Dr Rhonda Wheate Wins Bid to Tackle Honour-Based Abuse

Dr Rhonda Wheate (Centre for Law, Crime & Justice, Law School) has won substantial funding to lead a programme of events to tackle honour-based abuse.  The project will run from January to September 2022, will evaluate current Scots law and policy on honour-based abuse, as well as policing, legal, social work, education and community responses. 

The project team is multi-disciplinary, and multi-agency, including Dr Elaine McLaughlin of Hemat Gryffe Women’s Aid (which supports women experiencing domestic abuse and provides refuge primarily to Asian, Black and minority-ethnic women and children); Mhairi McGowan, an independent Violence Against Women consultant, recently retired from ASSIST (Glasgow City Council’s specialist domestic abuse advocacy support service); Dr Scott Grant (University of Dundee, School of Education & Social Work), and Police Scotland (Public Protection, and the Domestic Abuse Task Force).  

Commenting on the award of, Dr Wheate said:

The project team is delighted with the funding award and is looking forward to running this knowledge exchange programme, creating the discussions, collaborations, and recommendations that are needed to deal with honour-based abuse.

Our work will include an international focus groups with expert policy-makers, police, lawyers, academics, and victim/survivors of honour-based abuse, as well as an animation to assist individuals, families and communities in seeking help for honour-based crimes in Scotland.

Funding of £16,418 from the Scottish Universities Insight Institute, £1000 from the Strathclyde Law School and £500 from Hemat Gryffe Women’s Aid will support a programme of three events of the project: “Honour-Based Abuse in Scotland: Evidence and Pathways to Strengthen Protection for Victims’.