Roehampton Criminologist awarded British Academy/Leverhulme Grant

• Thursday, May 24, 2018

Academy/Leverhulme Research Grant for £9,890 to investigate violence perpetrated by grandchildren towards grandparents.

Dr Amanda Holt said “While there is an established research base on elder abuse and a growing literature on ‘child-to-parent violence’, there is very little empirical work on violence towards grandparents, perpetrated by grandchildren. It has been increasingly identified as a serious problem which produces both immediate and long-term harms.”

The project is titled ‘Investigating experiences of violence and abuse perpetrated by grandsons and granddaughters towards grandparents’. It will adopt a life course approach, and will conduct in-depth interviews with grandparents to explore how they experience, manage and respond to such violence, as well as the impacts that such violence has. Interviews will also be conducted with practitioners to explore the challenges in responding to this problem and to identify where practice guidance is needed. The findings will broaden and contextualise scholarship in the field of family violence. It will also inform recommendations for policymakers to help improve the health, safety and wellbeing of older people and their families.

The Department of Social Sciences offers outstanding undergraduate and postgraduate courses in sociology, criminology, human rights, and law. The active research team have made ground-breaking impacts in many areas including crime and justice, human rights and equality, migration and citizenship, and international relations.