White Ribbon UK has been awarded an Open Societal Challenges (OSC) grant to fund an innovative research project. The project, titled "Cost-Benefit Analysis of Primary Prevention to End Violence Against Women and Girls," aims to demonstrate the economic and social benefits of investing in preventative measures to reduce gender-based violence. This project is one of the first 12 projects to receive funding as part of OSC’s Challenge Us! competition, designed to address critical societal issues through impactful research.

The project will analyse the financial and societal value of primary prevention strategies to reduce men’s violence against women and girls. White Ribbon UK and lead academic Professor Olga Jurasz from The Open University (OU), and Director of the Centre for Protecting Women Online, will work together to evidence how early intervention can positively change attitudes and behaviours to prevent harmful norms that lead to violence.

The project will produce a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis report that will be widely disseminated to decisionmakers and stakeholders. The analysis will provide robust evidence to support government investment in preventive measures to men’s violence against women and girls. The outcomes of this research are expected to contribute to a landmark shift in how the Primary Prevention of violence against women and girls is prioritised in the UK.

About Open Societal Challenges

The OU’s Open Societal Challenges programme aims to tackle some of the most important societal challenges of our time through impact-driven research.

The programme’s focus on the themes of Tackling Inequalities, Living Well and Sustainability align well with the OU’s mission to be open to people, places, methods and ideas.

The programme’s aim is to apply excellent research by OU academics to some of the most pressing challenges facing people across the UK and worldwide to transform lives and drive societal change.

About the Centre for Protecting Women Online

The Centre for Protecting Women Online is funded by a £7.7 million grant from Research England and it opened in August 2024. It will be a vehicle for understanding and addressing challenges posed to women’s safety online through a novel, interdisciplinary and ambitious research agenda. This will be combined with cross-sectoral, collaborative outputs and interventions which inform law, policy, technology development and practice to reduce online harms suffered by women and girls; minimise anti-social behaviours online whilst promoting pro-social behaviours and help build tech/ software that helps ensure accountability, credibility and helps facilitate justice. The Centre is led by Prof Olga Jurasz, Professor of Law and work of the Centre will be delivered through a management and five interwoven Work Streams:  Law & Policy, Human Behaviour, The Future of Responsible Tech, Ethical and Responsible Tech/AI and Policing. You can find out more here: https://university.open.ac.uk/centres/protecting-women-online/