proud to have the support and guidance of our transnational Research Advisory Group (RAG) and Lived Experience Advisory Group (LEAG). The Research Advisory Group includes experts from research, policy, and practice from countries across the world. You can find out more about them here. We will be featuring discussion and news pieces from the group throughout this project.

Our Lived Experience Advisory Group (LEAG) consists of women with personal experience sexual and gender-based violence. This group offers valuable, ongoing consultation, helping us to better understand local issues, and supports the development of our methods so that they are inclusive, accessible and survivor-centred.

Project partners

We will have a partner organisation at each fieldwork site. They will:

• Help us with recruitment by sharing information about the study via their local networks.
• Offer local insights on sexual and gender-based violence issues and available support services for people experiencing sexual and gender-based violence.
• Help us to access appropriate spaces in which to conduct interviews safely.

This project team is made up of Dr Adrija Dey and Dr Jessica Wild. Adrija is the Principal Investigator, and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Westminster. Jess is the Co-Investigator, and Research Fellow at the University of Westminster. Together, Adrija and Jess have at least a decade of experience conducting survivor-focused research on the topic of sexual and gender-based violence and experience working in practice.

Adrija Dey

University of Westminster, UK

Jess Wild

University of Westminster, UK

Our esteemed international Research Advisory Group (RAG) is made up of expert academics, practitioners and policymakers who will support the progress and development of this study. The group members are as follows:

Anna Bull

University of York, UK & 1752 Group

Diana Ojeda

Universidad de los Andes, Colombia

Elizabet le Roux

Stellenbosch University, South Africa

Esteban Hadjez B.

Universidad de Valparaíso, Chile

Furaha Joy Sekai Saungweme

Africa End Sexual Harassment Initiative (AESHI), Kenya

J. Anitha Menon

University of Zambia, Zambia

Leena Pujari

Kishinchand Chellaram (KC) College, India

Melany Cruz

University of Leicester, UK

Oluwaseun Ayodeji Osowobi

Stand to End Rape Initiative (STER), Nigeria

Radha D'Souza

University of Westminster, UK

Sabah Boufkhed

University of Manchester, UK

Silvana Tapia Tapia

University of Birmingham, UK / Universidad del Azuay, Ecuador / Alianza Contra las Prisones, Ecuador

Willice Abuya

Moi University, Kenya

Survivors' Network, UK

Christabel Yeboah

Hersana, UK

Gita Chandra

University of Mumbai, India

Louisa Acciari

University College London, UK

Madeleine J. Foote

University of Oxford, UK

Natasha Narwal

Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

The Lived Experience Advisory Group (LEAG) is a group of women of different ages and backgrounds who have personal experience of sexual and gender-based violence, including in HE. The group provides valuable feedback, reflections, and suggestions about how we are conducting the study and the methods we use.

We formed the LEAG because we recognise that people with lived experience are experts on their own experiences and that it is crucial to involve them in how we shape the research to ensure it effectively addresses the interests and needs of victim-survivors. We strongly believe that research is most effective when it includes the people directly affected by it. The group is managed and supported by Jessica, who meets with them at regular intervals during the life of the project.

You can find more information here about the ethics and data confidentiality principles guiding this project.