National victim-survivor network to address abuse against young athletes through participatory action research
Victoria University (VU) has received a $740,000 philanthropic grant from the Oak Foundation to support a three-year participatory action research project in partnership with victim-survivors of child abuse in sport.
The Victoria University project is led by researchers from VU’s Safe and Inclusive Sport Research group (Senior Research Fellow and survivor-scholar Dr Aurélie Pankowiak, Associate Professor Mary Woessner, Associate Professor Fiona McLachlan, and Professor Alex Parker) alongside victim-survivors/ individuals with lived experiences of child abuse in sport, including survivor-advocate Dr Alison Quigley.
The project builds on the group’s years of relationship-building, learning and collaboration with victim-survivors in Australia and internationally, through advocacy and research for the prevention of, and response to, abuse and neglect of young people in sport, including the establishment of a Safe and Inclusive Sport Research Group Lived Experience Committee of victim-survivors of child abuse in sport.
The Oak Foundation philanthropic grant will support research activities to:
- Document and connect victim-survivor advocacy efforts, establishing a network of 20-40 victim-survivors, to address violence and create safer sport for young people and victim-survivors in Australia.
- Support survivor wellbeing, healing, and justice for young people and victim-survivors.
- Build capacity for individual and collective victim-survivor action across research, policy, and practice.
“Victim-survivors of abuse in sport have been driving safeguarding reform for decades, through advocacy work,” Dr Pankowiak explained.
But these efforts are often un-resourced, met with harmful resistance and backlash, and made invisible in formal structures. Victim-survivors can live with the impacts of abuse, every day. When institutions reflect on and acknowledge harm and respect victim-survivors as partners, meaningful solutions that recognise all forms of expertise can be developed.
“This survivor-centred action research project will recognise survivor advocacy, and aims to understand, with victim-survivors, more about the effects of their work on safer sport, and on themselves.”
Collaborative learning, and capacity building for collective survivor-centred action for justice and safety in sport
For members of the Lived Experience Committee, safeguarding changes in Australia have been ‘too slow’ - their urgent priority is to prevent abuse from happening again; to ensure that children and young people are safe in these environments.
This participatory research program is designed to generate learnings that victim-survivors, already involved or interested in advocating for change, can draw on to influence systemic change in sport, in turn building capacity for individual and collective survivor action.
Through the participatory research, researchers and victim-survivors will develop a detailed collective understanding of the experiences of victim-survivors when advocating for change in sport, and advocate for changes.
Victim-survivors, working in partnership with the project team, will strengthen relationships as a collective and national network, and develop actions and collective recommendations for sports bodies, policymakers and other decision makers to collaborate meaningfully and ethically with people with lived experience of abuse in sport – so that significant, permanent improvements can be made in the prevention and response to abuse in sport, including victim-survivor support in Australia.
“Participatory action research has a long history in fields seeking to address the consequences of violence and injustice alongside affected communities. However, this approach has rarely been adopted in research on child abuse in sport, particularly in partnership with victim-survivors.
"We aim to create a research space that advances survivor justice, strengthens individual and collective capacity, supports wellbeing, and contributes to the prevention of abuse both now and in the future. This approach also provides a meaningful avenue through which victim-survivors can be supported and empowered,” Dr Pankowiak said.
We recognise the decades of survivor-advocacy in sport, and beyond, in Australia, and throughout the world, and dedicate this project to all those we have lost to the consequences of child abuse in sport.”
The project will start inviting interested victim-survivors/ people with lived experience of child abuse in sport in the first half of 2027. For any questions about the project contact Dr Aurélie Pankowiak: