2020–2022 ANROWS Core Grant Research Program – Australia

Deadline: 9-Nov-20

Australia’s National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) is calling for grant applications from researchers across Australia for research to be commissioned under its 2020–2022 ANROWS Core Grant Research Program.

The program will produce evidence to support policy and practice design responding to the needs of children and young people, with a focus on children and young people within marginalised populations.

Focus Areas

Grant applications should focus on effective prevention and response strategies that identify and address at least one of the following:

• 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 children and young people.

ANROWS Research Priorities

• Children and young people:
  • 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 (i.e. 10% of men and 13% of women). This grants round sits within the context of significant existing and emerging national policy initiatives related to the safety and wellbeing of children and young people.
  • Exposure of children and young people to domestic, family and sexual violence compromises achievement of many of these targets. The relevant targets include:
    • Increases in the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies with healthy birth weight, children enrolled in Year Before Full-time Schooling, children assessed as developmentally on track in all five domains of the Australian Early Development Census, and young people attaining Year 12 or equivalent qualification;
    • Reductions in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults held in incarceration, young people (10–17 years) in detention, children in out-of-home care, women and children subjected to violence and abuse, and suicide of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Funding Information

• A total grants pool of $1.157 million is available.

Examples of Study Aims

• In relation to children and young people exposed to DFV, studies may aim to advance the evidence base in relation to:
  • The prevalence and experience of children’s and young people’s exposure to DFV in marginalised populations;
  • The short- and long-term physical, emotional and psychological impacts of DFV on children and young people;
  • Protective factors to support prevention and harm minimisation, in relation to both perpetration of and exposure to violence;
  • The support and service needs of children and young people who are exposed to DFV, with consideration given to the service needs of children of different ages;
  • The effectiveness and appropriateness of service responses for children and young people exposed to DFV;
  • The experiences and service needs of children and young people exposed to DFV in out-of-home care and the juvenile justice system;
  • How service systems can best work together to identify, prevent and mitigate the adverse effects of childhood exposure to DFV;
  • What works to prevent or minimise the intergenerational transmission of violence.
• In relation to harmful sexual behaviours or violence against women by children and young people, studies may aim to advance the evidence base in relation to:
  • The prevalence and nature of adolescent family violence;
  • The drivers and situational factors that contribute to adolescent family violence;
  • The prevalence and nature of adolescent intimate partner violence (IPV);
  • The drivers of harmful sexual behaviours among young people, with consideration given to the roles of alcohol and other drugs, mental health problems and disability;
  • The prevalence and nature of harmful sexual behaviours, including sibling sexual harm, with a focus on the experience of marginalised groups;
  • The relationship between adolescent violence and perpetration and victimisation in adulthood;
  • What works in responding to young people who perpetrate family violence and supporting their victims/survivors;
  • What works in responding to young people who perpetrate IPV and supporting their victims/survivors;
  • What works in responding to young people who exhibit harmful sexual behaviours and supporting their victims/survivors.

Priority Populations

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities;
• Culturally and linguistically diverse communities;
• LGBTIQ+ communities;
• Rural and remote communities;
• People with disability;
• People with mental health and/or alcohol and other drug issues;
• Funded studies will adopt an intersectional approach and be grounded in the context, needs and voices of marginalised populations who experience intersecting forms of inequality and disadvantage.

Methodological Considerations:

• Successful projects will use methodologies that are most likely to result in an evidence base sufficiently robust to guide policy and practice design decisions. While a wide range of study approaches and methods will be considered, the following methods will be considered favourably:
• Mixed-method studies (e.g. to allow for data triangulation or adopt a sequential design);
• Large-scale quantitative studies to provide national data;
• Analyses of existing data including administrative datasets or secondary analyses of previously collected data;
• Effectiveness evaluations, including realist evaluations;
• Process evaluations that assess the barriers and enablers of the implementation of evidence-based responses/prevention efforts;
• Economic evaluations.

For more information, visit https://bit.ly/3mxaLsu