Two plaques, voted on by the Western community, will be cast annually: one from a STEM discipline and one from a social sciences, arts and humanities-based discipline. Each will be affixed to a relevant building on campus and provide a link to additional media online. The Centre for Research & Education on Violence Against Women & Children has led many groundbreaking policy and legislative changes related to domestic violence, child protection, child custody and labour employment standards.
The Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children (CREVAWC) has been recognized for its groundbreaking research and 25-year partnership with the community.
CREVAWC has been nominated for a Research Heritage Plaque for its work related to over a quarter century of research and policy development on violence against women across all sectors of society. The research and policy development range from public education to early intervention for children exposed to violence to domestic violence in the workplace legislation.
“It is a tremendous honour to have our research efforts in collaboration with the community be recognized in this manner,” said Peter Jaffe, Academic Director of the Centre and Professor in the Faculty of Education.
CREVAWC began in 1992 – three years after 14 young women were murdered at École Polytechnique in Montreal. The killings, which shocked the country, led the federal government to establish five Centres of Excellence in promoting applied research on violence against women and children across Canada. Aside from Western’s Centre, similar Centres were established in Montreal, Fredericton, Winnipeg, and Vancouver.
In London, academics from Western, Fanshawe College and community representatives from the London Coordinating Committee to End Woman Abuse worked together and submitted a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership grant proposal to the federal government to establish CREVAWC. The Western Centre has flourished since that time. Since 2014, the Centre has had over two dozen grants and contracts totaling over $5.6 million dollars.
“Our Centre would not have been possible without our partnership with the London community and leaders in the anti-violence field,” said Barb MacQuarrie, Community Director of CREVAWC.
For the past 25 years, CREVAWC has partnered with The London Coordinating Committee to End Woman Abuse, Fanshawe College and Western University. These partners have provided important administrative and financial support as well as advisory board and research teams for various local, provincial, and national studies.
“Our research can’t be limited to traditional academic journals but needs to be translated to everyday policies and practices in the field,” said Linda Baker, Learning Director of CREVAWC.
The Centre is housed in the Faculty of Education and members of CREVAWC also collaborate with the faculty on various grants as well as provide unique training opportunities for Bachelor of Education and graduate students on violence prevention and intervention.
“I am very proud of the strong relationship between CREVAWC and the Faculty of Education. As a faculty, we are strengthened by CREVAWC’s leading-edge research, educational programs and numerous community domestic violence advocacy projects,” said Dean of the Faculty of Education, Vicki Schwean.
In 2017, Research Western created a series of digitally linked heritage plaques to celebrate significant research-related moments in the university’s history. The plaques also encourage the campus community and its visitors to learn how these contributions have benefited the social, financial, cultural and medical well-being of citizens in Canada and around the world.
As part of the selection process, faculty, staff and students at Western vote for two plaques: one from a science, technology, engineering and mathematics discipline and one from a social science, arts and humanities-based faculty. Each plaque will be affixed to a relevant building on campus.
While voting closes April 13, the nomination is bitter-sweet for CREVAWC members.
“We have made tremendous progress in the field but our work is not done – in fact we appear to be at a tipping point in public and professional awareness that will require even more demanding research,” said Jaffe.
To learn more about the Heritage Plaques Project and to vote, click here.
