SVRPU's research students play a key role in establishing knowledge and evidence to understand, prevent and respond to sexual violence and abuse.
Students work alongside leading experts to produce research outcomes with real-world impact. We offer opportunities to learn, innovate and build strong professional relationships within the field. If you are passionate about making a difference, we'd like to hear from you.
We strive to provide:
- Innovative research projects to support emerging research scholars;
- Collegiate, stimulating and challenging environment e.g. active writing groups driven by students;
- Supervisory teams with broad skill base; and
- Skills and capacity to work as part of trans-disciplinary teams.
Current PhD students
| Student | Project Title | Year/s | Institution/s | Supervisors |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Tashena Biffanti |
Determining the Relationship between Experimental and Aggravated Sexting in Young People: Self-Produced Online Child Sexual Exploitation Material |
2020 - 2024 |
UniSC Australia |
Dr Nadine McKillop, Dr Susan Rayment-McHugh, Dr Lara Christensen and Dr Emily Moir |
| Jessica Lockitch | Safeguarding vulnerable people in institutional settings across the lifespan | 2021-2025 | UniSC Australia | Dr Susan Rayment-McHugh, Dr Emily Moir and Dr Tess Parker |
| Belinda Peacock | Development, implementation and evaluation of a program for individuals at-risk of, or engaging with, online child exploitation material in Australia | 2019 - 2027 | UniSC Australia | Dr Nadine McKillop, Dr Susan Rayment-McHugh and Dr Lara Christensen |
| Bricklyn Priebe | Best-practice approaches to rehabilitation and reintegration for females who have perpetrated child sexual abuse: An international study investigating professionals’ perceptions of ‘what works’ and what ‘could work’. | 2020-2024 | UniSC Australia | Dr Lara Christensen, Dr Nadine McKillop and Dr Susan Rayment-McHugh |
| Lindy Kanan | Violence against women in Australia’s Pacific labour mobility scheme: response and prevention | 2023-2026 | UniSC Australia | Dr Kelly Hine & Dr Susan Rayment-McHugh |
| Nicole Liddell | A systems thinking approach to address technology-facilitated abuse in the context of intimate partner violence | 2024-2028 | UniSC Australia | Assoc/Prof Gemma Read, Assoc/Prof. Nadine McKillop and Prof. Paul Salmon |
| Rachael Stubbs |
Intimate partner violence prevention among young people–exploring the interface of respectful relationship education and direct practice. |
2020-2024 | UniSC Australia | Dr Philip Crane, Dr Susan Rayment-McHugh and Dr Karen Struthers |
Potential research topics
Research projects are available for Honours and Higher Degree by Research students across a range of disciplines.
Explore opportunities to:
Understand
- Understanding onset and progression of child sexual abuse
- Female sexual offending
- Youth sexual violence and abuse
- Online sexual offending trajectories
- Victimology of sexual abuse
- Understanding endemic sexual violence
Prevent
- Contextual and place-based prevention models
- Situational prevention of child sexual abuse
- Child-safe organisations
- Bystander interventions and sexual assault
Respond
- Assessment and treatment of youth and adults who sexually abuse
- Evaluation of sexual offender rehabilitation and reintegration
- Sentencing of child sexual offenders
- Attrition of sexual abuse cases
- Responding to sexual violence and abuse in Indigenous communities
Supervision
Students in an Honours, Masters or Doctoral program need to identify a potential supervisor.
Learn about our SVRPU team members and identify potential people who may align with your research interests.
You can then send a copy of your resume or CV, and a brief summary of your work experience history, and research interests to your potential supervisor.
Unsure about who to approach?
If you are unsure of which academic to approach you can email us with the above documents and / or a short statement about you and your research interests.
An SVRPU co-leader will consider suitable mentors who may be able to support your research aspirations.
Scholarships
There are a number of scholarships available. Filter results by study level - Postgraduate, research.
Contact
Email: SVRPU@usc.edu.au
Office: Building D, Ground floor, School of Law and Society, UniSC Sunshine Coast