Team update: Simone Castello (second from right) is leaving the VRC on 10 April 2022. She will continue working with Prof Eisner and Prof Jolliffe (visitor of the IoC, University of Greenwich) on the Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology as Managing Editor. Simone wishes to thank everyone - staff, students, academics and affiliated researchers - who has contributed to the VRC's website and annual report since she joined back in 2018.

Inaugural PhD event - March 2022

On 16 March the VRC had its first PhD event, organised by Sarika Dewan and featuring a presentation from Menaal Munshey, a talented PhD student who is close to graduation. This is a new initiative to discuss work-in-progress across the VRC and collectively problem-solve issues at different stages of the PhD's research process. The meetings, planned to be held twice a term, aim to a) provide an opportunity to learn more about ongoing research projects across the VRC, b) find multi-disciplinary solutions to various PhD hurdles (e.g. concept, methodology, fieldwork, analysis, write-up, etc.), and c) identify synergies across different VRC research areas.

Menaal provided an interesting insight into issues around conducting qualitative interviews on Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and their experiences of intimate partner violence, support and justice. This was followed by a work-in-progress presentation by Sarika, who recently completed her fieldwork in northern Uganda to explore the impact of maternal exposure to violence on early child nutrition and development.

Brainstorming with the group, best practices were examined related to structuring three sequential papers, innovative ways of analysing the role of mediating variables, and managing large datasets across different statistical software packages. The next meeting will be held in May 2022. Anyone interested in VRC research is warmly welcome to join. Please email smd80@cam.ac.uk for further information.