Inside the Mechanics of the SAFEDUC Research Project

I am administrating Sciences Po’s Gender Studies Programme and coordinating its activities. A big part of the job is making connections: to connect ideas, people, opportunities, in order to foster the best possible environment for researchers to research, for teachers to teach and for students to study. The SAFEDUC research project on gender-based violence was in the pipeline for a while: we knew we wanted to make it happen, we were waiting to seize the right window, and with the help of colleagues – and a touch of perseverance – were granted funding, enabling us to make it happen.

Gender-based violence is part of our societies. In Virage, the latest survey conducted by the French Institute for Demographic Studies in 2015 on this topic, one in seven women reported having experienced at least one form of sexual assault in their lifetime, compared to one in twenty-five men. Whether we have experienced, witnessed, or heard accounts of such violence, we are all affected by it. And it falls upon social science research to select appropriate methodologies and analytical frameworks to understand this phenomenon in all its facets, illuminate its various dimensions, and look over measures to contribute to its eradication. And that is precisely the role of a cross-cutting programme dedicated to gender studies like ours: we collaborate with researchers from different disciplines to shed new light on this issue for everyone. For example, we interview researchers, record podcast episodes (FR), organise events, courses, …

Mostly coordination: bridging elements, connecting people, in the right place at the right time. This means that I never work on my own. Behind a research project, there are plenty of things that are not immediately apparent. There is indeed the research team, but also plenty of oft-forgotten colleagues from various support roles who assist the project throughout its execution: at Sciences Po, we worked with the Research and Education Department’s Partnerships team, the HR, Finance and Legal Affairs Departments, but also with colleagues from the Communications and IT Departments for example. Without their work and support, the project would not have unfolded as it has today, and my role is to organise this as best as possible, to check that everything is running smoothly, trying to anticipate (un)foreseen events and obstacles that may arise and by adhering to the timetable we have set for ourselves.

I was part of the steering committee for this project, so I also participated in its day-to-day unfolding. For example, trying to find the most effective way of distributing the survey to respondents which, as my colleagues Clara and Victor have pointed out, is key to ensuring the representativeness of the results. 

As in any project, not everything is written in advance, there is always room for the unexpected. After launching the survey, for example, we realised that speaking directly to the students on campus and providing them with a QR code leading directly to the questionnaire could really help increase the response rate. So – and this was not planned – we recruited six dedicated Sciences Po students who came to assist us in distributing flyers and talking about SAFEDUC to students across all campuses of Sciences Po and Université Paris Cité.

I am really pleased that we are able to conduct this research project. It is highly stimulating: for the first time at Sciences Po and Université Paris Cité, an in-house transdisciplinary research team will measure the prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence.

These past weeks have been intense. Our team put forth maximum effort to optimise the survey’s response rate. Now the project will transition into a new phase where I will be less active: the researchers will analyse all the responses received, and we look forward to sharing the initial results at the end of the year.