Ms Sarah Wydall

BA (Hons) MMU; M.Sc. Surrey; PGCTHE (Distinction); FHEA

I am Director for the Centre for Age Gender and Social Justice. I lead on a number of research projects, including Dewis Choice that use co-production / participatory action research methods to develop new understandings about justice seeking and intersectionality in later life. I have secured external funding as Principal Investigator worth £1.9M from a variety of funders including the Ministry of Justice; the National Communities Fund; Comic Relief; The Older Peoples Commissioner; The Home Office; Welsh Government; Moondance, and CIDRA .   

My teaching areas cover victimology, justice mechanisms, the penal system and criminological research methods

I am Principal Investigator on  Dewis Choice  Transforming the Response to Domestic Abuse in Later Life. Dewis was ranked as 4* (world leading)  for impact beyond academia as part of the Research Excellence Framework 2021.   The research from 2015-ongoing is the first longitudinal study examining the help seeking and justice seeking experiences of older people. The findings produced the first practitioner guidance dedicated to domestic abuse on older people, a range of podcasts, short films and toolkits . The Initiative is unique in that it also provides a bespoke service for older people experiencing domestic abuse in Wales. The service was co-produced by older people in 2015 and provides evidence-based training, support that integrates justice and well-being and runs community based activities to promote healthy relationships across the life course . See link  https://dewischoice.org.uk/what-we-do/research/projects-at-centre/current-projects/ 

I was PI on eight other studies on gendered harms which include a  research study examining the Co-existence of Domestic Abuse and Dementia funded by Comic Relief (April 2019-March 2020)  Award : £92, 265, a Pan Wales study on Domestic Abuse, Hate Crime and Older People (funded by the OPC), a study examining Responses to Children and Young people experiencing Domestic Abuse, research evaluating the Making Safe Programme - an initiative that rehouses domestic abuse perpetrators and a qualitative study examining feminist praxis in developing grassroots responses to domestic abuse .  I have also collaborated with colleagues from Aberystwyth, Cardiff & Surrey University on five UK projects  These projects have focused on Domestic Homicide,  a UK-wide study on Anti-Social Behaviour in Adults; Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Programmes in Prisons; & Domestic Abuse Perpetrator programmes.