University of Manchester to lead accelerated research project tackling violence against women and girls
An interdisciplinary research team at the University of Manchester have been awarded 拢625,000 to accelerate the UK鈥檚 efforts to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls (VAWG).
Content warning: References to sexual violence, domestic abuse, sexual harassment and homicide.
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) remains a widespread and underreported issue across the UK. According to official statistics, more than 200,000 sexual offences were recorded by UK police in England and Wales in 2024/25, and 2.2 million women aged 16+ experienced domestic abuse in the year ending March 2025.
In response to this crisis, 鈥� a new project hosted by , and 鈥� has been awarded 拢625,000 from to accelerate national efforts to prevent and respond to VAWG. Bringing together leading researchers, practitioners and policymakers, RISE will feed in to the delivery of the and recent which aim to halve VAWG within a decade.
The project will consist of four team鈥憀ed research projects covering primary prevention (working with men and boys), women鈥檚 safety in public spaces, management of domestic abuse perpetrators and child-parent homicides. RISE will also provide to enable researchers and practitioners across policing, third sector and policymaking to collaborate and pilot new approaches.
RISE draws on the expertise of and , whose influential research on abuse of women runners was recently cited in Parliament, , a leading authority on domestic abuse and masculinities, and , co鈥慸irector of and specialist in crime data analysis.
The project is further strengthened by NSEC and SALIENT Principal Investigator , who will support the team in securing complex multi鈥慳gency research data, and privacy expert and SPRITE+ director, who will lead stakeholder engagement and lead an in-depth evidence review of primary prevention strategies.
Gender鈥慴ased violence and abuse remains a reality for far too many people at home, in public and increasingly online. Through the RISE project we鈥檙e addressing a range of VAWG issues and looking at the many ways violence and abuse show up in people鈥檚 lives, recognising that these harms don鈥檛 look the same for everyone.
Our four core projects, along with the external projects we鈥檙e funding with UKRI, will help us tackle these challenges from different directions, in alignment with the Government鈥檚 VAWG Strategy and Safer Streets Mission. We want our work to reach the practitioners and policymakers working in this area, and most importantly, make a difference to those impacted by gender-based violence and abuse.
More information on RISE
- Website:
- Email: spriteplus@manchester.ac.uk
Advice and support
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- (Northern Ireland): 0808 802 1414
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In an emergency call 999. If it鈥檚 unsafe to speak and you call from a mobile, press 55 and you will be transferred to a police call handler trained to deal with 鈥榮ilent calls鈥�.