RESEARCH PROGRAM
2020–2022 ANROWS Core Grant Research Program
ANROWS is pleased to announce the 2020–2022 ANROWS Core Grant Research Program, funded by the Commonwealth, state and territory governments.
The 2020–2022 ANROWS Core Grant Research Program comprises eight projects that collectively address each of the research gaps in relation to children and young people exposed to violence against women identified in Australia’s National Research Agenda to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children (ANRA).
The research program has a specific focus on children and young people in marginalised populations, and will advance the evidence base in relation to effective prevention and response strategies to identify and address:
- the impacts on children and young people of exposure to violence against women
- harmful sexual behaviours of children and young people
- violence against women perpetrated by young people.
The 2020–2022 ANROWS Core Grant Research Program was established using a competitive open grants process, with a total funding pool of $1.157 million, which opened on 20 October 2020.
A total of 57 applications were received, of which eight were selected for funding following a peer assessment process. Six peer assessment panels with collective expertise to assess each application were convened. Panels were organised by marginalised population or research gap. To ensure impartial assessments of the grant applications, each panel had five peer assessors including a policymaker, academic researchers and a representative from a peak body. A list of peer assessors is provided here.
Rationale for program focus
The impact of domestic and family violence (DFV) on children and young people is increasingly recognised as an issue of great concern. The 2016 Personal Safety Survey (PSS) found that nearly 2.1 million women and men had witnessed violence towards their mother by a partner before they had reached the age of 15 (10% of men and 13% of women). These data further show that around half of women who experienced DFV had children in their care when the violence occurred, with over half of these stating that the children had seen and heard the violence.
Impacts on children living with DFV are wide ranging, age dependent and long term. They include adverse impacts on physical health (including impacts on brain development in unborn children), mental health and wellbeing, and participation in education and social activities. Long-term negative impacts of childhood exposure to DFV include increased risk of both perpetration and victimisation as children, young people and adults, consequently bringing them into contact with the legal system and affiliated services. How the negative impacts, including the intergenerational transmission of violence, can be prevented or minimised is not well understood.
Thus, evidence about the nature, experience and impacts of children’s and young people’s exposure to violence against women, and their needs when encountering a range of service systems (including health, education, child protection and justice), is necessary to support a number of other recent and emerging national policy initiatives, including the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and the National Action Plan for the Health of Children and Young People 2020–2030.
These initiatives highlight the connections between policies centred on children and young people and policies centred on violence against women and their children. A cohesive systems response to the needs of children and young people from diverse populations, and the evidence required to achieve it, are critically important.
Details of the eight funded projects are provided below.
See also
Australia’s National Research Agenda to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children (ANRA)
Find out moreCurrent Core research
Find out moreRegister of active research
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