VAMHN'S ECR BURSARY WINNER Raeena Hirve DISCUSSES HER ATTENDANCE AT THE lshtm short course on researching gbv

Have a read below to see what our ECR bursary winner Raeena Hirve did with her award money. To find out how you can apply to our ECR Bursary Scheme click here.

​I was extremely pleased to be awarded the Early Career Researcher grant from VAMHN to attend a short course by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine on researching gender-based violence in May 2021. The purpose of the course was to strengthen participants’ knowledge and skills to conduct or commission technically rigorous, ethical and policy- and service-relevant research on various forms of violence against women. Over the course of 2 weeks, we were taught through a series of online interactive lectures, practical exercises, group work and assigned reading. The course covered a range of topics on violence including approaches to researching violence, developing conceptual frameworks, ethics and safety, research in conflict settings etc.  I found myself really enjoying every lecture (and bonus lectures) and was enthusiastic to go through all the readings. I also really appreciated the group work where we were asked to design and conceptualise GBV research in a humanitarian setting. This group work enabled us to really use what we learnt over the course and apply it practically. It was also a great opportunity to meet and learn from my team members. I learnt the current gold standard methods to conceptualise and measure violence exposures, various methodological techniques for assessing the relationship between violence and health outcomes and practical issues faced when meeting ethical and safety obligations. As an early career researcher, this course gave me the skills and confidence to purse a PhD and am very grateful for this opportunity.