Tackling Sexual Violence and Harassment on Campus: Policy and Practice

11am-5pm

Wednesday 7th February 2018

Room 003/003a, Eastern Gateway Building
Brunel University London

The #USVreact project has developed and evaluated unique education programmes across six European countries to help university staff respond to disclosures of sexual violence. This one-day conference, held at Brunel University London, will share the learning from our project and explore how disclosures can be dealt with in a variety of different institutional settings.

In the morning attendees will hear from our first keynote speaker, Amy Norton, Senior Policy Adviser at the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), who will discuss HEFCE’s role in supporting the sector to tackle sexual violence and harassment on campus. We will also be joined by representatives from UUK and members of local sexual violence referral services, who will share their work and discuss how support services and universities can collaborate effectively. Attendees will have an opportunity to ask questions and participate in discussion.

After lunch, researchers and a number of other speakers, including Brunel University senior management and staff from Brunel Student Welfare and the Students’ Union will discuss various actions and approaches to sexual violence. Representatives from other UK Universities will also discuss their own context and approaches, before the day closes with a final keynote talk from Professor Vanita Sundaram, University of York.

The conference will be relevant to Brunel staff and students, teachers, police officers, youth workers, sexual violence practitioners, university support staff, academics and others. Everyone is welcome.

Refreshments

Tea and coffee, as well as lunch, will be provided for free on the day. The event will also be followed by a drinks reception. Please let us know in advance if you have any dietary requirements.

This event is free but attendees will be invited on the day to make a donation to help support the work of sexual violence charities in the local area.

usvreact.eu

Amy Norton is a Senior Policy Adviser at HEFCE, where she has worked for 17 years. She leads a small team to develop and implement public policy around HE leadership, governance and equality. As well as implementing HEFCE’s Public Sector Equality Duty, Amy is responsible for the Council’s policy and funding to tackle sexual harassment, violence and hate crime affecting students, which in 2017-18 will see over £5 million of funding towards over 100 projects to combat these issues in the sector. Amy oversees HEFCE’s relationship and funding of the Leadership Foundation for HE, and through this commissions leadership and governance programmes and research for the benefit of the HE sector in England.

Vanita Sundaram is Professor of Education and a member of the Centre for Research in Education and Social Justice at the University of York. Her current research is on: young people’s experiences of violence; bystander approaches to preventing harassment and violence in schools and universities; the content and role of sex and relationships education; and 'lad culture' and sexual violence in higher education. She is Co-chair of the international Gender and Education Association and an advisory board member for The 1752 Group (a UK-based research and lobby organisation working to end staff-to-student sexual misconduct in higher education).

Tackling Sexual Violence & Harassment on Campus: Policy and Practice