Conferences and co-chair (on leave)

Twitter: @VanitaSundaram

I joined the Department in March 2006 after holding a five-year research post at the Danish National Institute of Public Health. I was primarily involved in research on gender-specific health effects of violence and sexual abuse. This was also the main focus of my doctoral research, which I conducted alongside a research assistantship.

Since joining the Department of Education, my research has focused on key issues within gender education and social justice more broadly, including anti-violence education, teenagers’ experiences of violence in and out of school, the content and role of sex education and ‘lad cultures’ in higher education. I am currently a Senior Lecturer in Education and a member of the Centre for Research in Education and Social Justice and am keen to supervise research students working in any of the areas outlined above, as well as other issues related to education and social inequality.  I am currently researching gender-based violence among teenagers (and the preventative role of education); sex and relationships education (SRE) and the inclusion of gender and sexuality in SRE curricula; lad cultures in higher education, and models for challenging sexual violence in/at universities.

My undergraduate degree (Sociology) and my MA (Women’s Studies) were both completed at the University of Kent at Canterbury. I completed my PhD in Public Health at the University of Copenhagen.