Host Academics: Prof Khatidja Chantler, Dr Saima Ansari, & Miss Laura Machin

The aim of this project is to explore university students’ and staffs’ understandings of sexual violence and their knowledge of sources of support. The research will examine student and staff understanding of sexual violence and harassment, perceptions of intersectionality and marginalisation, and knowledge and understanding of where to seek support for sexual violence, including provision provided by the University.

We understand that the nature of the research topic is highly sensitive and may be distressing for some students in which we will provide support as much as possible(and where needed directed to further support). However, we ask that if the topic of sexual violence is highly distressing for some individuals then we would advise against application for the internship. Ethical and data protection training is also vital in order to keep confidentiality and anonymity of our participants. Therefore we ask these are both undertaken prior to starting of the internship.  

The intern will be trained by a member of our team in using NVivo as a tool to create ‘mind maps’. They will analyse the focus groups and pick out emerging themes that come out of the focus groups that we would have done with students. These themes will then be put together using NVivo to create a ‘map’ of emerging issues and topics that will help the study understand the challenges faced by students from marginalised backgrounds. We will be looking at the experiences of LGBTQAI+, BAME (black and ethnic minority), and students with disabilities. 

We hope this internship will be valuable in gaining skills of qualitative research and understanding how analysis works. We hope our interns will develop a better understanding of using NVivo as a tool for creating ‘mind maps’  which they add as a research skill to their C.V. Our interns will be a valuable part of the process who help explore marginalised voices on the topic of sexual violence.

In your expression of interest please indicate if you have an interest in gender based violence studies, intersectionality, and marginalisation experiences. 

Selected students will need to take ethical research and data protection training before the internship. We will also require them to undertake a day’s training on how to use NVivo to enable them to build mind maps for the analysis. The NVivo training on mind maps will be given by a member of our team.