About

The Gender-Based Violence Research Group (GBVRG) is the lab for Dr. Millan AbiNader at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice. Dr. AbiNader is interested in how the social ecology—relationships, organizations, community, and politics—affects individuals’ experiences of and use of violence and their opportunities to heal and change. She uses multiple methods to better understand GBV and how communities respond to it.  The GBVRG works on a variety of projects, ranging from supporting local non-profits that do anti-violence work to quantitative data analysis of national administrative data. GBV is a complex social phenomenon, with a diverse network of antecedents that requires a transdisciplinary approach to prevention and intervention. GBVRG members work across disciplines, with collaborators from the community and researchers globally, on projects to develop effective prevention interventions.   

Mission

To conduct research that informs practices and policies that support healing and change among those experiencing and enacting gender-based harms.

Vision

A world where no one fears the people they love.

Values

  • Intersectional feminism is the belief that all people are equal regardless of their gender identity and any other identities that they hold (e.g., race/ethnicity, class, religion, sexuality, ability, nationality). It acknowledges that historical and systemic barriers to equity are not homogenous, and that individuals who hold multiple identities experience unique forms of privilege and disenfranchisement. We aim to contribute to a world where one can live one’s full life without limitations placed on oneself based on identity, geography, or circumstance.  

  • Awareness of how institutions and policies differentially treat people of various classes, races/ethnicities, nationalities, languages, abilities, genders, sexualities, and other identities and how this differential treatment may impact survivor and perpetrator healing and change.

  • A commitment to anti-violence in all its forms, including violence against victims/survivors and that against perpetrators.

  • An ability to live one’s full life without limitations placed on oneself based on identity, geography, or circumstance.

  • Centering the lives of people with lived experiences and honoring their dignity, autonomy, and resilience in all aspects of our work.

  • Designing research, policy, organizations, and practice modalities in a way that attends to individual's and communities’ experiences of trauma and minimizes reactivity and retraumatization. This includes training future social workers, policy workers, and researchers in trauma-informed methods.