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CALL FOR PAPERS
Bringing Together Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence Sectors:
Implications for Research, Policy, & Practice
June 13 & 14, 2019
University of Windsor
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
The University of Windsor sits on the traditional territory of the Three Fires Confederacy of
First Nations, comprised of the Ojibwa, the Odawa, and the Potawatomie.
Conference Overview
Violence against women is an endemic social problem affecting roughly one in three women (or 35%) worldwide. The two most common forms of violence against women are sexual assault and intimate partner violence (IPV). Despite the significant and widespread impact of violence against women, efforts to address the issue are under-funded. Moreover, sexual assault and IPV are often treated as distinct fields, with community agencies for each type of violence operating separately, funding coming from different sources, and researchers often investigating each type of violence in isolation. This conference aims to facilitate knowledge mobilization and discourse among researchers, providers, and policy makers in the fields of sexual assault and IPV while offering participants the opportunity to share knowledge and build their capacity to intervene effectively and to improve the outcomes of women survivors.
Bringing Together Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence Sectors: Implications for Research, Policy, & Practice, is a collaborative initiative aimed atbridging the gap between two interrelated, but often distinct, fields relevant to the study of violence against women. We aim to cultivate dialoguebetween sexual assault and intimate partner violence researchers to unify the fields, integrate our current understandingof these two forms of violence, and encourage future interdisciplinary research. Through open dialogue, we aim to identify ways to improve service provision for survivors of gender-based violence by identifying current limitations in policy and practice that maintain the “siloed” approach to sexual assault and IPV services and explore ways to bridge policy gaps. In the process, we seek to highlight issues of intersectionality that add additional complexity to the sexual assault and IPV fields to enhance a multicultural and inclusive approachto research, policy, and practice. Finally, we seek to provide a training experience for students and new researchersin the field of violence against women and to inspire the next generation of scholars and practitioners to continue the conversation.
The Bringing Together Sexual Assault and Intimate Partner Violence Sectors: Implications for Research, Policy, & Practice conference welcomes submissions from researchers, scholars, activists, practitioners, students, and community members to inform, ignite, and inspire enriched public and scholarly discourses on these issues. We welcome submissions from all theoretical, philosophical, methodological, and disciplinary positions and practice orientationswithin the broad fields of intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and violence against women.
Keynote Speakers
Dr. Elizabeth Sheehy, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa
Dr. Sheehy is a renowned legal scholar and women’s rights advocate who has worked tirelessly to end violence against women for over 30 years. As an esteemed Professor Emerita in the Faculty of Law at the University of Ottawa, Dr. Sheehy has taught courses inCriminal Law and Procedure, Sexual Assault Law, and Defending Battered Women on Trial and has contributed to landmark Canadian legal cases regarding issues of consent and sexual assault, spousal assault, and the treatment of women in the justice system. Dr. Sheehy was co-counsel for the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund’s (LEAF) advance consent case (2011 SCC 28) and was on the legal committee for LEAF’s intervention in R v Barton and R v Gagnon, both argued at the Supreme Court of Canada in October 2018. She has also presented legal briefs before governmental committees urging amendments most recently to C-51 (re: criteria for incapacity to consent to sexual contact) and C-75 (re: need to legislate no consent to strangulation). Dr. Sheehy sat on the Advisory Board for Informed Opinions, a national organization dedicated to including women’s expert voices in Canadian public discourse until 2018, and now sits on the Expert Advisory Panel for the Canadian Femicide Observatory and the Advisory Board for the Monash Gender and Family Violence Prevention Centre. In 2018, Dr. Sheehy was awarded the Governor General’s Persons Award and in 2019 will be invested with the Order of Ontario in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the intersection of law and violence against women.
Dr. Carolyn West, Psychology Department, University of Washington
Dr. Carolyn West is an award-winning author and Professor of Psychology at the University of Washington. She has travelled internationally to consult, lecture, and deliver training seminars on topics related to intimate partner violence and sexual assault. Dr. West creates inspirational materials to empower survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault to embark on their personal journey of healing. She is a recognized academic, clinician, and advocate, delivering keynote addresses, conducting workshops, and customizing innovative training material to educate and equip professionals with the skills needed to provide culturally sensitive services to survivors of gendered violence.
Dr. Natalie Clark, Associate Professor and Chair of the School of Social Work and Human Service, Thompson Rivers University
Dr. Natalie Clark is also the Co-Chair of the Status of Women Committee for TRUFA and is on faculty with BCIT (for over 15 years) where she teaches in the Business program and the Justice Institute of BC (over 20 years) where she teaches courses in trauma and violence informed practices and addictions, and Indigenous trauma informed practices. Dr. Clark continues to practice as a clinical supervisor, educator, and counsellor specializing in violence and trauma as well as a girls group facilitator for Indigenous girls. Dr. Clark's practice, teaching, activism, and research over the last 25 years has focused on healing from violence and trauma with children, youth and their families, and communities and the coping responses to trauma and violence. She possesses over 25 years experience in the area of trauma and violence with a focus on healing and resistance, and coping responses including self-harming, substance use, disordered eating, and other survival responses. In carrying out her work, Dr. Clark takes into consideration the impact of colonial and gendered policies on Indigenous children, youth, families, and communities. Her work is informed and mobilized through her interconnected identities including her Metis ancestry; as a parent of three Secwepemc children and part of the Secwepemc community through kinship ties; and as an academic, activist, and sexual abuse counsellor.
Dr. Lisa Smylie, Status of Women Canada
Dr. Lisa Smylie was awarded a PhD in sociology from the University of Windsor in 2009 and was a doctoral fellow in Social Justice and Sexual Health from January 2002 to July 2008, under Dr. Eleanor Maticka-Tyndale. Dr. Smylie is the Director of Research at Status of Women Canada and an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the University of Windsor. Focusing on gender equality and gender-based violence, she is responsible for administering two national research programmes on behalf of the Government of Canada and is leading over 40 research projects with partners in Canada, Europe, and the UK. Dr. Smylie’s research engages various levels of government, community-based organizations, private sector, and local and international non-government organizations. Her research informs policies, programs and other initiatives related to gender equality and gender-based violence in Canada, including the implementation of the first federal gender-based violence strategy.
Ms. Nneka MacGregor, Executive Director – WomenatthecentrE
Ms. Nneka MacGregor is a personal, political and social advocate who works with government and other organizations to eradicate violence against women. She is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Centre for Social Justice, also known as the WomenatthecentrE, a unique non-profit organization created by women survivors for women survivors of gender-based violence. Ms. MacGregor develops and delivers training programs for agencies seeking to promote better understanding of the issues facing women survivors and to focus on personal and political advocacy for women survivors. WomenatthecentrE also works to engage men and boys in their initiatives to eradicate violence against women.
Ms. Eva Kratochvil, Social Justice Activist, Hiatus House
Ms. Eva Kratochvil describes herself as a social justice activist but this survivor, shelter worker, and author has much more to offer. Ms. Kratochvil has been a frontline shelter worker for the past nineteen years and has served on the board of the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses, a provincial coalition founded by women’s shelter advocates. In 2013, she was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for her activism in the areas of homelessness and mental illness. In 2016, she co-wrote a play, performed at the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness Conference, about and featuring women who have first-hand experience of homelessness. A passionate social justice activist, Ms. Kratochvilis dedicated to giving a voice to the oppressed.Ms. Kratochvil was recently recognized for her leadership and innovative ideas, being named a finalist for The Lieutenant Governor’s Visionaries Prize for Reconciliation.
Mr. Jermal Alleyne, Board of Directors Member, Next Gen Men
Mr. Jermal Alleyne is a co-founder and board member of Next Gen Men, an organization aimed at creating spaces to engage, educate, and empower men and boys around gender. He was a former Program director atNext Gen Men and the primary facilitator for their after-school programs from 2014-2018. Mr. Alleyne has many years of experience working with youth and holds an honours degree in Public Health from Brock University. Mr. Alleyne’s commitment to Next Gen Men’s mission comes from both his professional background in public health and youth work, as well as supporting his family through personal experiences with mental health issues.
Submission Guidelines
We invite poster, paper, and symposium submissions that specifically address the intersection of sexual assault and intimate partner violence within one of the sub-themes of (1) Research and Theory; (2) Policy; or (3) Practice.
Individuals, groups, or panels are invited to submit an abstract (up to 500 words) outlining the focus of their presentation and the sub-conference theme it addresses via our conference submission website (https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/vawconference2019). The names, affiliations, areas of interest, and contact details for all presenters is also required. All submissions will be peer reviewed.
Deadline for submissions has been EXTENDED TO midnight on March 31, 2019.
Graduate Student Poster Prizes
To showcase the scholarship of outstanding graduate student researchers in the fields of violence against women, graduate students whose abstracts are accepted for inclusion in the conference will be invited to submit their work for consideration for our conference Student Poster Prizes. The winners of this award will be presented with a $150 (1stplace), $100 (2ndplace), or $50 (3rdplace) cash prize and will be invited to present their poster during a special session at the conference. Instructions for submission will be provided to accepted student presenters on April 8, 2019. The winner will be notified by June 1, 2019.
Conference Registration
To facilitate widespread public exchange and dialogue, this conference has a registration fee of only $30.00 CDN for nonstudents and is free to students. Advanced registration is required. Registration includes admission to all conference sessions, including the student poster prize session, and breakfast, lunch, and snacks (with vegan options available) for all conference dates.
Contact Information
For more information about this event, please contact the conference organizing committee at VAWconference2019@uwindsor.ca, or visit our website at https://scholar.uwindsor.ca/vawconference2019(**COMING SOON!**).
Sponsors
This event is co-sponsored by the University of Windsor, the Health Research Centre for the Study of Violence Against Women (HRCVAW), Building a Bigger Wave Ontario, the Sexual Assault Crisis Centre of Windsor-Essex, and Hiatus House. Funding for this event was supported through the Social Sciences and Humanities Council of Canada Connections Grant Program.