15-17 May 2018 – Sofitel Sydney Wentworth.

Translating ANROWS research findings into policy and practice is the focus of this special event. Strategies to ensure the effective communication and take-up of this evidence by policy developers and practitioners to end violence against women will be discussed and showcased. We are excited by the diverse line-up of speakers featuring leading researchers, policy-makers and practitioners from around the country, teamed together to discuss how ANROWS’s and other research findings have been transferred into action through policy and practice. Featured speakers include:

Key topics include:

• Responding to violence against women in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
• Service provision in complex contexts
• Data in response to and prevention of violence against women
• Technology facilitated abuse
• Positive interventions for young people using violence
• Public health perspectives
• Responses to violence and abuse for women and girls with disabilities
• Service responses supporting refugee and immigrant women

Who should attend?

• Practitioners: sexual assault; domestic and family violence; women’s refuges; judicial support; immigrant and refugee services, legal and financial services.
• Policy-makers: Ministers; senior officials; and executive management from federal, state, territory governments and agencies, and local government.
• Peak bodies: peak bodies and networks; domestic and family violence services; sexual assault services; strategic Indigenous expertise services; women’s health sector; CALD, multicultural, and migrant services; broader community services sector; prevention and education.
• Indigenous support practitioners: working in the areas of the effects of colonisation; trans-generational trauma; the importance of Indigenous cultures and lore.
• Intervention and service providers: Social services; the legal justice system; first responders including police, emergency and medical services.
• Researchers and research organisations: criminology; sociology; health; social work; psychology; law; political science; and science.

 

Visual displays at the conference

Poster exhibition

The conference poster exhibition offers a great opportunity for us to promote some of the important work currently being undertaken in the sector.  The collection provides a snapshot of the research that is underway around the country in universities, practice organisations, and government departments.  The range of work covers domestic violence in the context of economic abuse, suicide, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, technology, early learning programs and more.

ASPIRE Project Photovoice collectionThe ASPIRE Project researched immigrant and refugee women’s experiences of violence in different Australian contexts, looking at communities in eight locations across Victoria and Tasmania. The study explored how violence is shaped by local contexts, and examines the impact and dynamics of violence; women’s help-seeking efforts; and communities’ attitudes and responses to violence and its prevention. The project used Photovoice, a creative photographic research method, to document the work of immigrant and refugee women who are leading responses to family violence. A selection of these photos will be displayed at the conference.

WITH Study exhibition

The Women’s Input into a Trauma-informed systems model of care in Health settings (the WITH Study) exhibition will also be featured.  If you missed the WITH study exhibition, this is your chance to see it!  The study explored the challenges and impact of trauma informed care by presenting the voices of women who have experienced mental health problems and sexual violence alongside those of staff and practitioners working in services that cater to these needs. The findings articulated how new interventions, strategies or work practices that have the potential to change systems and processes, leading to better outcomes and holistic care for women who have experienced both mental health problems and sexual violence. The exhibition includes a series of powerful and evocative stories from five women sharing their experiences through digital storytelling.

 

Conference plenary session day 1: Doing data!

The power of data has never been stronger.  Under the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children (National Plan) data has been ascribed a central role as the foundation for establishing evidence to inform policy and practice to reduce violence against women and their children. So it is fitting that the plenary session on Day 1 of the conference focuses on what data sets are available to inform our work as researchers, practitioners and policy-makers to reduce violence against women, and what is missing in the data.

This interactive session will discuss the various data sources established to measure the success of the six outcomes of the National Plan, including how they are compiled, utilised and how data is (or is not) shared across agencies.  This plenary session will provide a knowledge framework to support the concurrent sessions on Days 2  and 3 which will explore how data is utilised to produce research and how the research has been disseminated and translated to inform policy and practice to achieve the six outcomes.

The discussion will explore: usefulness of available data – how to interpret the information and what to do with it; ownership of data and access to it; and data linkage initiatives and developments.

Panellists:

• Marian Esler, Director, Research and Data, Family Safety Branch, Department of Social Services
• William Milne, National Centre for Crime and Justice Statistics, Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Olivia Octoman, Australian Centre for Child Protection, University of South Australia
• Kim Webster, National Community Attitudes Towards Violence Against Women Survey, ANROWS;
• Louise York, Community Services Group Head, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare

 

Conference plenary session day 3: Risk and safety Preventing future violence and lethality

Growing evidence from domestic violence death review committees and coroner’s courts, substantial empirical research and practice-based literature shows that some risk factors such as strangulation and intimate partner sexual violence, are associated with a higher likelihood of violence reoccurring, serious injury, or death. In Australia and internationally, risk assessment and safety management practice and policy frameworks are undergoing significant review and reform in order to better respond to cases of violence assessed as “high-risk”.

This session will explore evidence-based risk factors for domestic and family violence; risk assessment and safety management, and the role of multi-agency information sharing in anticipating and preventing future violence and lethality of women and children.

Panellists:

• Associate Professor Kathleen Baird, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Griffith University & Director of Women Newborn & Children’s Education, Gold Coast University Hospital;
• Prof JaneMaree Maher, Monash University; and
• Emeritus Professor Anne R Edwards AO (Facilitator).

Stay connected

Connect and engage with speakers and other delegates on Twitter with the hashtag #ANROWSconf2018.

Sponsors

ANROWS gratefully acknowledges the support of our corporate sponsors.