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The SVRI Forum keeps getting better!

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The SVRI Forum keeps getting better!

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Plenary session at SVRI Forum 2024.

An Account of the SVRI Forum 2024 by a Second-Time Participant

I still vividly remember my last day at SVRI 2022 in Cancun, Mexico. The mariachi band, the maracas, the guacamole. “Nothing is ever going to top this!”, I then thought to myself. I was wrong. The SVRI Forum that took place in October 2024 in Cape Town, South Africa, far exceeded my expectations.  

Compared to the 2022 SVRI Forum, it felt like more voices were being represented and more topics were covered.
Rebecca Brambilla, Research Associate.

Highlights of the SVRI Forum 2024 in Cape Town 

First, the selection of themes was broader than it had been at the previous Forums, encompassing a wider range of topics. I attended a host of insightful sessions that spanned from technology-facilitated gender-based violence to measurement challenges, from reproductive coercion to programmes engaging men and boys, including fatherhood programmes, to reduce intimate partner violence. The return of the poster sessions, in addition to the four-minute presentations, allowed for more topics to be included and for more people (including young researchers) to showcase their work. 

Different facets of this intricate and multi-layered field – gender-based violence (GBV) – were explored, measured and assessed, using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, in different settings and contexts all over the world. Compared to the 2022 Forum, it felt like more voices were being represented and more topics were covered. It was particularly refreshing to hear about the interventions that had not worked, the challenges and limitations some projects encountered, and the hurdles and setbacks a lot of researchers faced. This was a testament to the magnitude and complexity of the problem we are trying to solve.  

Sharing these insights is key not only to learn from each other and avoid making the same mistakes over and over again in our field, it also reminds younger researchers that failure is an integral part of the research process and that success is rarely linear and consequential and it is often a product of trial and error. 

I also truly enjoyed the opening plenary panel that took place on the second day of the Forum on the most pressing issues affecting violence against women and violence against children. The speakers came from diverse backgrounds and their programmatic work focuses on different aspects of GBV, yet their insights resonated with and complemented each other beautifully.  

From the rallying cry to action from Tarana Burke – “we have to become our own political domain”– to the lived experience of torture survivor Kolbassia Haoussou, to the tech insights of Jac sm Kee, there was a lot to learn from the answers they gave to the questions of seasoned moderator Emma Fulu, founder of The Equality Institute.  

Providing spaces showcasing such a diversity of views and objectives is vital for young researchers to find their path going forward. Those who might not feel completely at home in academia and might want to “get their hands dirty” instead, can look up to and be inspired by the work of different non-profits represented at the Forum. Similarly, those who have a penchant for data analysis might be compelled by the different methodological approaches presented in the different sessions. 

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Posters at the SVRI Forum 2024.

Dedicated Events for Early-Career Researchers  

However, the highlight of this Forum for me were the events dedicated to early-career researchers. What started as an informal meet-up of younger researchers at the beginning of their careers at the Forum in Cancun to not feel alone at meal times and get to know one’s peers, has now transformed into a full agenda of happenings between sessions that allowed the new generation to meet, network and interact in an informal yet vital way. 

Meet-ups happened every single day, sometimes multiple times a day, and designated spots were allocated both at the opening event and at the gala dinner for early career researchers to hang out with each other. It was great to see some familiar faces again, as well as being introduced to new peers who share the same passion and energy as me for working in the field of GBV. 

The event I appreciated the most was the lunch session organised with the so-called “Giants of the Field”: twelve seasoned researchers dedicated 90 minutes of their time at an already busy and bustling conference to get to know and share their wisdom with more junior researchers. The importance of creating a network of peers and to look after oneself (physically and mentally) was reiterated by many of the senior researchers, who in turn were enthusiastic to see so many young researchers being so committed to working in this field. Rumour has it that one of these “Giants” at the end of the session said “I can now die in peace!” (we do hope she actually meant “retire”!!!). 

It was very touching to hear women we look up to so much, whose names we have cited dozens of times in our own work, share their stories, including all the setbacks they experienced in their careers, how hard it was to even create a field of research to begin with, and how they had to fight to counter the outcomes of failed policy decisions in their own countries. In a world of gap-less CVs and perfectly curated LinkedIn profiles, it was good to be reminded that even these “Giants” faced obstacles, disappointments and frustrations in their professional lives, and how important the mutual support and comradery with their fellow researchers and practitioners were for them to keep going and not give up in the face of failures and rejection. 

My hope is for these spaces to be developed and institutionalised for future SVRI Forums, as they provide an invaluable opportunity for early-career researchers to make the most of participating to this conference, and forge connections that will help foster their careers, now and in the future. 

If I left Cancun feeling excited and motivated to start my PhD on male perpetration of IPV, I leave Cape Town reenergised and renewed in my commitment to help better understand GBV and to contribute to tangible, evidence-based solutions to eradicate this and all forms of violence from the face of the Earth! 

Early-Career Researchers event at the SVRI Forum.
Early-Career Researchers event at the SVRI Forum.

 

This blog was written by Rebecca Brambilla, a Research Associate at the Institute for Medical Information Processing, Biometry and Epidemiology at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) in Munich, Germany. Her research focuses on biopsychosocial predictors of interpersonal violence, including domestic violence and non-partner sexual violence. You can connect with her on LinkedIn and X 

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