Research Project - Gender based violence and higher education
Gendered violence has been identified as a global pandemic with significant implications for educational access and participation. As an indication of the seriousness of this global pandemic, high-profile, international efforts have been put into place, often driven by the United Nations. Universities are challenged to understand and respond to the significance of gendered violence in the context of higher education. This has been an entirely under-researched area (Wagner and Magnusson, 2005) and there is little attention to this in HE policy terms, aside from more explicit attention to gendered violence on campus (see for example Human Rights Commission 2017).
In response to this challenge, Professor Penny Jane Burke, Dr Julia Coffey, Felicity Cocuzzoli, Dr Stephanie Hardacre, Dr Jean Parker, Dr Adriana Haro and Julia Shaw have launched a new research agenda to explore the impact of gendered violence on access to and participation in higher education.
The research commenced with a pilot study to map the different forms of violence students have experienced throughout their life and explore the impact these experiences have on students’ access to and participation in university study. The project has also included an 8 week art program with in-built evaluation with the research participants.
The project has now been extended to include an institution-wide survey and further in-depth interviews from across the broader cohort. The study incorporates a programmatic aspect with creative collective workshops offered to participants titled Claim Our Place which builds on existing community programs developed by CEEHE. In the next phase of the study we will be partnering with community service partners to map post-crisis services in the region.
In response to research findings, we are working toward the development of a gender justice hub in Newcastle, to make available essential and specialised resources and services to enable victim/survivors to access and participate in higher education students within the university setting and beyond.
“The research recognises that higher education can be a space of the reproduction of gendered inequalities. However, higher education also offers the potential for transformation at personal, cultural and social levels. It can be a space to challenge or reinforce the cultures and practices that fuel gender-based violence. We anticipate that this research will illuminate a complex picture where university might be experienced as life-changing, or as a place of exclusion or indeed as a site of violence and trauma.” (Penny Jane Burke)
The pilot report 'Understanding the Impact of Gendered Violence on Access to and Participation in Higher Education' is now available to read here.
Publications and Media
Professor Penny Jane Burke spoke with the Campus Review.
Professor Penny Jane Burke spoke with the Newcastle Herald.
University of Newcastle Newsroom article.
Professor Penny Jane Burke discussed the project at the Newcastle Youth Studies Seminar -
Professor Penny Jane Burke discussed the project on ABC Newcastle.
UON project team with Dr Gifty Oforiwaa Gyamera during her visit to discuss research in Ghana, as part of the UNESCO Chair in Equity, Social Justice and Higher Education.
Project team
Penny Jane Burke
Professor Penny Jane Burke is Global Innovation Chair of Equity and Director of the Centre of Excellence in Equity in Higher Education at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Dedicated to developing methodological, theoretical and pedagogical frameworks that enable critical and feminist praxis, generating time-space for the reframing of equity in higher education, she has published widely across gender and social justice in higher education and lifelong learning. Penny is currently co-editor of the Bloomsbury Gender and Education book series, Global Chair of Social Innovation at University of Bath and an Honorary Professor at University of Exeter.
Julia Coffey
Associate Professor Julia Coffey is a senior lecturer in Sociology at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her feminist sociological research focuses on gender, affect, youth and the body with particular interests in gendered body work practices. She has authored a number of books, most recently Everyday Embodiment: Rethinking Youth Body Image (2021, Palgrave Macmillan). Her other books include Body Work: Youth, Gender and Health (2016, Routledge), co-edited collection Learning Bodies: The Body in Youth and Childhood Studies (2016, Springer), co-authored Youth Sociology (2020, Red Globe Press).
Felicity Cocuzzoli
Felicity Cocuzzoli (Kennedy) is a visual artist and social scientist, who has worked with women, children and communities across government and not for profit roles for more than thirty years. A proud Wiradjuri descendant, Felicity’s work with the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education is centred on the application of creative methodologies for equity praxis. Felicity works with a range of academic and community partners across creative research and practice-based initiatives for women with lived experiences of gender-based violence, that are culturally-sensitive and trauma-informed.
Stephanie Hardacre
Dr Stephanie Hardacre is an early career researcher at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her PhD focused on the social psychological dynamics of gender discrimination in the workplace and effective methods for social change. Stephanie has published in the area of gender equality, solidarity, leadership, and social change. Her work has been included in former Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s book Women and Leadership, and in Harvard Kennedy School’s Women and Public Policy Program's Gender Action Portal – a resource for decision-makers across sectors to translate research into action.
Jean Parker
Dr Jean Parker is a research assistant in the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education (CEEHE) at the University of Newcastle. Her work centres on the political economy of higher education, neoliberalism and the Australian welfare state, and class and inequality. Jean has published on Australia’s policy response to the global financial crisis of 2008, financialisation and housing, and inequity in Australian higher education.
Adriana Haro
Dr Adriana Haro completed her PhD in Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Her doctoral research draws from queer, feminist and critical race theory to explore the experiences of young queer Latinx men with embodying and negotiating masculinities in Australia and its relation to race and identity. She is interested in using creative/visual methods and qualitative methods in research with young people. In 2021 she was awarded a Global Voices Scholarship and selected as an Australian youth delegate for the United Nations Commission on the Status for Women 66: Climate Change, Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction. The scholarship consists of attending an international delegation, a policy fellowship and Canberra pre-departure briefings. Here she developed diplomacy and policy making skills, along with media training and engagement. The focus of her policy paper was about meaningfully embedding the voices of student/staff victims-survivors in policy and decision-making processes at the University of Newcastle. This has allowed her to pursue and continue to develop her passion for gender equity, research and advocacy. In 2023, she was invited to be part of a research team at the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education, that explores the effects of gender-based violence in participation and access to higher education. She is currently a research assistant with the Newcastle Youth Studies Centre and project officer with the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education.
Julia Shaw
Julia Shaw is the Research Coordinator at the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education. She has a degree in Art History and Theory and a Masters in Policy Studies.
Contact CEEHE
- Phone: +61 2 4913 8199
- Email: ceehe@newcastle.edu.au
Banner image by Louis Ndagijimana, (detail) 2021.
The work was developed in a staff and student art workshop at the Centre of Excellence for Equity in Higher Education.
The University of Newcastle acknowledges the traditional custodians of the lands within our footprint areas: Awabakal, Darkinjung, Biripai, Worimi, Wonnarua, and Eora Nations. We also pay respect to the wisdom of our Elders past and present.