Events — Institute for Social Justice and Crime

July 31, 2024

At a ceremony held on 31st July 2024, Professor Miranda Horvath (Institute Director) received a commendation for her work on Operation Soteria Bluestone. 

CC Sarah Crew made the following comments within her opening address:

"Operation Soteria has been and continues to be a beacon of hope, setting new standards in the fight against gender-based violence and ensuring that the voices of survivors are heard and respected.  Today’s award recipients, by their endeavours, have made this so."

 "To the academics who have contributed their expertise, analysis, and relentless pursuit of truth, I commend you. Your research has illuminated the path forward, shining a harsh but necessary light on policing. You have provided invaluable insight with which to underpin improvement. You have laid the foundation for a future where justice is not just an ideal but a reality. Through meticulous research, innovative methods, and a deep understanding of the complexities of this work, you have provided us with the tools necessary to drive meaningful change. Your commitment to rigorous academic standards and your willingness to engage with is have been instrumental in transforming our understanding of, and response to, these crimes." 

"The work that has been done has led to the development of the National Operating Model for RASSO (Rape and Serious Sexual Offences), a transformational improvement in the police response, shifting the mindset of investigators to be more victim-centred, suspect-focused, and context-led. These changes have created a new way for investigators, and one that will have impact far beyond RASSO. It has been one year since the launch of the National Operating Model (NOM), three years since the inception of Operation Soteria Bluestone. These milestones represent not just the passage of time, but the tangible and substantial progress and transformative impact that our collective efforts have achieved."

July 31, 2024

Professor Miranda Horvath spoke about violence against women on the ITV evening news programme.

ITV News story

57 year old Anita Rose was walking her dog near the railway line at Brantham at around 5am on a Wednesday morning when she was attacked, sustaining serious injuries. Anita died from her injuries four days later. 

Professor Miranda Horvath spoke to this story saying "We all have the right to walk our dog, to go to the shops, to live in our houses, without fear of violence and intimidation. It does not matter what your gender is, where you live, what you've done that day, we should all feel safe in our daily lives. We need to change the conversation, and stop asking the question about what we women should be doing and instead say 'what on earth do these perpetrators think they are doing?'"

Catch-up on the ITV news programme on ITV Player. The story about Anita Rose is at the following timestamp: 06:00 - 09:10.

January 3 2024

In a new podcast, Professor Miranda Horvath and Politics student Leesha Daniells, discuss Operation Soteria Bluestone; a research programme that transforms police investigations of rape and sexual assault, of which Miranda was a lead researcher. They also discuss the Violence Against Women and Girls Research Network which was created by Miranda, and the ways in which University of Suffolk students can become involved in the university's Insititute for Social Justice and Crime.

Take a listen to their chat on YouTube, or read read more about their work on our website news pages.

26 July 2023

Megan Hermolle, a Research Fellow from the Institute for Social Justice and Crime, has recently submitted their corrected and revised PhD thesis. The thesis is on rape stereotype acceptance and use in the criminal justice system of England and Wales, and her second paper from the thesis (a study exploring professionals' stereotype acceptance) is currently under review. They are awaiting the final feedback from the thesis examiners.

4 May 2023

Dr Katherine Allen, Megan Hermolle and Dr Olumide Adisa have today had an article published in the Journal of Gender Based Violence, titled 'Redefining safety: a narrative review of literature on the underground and open or ‘Dutch’ models of refuge'

19 January 2023

Today Suffolk charity Survivors in Transition and the University of Suffolk jointly hosted a conference to launch their third report into the delayed disclosures which also explores issues, impacts and solutions.

Held from 10.00am to 3.30pm in The Hold, IP4 1LN, this event specifically focussed on the costs of delayed disclosures of child sexual abuse on the NHS in England and Wales.

Fiona Ellis, Co Founder and CEO at Survivors in Transition said: “This is such an important piece of work, which follows on from our previous research reports undertaken in 2015 and 2018 in partnership with the University of Suffolk."

“The costs of delayed disclosure and ultimately effective, specialist support for survivors of child sexual abuse to the NHS in particular is staggering, and despite being anecdotally known for years we hope this new research and report will shine a more proactive light on how we plan to address and improve service provision for survivors of sexual abuse going forward, as well as the critical role specialist VCSE providers like ourselves have to play.”

Dr Olumide Adisa, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Social Justice and Crime at the University of Suffolk said: “Child sexual abuse victims often suffer long-term psychological and emotional damage that have ripple effects on their ability to lead normal lives into adulthood.

“There is no price for the human suffering and pain experienced by child sexual abuse victims, however knowing the costs to the NHS can help make a strong case for supporting early disclosures and cost-effective support.

“This study confirms our suspicions that the health-related costs are significantly high."

21 October 2022

Our amazing Research Fellow, Dr Katherine Allen, won the "Outstanding contribution to Research" Award at the University's Staff Awards ceremony which was held on the Waterfront on Friday 21 October 2022. We are so lucky to have her as part of our Institute Team and this award was truly well deserved! Congratulations Katherine!

"As an early career researcher, it was an honour to have my work recognised by my colleagues. I was delighted to receive the award, which also affirms the value and impact of what we do as an Institute. The ISJC is a welcoming and supportive space for researchers at all stages of their careers, fostering exciting and collaborative work." — Katherine Allen

Digital justice: beyond safety

Monday 24th April 2024, Ipswich Waterfront Campus. 

The University of Suffolk and the South West Grid for Learning coordinated a national event on digital justice and online harms in the context of the Online Safety Act (OSA). 

The conference brought together stakeholders from across the UK to explore challenges, next steps and new horizons in promoting justice and safety in the wake of the OSA, inviting talks, workshops and creative submissions. The event was aimed at researchers, practitioners, those with lived and/or professional experience of technology-facilitated and online abuse, and policy makers.

The event was FREE and open to the public and aimed at researchers, practitioners, students and those in policy/strategic roles. 

On 8 May 2024, the Institute for Social Justice and Crime welcomed Dr Patrick Tidmarsh, a leading international expert on investigating rape and serious sexual offences (RASSO). Patrick pioneered the context-led ‘Whole Story’ approach to understanding and investigating sexual offences, and contributed to the Home Office funded Operation Soteria Bluestone.

Patrick began the day with a workshop aimed at professionals working in criminal justice, social care, health and the voluntary sector, which provided an engaging and participatory introduction to applying the Whole Story approach in practice contexts. The workshop was attended by the Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk and police from across Suffolk and Norfolk.

In the afternoon, Patrick delivered a public lecture which was open to staff, students and the wider community. The lecture explained the need for a context-led approach to addressing sexual violence, and explored key aspects of his investigative approach, including the centrality of grooming when seeking to understand sexual offenders. 

The event was very well received, with feedback including "Patrick was one of the most engaging and knowledgeable facilitators I have heard" and “the stats presented were astonishing and they have changed the way I will perceive RASSO investigations".

Tuesday 16th January 2024
12:00 – 1:00pm

This webinar helped participants gain insight into identifying and understanding this complex abuse and enhanced learning and confidence to manage reports or disclosures relating to spiritual and ritualistic abuse.
This event was free and interactive, featuring a Q&A towards the end of the session.

Thursday 15th February 2024
09:00am – 02:20pm 

The Institute for Social Justice and Crime was delighted to host a conference titled  “Celebrating Trauma-Informed Practice”. The event celebrated good trauma-informed practice, discussed challenges and barriers in implementation across public services, and explored avenues and next steps for improvement in training and provision, based on the learning from collaborations between the University of Suffolk (UoS), Suffolk County Council (SCC) and Survivors in Transition (SiT). 

21 June 2023 | 9.15am–4.15pm
The Hold, Fore Street, Ipswich. 

This social justice conference explored the work carried out by 10 top up shops which are organised and managed by the Anglican Church in Ipswich and supported by volunteers across Ipswich town. 

23rd March 2023

At a time when the boundaries between public and private spheres are increasingly blurred and contested, questions about how we define and frame different forms of gender-based violence in relation to space are more pressing than ever.

The historic ‘privatisation’ of domestic abuse and sexual violence perpetrated in the confines of the home contrasts sharply with still-prevalent myths linking rape and child sexual exploitation to deviant – and often socially/culturally Othered –  strangers. Equally, although the global #MeToo movement brought renewed focus to sexual violence as a shared problem that must be collectively confronted, neoliberal discourses of individual prudence and safekeeping continue to silence victim-survivors and suppress reporting.

This event will explore themes relating to gender-based violence and space. 

28 March 2023

Institute Visiting Senior Fellow Dr Jeffrey Demarco will be speaking at an online webinar event organised by the Centre for Abuse and Trauma Studies. The Centre launched the project 'Invisible risks: Combating secondary trauma to safeguard children' in November 2021 in partnership with INHOPE. Join the team and listen to distinguished speakers disseminating their exciting findings via this online event on the 28th of March.

19 January 2023 | 10.00am–3.30pm
The Hold, IP4 1LN

Survivors in Transition and the University of Suffolk held their third #focusonsurvivors conference and report launch. 

This was the third conference jointly hosted by Suffolk charity Survivors in Transition and the University of Suffolk and specifically focussed on the costs of delayed disclosures of child sexual abuse on the NHS in England and Wales.

Fiona Ellis, Co Founder and CEO at Survivors in Transition said: “This is such an important piece of work, which follows on from our previous research reports undertaken in 2015 and 2018 in partnership with the University of Suffolk."

“The costs of delayed disclosure and ultimately effective, specialist support for survivors of child sexual abuse to the NHS in particular is staggering, and despite being anecdotally known for years we hope this new research and report will shine a more proactive light on how we plan to address and improve service provision for survivors of sexual abuse going forward, as well as the critical role specialist VCSE providers like ourselves have to play.”

Dr Olumide Adisa, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Social Justice and Crime at the University of Suffolk said: “Child sexual abuse victims often suffer long-term psychological and emotional damage that have ripple effects on their ability to lead normal lives into adulthood.

“There is no price for the human suffering and pain experienced by child sexual abuse victims, however knowing the costs to the NHS can help make a strong case for supporting early disclosures and cost-effective support.

“This study confirms our suspicions that the health-related costs are significantly high."

8 December 2022 | 9.00am–5.00pm
Waterfront Building, IP4 1QJ

A conference aimed at bringing together academics and practitioners, sparking conversations between research and practice and fostering innovative, evidence-based approaches to perpetrator accountability and rehabilitation.

24 November 2022

In-person event at London Metropolitan University.

Authored by Dr Sebastian Cordoba who recently left the University of Suffolk to join London Metropolitan University. Sebastian did great work for the Institute during his employment at Suffolk so please join us in celebrating his achievement.

19 October 2022

The Centre for the Study of Emotion and Law together with the RHUL Gender Institute invite you to Prof Miranda Horvath’s lecture. Miranda is Director of the Institute for Social Justice and Crime at the University of Suffolk.  It’s the first time we’ll be hearing about this unique project and work to change the way police investigate rape and sexual offences.  This will be an online talk (MS teams) from 1 to 2pm on Wednesday 19th of October 

Operation Soteria Bluestone combines academic learning with professional practice, bringing together leading academics from across the UK to work alongside police officers. The research informed pillars pinpoint specific areas for improvement which will form part of the new national operating model for investigating rape and other sexual offences: 1) suspect-focused investigations; 2) disrupting repeat suspects; 3) victim engagement as procedural justice; 4) promoting better learning, development, and wellbeing for police officers; and 5) using data more effectively in RASSO investigations and 6) Digital forensics (Hohl & Stanko, 2022). In this talk Professor Horvath, Pillar 1 lead, will outline the underpinning evidence base for suspect focused investigations (including what we know about sex offenders and the effects of ingrained cultural attitudes on investigative decision making) as well as providing insights into how (including the use of case reviews conducted by officers themselves) we have conducted deep-dives in 5 constabularies to establish where they are with how they investigate rape. The talk will conclude with the next steps for the work and reflections on the project to date.

5 October 2022

The official launch of the Institute for Social Justice and Crime at the Hold, Fore Street was well attended by delegates from a variety of local and regional bodies and organisations, as well as Institute partners and visiting academics from further afield.  Watch the event.