This is the second instalment of the VAWGRN November series of webinars. Find us on Twitter @VAWGRN and on www.vawgnetwork.mdx.ac.uk.

Skip to (Video Time Stamp) - 00.00 -  04.30– Dr Olivia Smith Introduction to the webinar

Skip to (Video Time Stamp) -  04.38 – 15.15 – Sir John Gillen

Skip to (Video Time Stamp) -  15.16 – 27.19 – Harriet Wistrich

Skip to (Video Time Stamp) -  27.20 – 48.36   – Bonny Turner

Skip to (Video Time Stamp) -  48.37 – 1.03.40   – Sandy Brindley

Skip to (Video Time Stamp) -  1.03.41 – 1.19.28  – Dr Yassin Brunger

Skip to (Video Time Stamp) -  1.19.29 - End – Q&A and wrap up.

Speakers: Harriet Wistrich (Centre for Women’s Justice); Sandy Brindley (Rape Crisis Scotland); Sir John Gillen (Senior Judge, NI/Gillen Review); Yassin Brunger (Queens University Belfast) and Bonny Turner @BonnyTurner1212 (Rape Justice Activist)

Chair: Olivia Smith

Olivia Smith, Loughborough University

Olivia joined the School from her previous role at Anglia Ruskin University in September 2019. Her PhD research, obtained from the University of Bath in 2014, examined court responses to rape and led to the development of Vera Baird’s court observer panel in Northumbria. Olivia’s research has been used as an evidence-base on rape justice by the Home Office and Ministry of Justice, as well as third sector organisations such as Rape Crisis. Olivia is also a member of the British Society of Criminology’s Victims Network working group and previously convened the British Sociology Association’s Violence Against Women Study Group.

Sandy Brindley

Sandy Brindley has been Chief Executive of Rape Crisis Scotland since 2017, and was National Coordinator prior to that from 2003 when the national organisation was established. Prior to her involvement with Rape Crisis Scotland, Sandy worked at the Rape Crisis Centre in Glasgow for 8 years.

Sandy has been a member of the advisory groups for both the Scottish Law Commission and the Crown office reviews of rape and sexual offences. She is a member of several strategic working groups to improve responses to rape, including the Scottish Government’s Joint Strategic Board on Violence against Women and Girls, and the Crown Office Expert Group on Sexual Offences. Sandy was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in June of 2018 by Glasgow University in recognition of the work she and Rape Crisis Scotland have undertaken to support survivors and end sexual violence.’

Bonny Turner @BonnyTurner1212

Bonny Turner is a rape justice activist whose story has made front-page news, she’s spoken at Parliament, and her MP (Jeremy Corbyn) tweeted her video for the 2019 General Election. On 26th-27th January 2021, her personal rape case is spearheading the collective Centre for Women’s Justice / End Violence Against Women Coalition’s Judicial Review against the Crown Prosecution Service to hold them to account for failing victims of rape. Bonny also has an open rape case in Norway, so she’s able to speak from personal experience about how the UK and Norwegian systems compare in terms of offering support to victims.

Dr Yassin Brunger

Yassin Brunger is a Lecturer in Human Rights and Co-Director of the Gender Justice and Society Network at Queen’s University Belfast. Her research has been widely used to inform the practice of a range of international organizations and NGOs responding to sexual and gender-based violence in conflict and post-conflict countries. The primary concern in all of the her work is to interrogate the meanings and operationalization of the central question – ‘what is justice?’- in national and international contexts.