New national Australian research organisation on violence against women and children launched

Australia’s new National Research Organisation for Women’s Safety (ANROWS) was officially launched in Sydney on 16 May 2014.

ANROWS is an initiative under Australia’s National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022. It is jointly funded by the Commonwealth and all state and territory governments of Australia.

The National Research Agenda (NRA) developed by ANROWS was also launched on 16 May. The NRA seeks to develop a cohesive and comprehensive national evidence base that is relevant to policy and practice and actively contributes to the National Plan outcomes. It will do this by providing strategic direction and identifying research opportunities and priorities that are nationally applicable.

The NRA identifies four Strategic Research Themes (SRTs):

• Experience and impacts
• Gender inequality and primary prevention
• Service responses and interventions
• Systems

An ANROWS Research Program is also being developed which will produce research under the NRA. The Research Program will comprise projects undertaken in the 2014-15 financial year, within the SRTs above plus 'research translation and evaluation'. This fifth theme is to enable ANROWS to promote evidence-based practice to enhance the translation and evaluation of national research on violence against women and their children.

The Research Program includes four main types of projects:

1. Projects funded as part of the ANROWS Research Priorities Grants round, which is an open process for researchers to apply for grants in priority topic areas. (Applications are currently open.)
2. A number of large-scale, multi-jurisdictional national projects, supported by advisory groups with appropriate expertise in the relevant topic.
3. Small-scale, commissioned projects that provide a conceptual or theoretical underpinning for subsequent empirical research.
4. Other research projects which ANROWS has been specifically commissioned to undertake. Of particular note here is the provision of additional funding from the Commonwealth Government to establish a dedicated perpetrator intervention research stream.

From 1 October 2014, ANROWS will take over the clearinghouse functions of the Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse and the Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault.

ANROWS was previously known as the National Centre of Excellence to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children.