University Domestic Violence Expert Gives Keynote Address in Malta

An expert from the University of Worcester has given the keynote speech at a conference to mark the 30th Anniversary since the establishment of domestic violence services in Malta.

Dr Beverley Gilbert, Senior Lecturer in Domestic/Sexual Violence and Criminology, spoke at the conference held at the Verdala Palace in Malta. The conference was under the distinguished patronage of Her Excellency Dr Myriam Spiteri Debono, President of Malta.

Dr Gilbert has longstanding links to these services in Malta, having played a key role in establishing some of their domestic violence related services over a number of years.

“It was an honour to be asked as Keynote Speaker at this event,” said Dr Gilbert. “My speech reiterated the need for collaborative, multi agency working practice. One single agency cannot address such a widescale and serious issue alone, it takes a whole community approach to help with this issue in society. Malta has made significant progress on this, such as making changes to multi agency practice and, notably, the introduction of specialist policing hubs.”

Dr Gilbert was invited by the Foundation for Social Welfare Services in Malta following several years of collaboration with Maltese government departments, including providing training to organisations connected to multi agency practice when responding to domestic violence.

The University of Worcester was the training partner with Malta's Ministry of European Affairs and Equalities in their extensive two-year Council of Europe funded ‘Full Cooperation: Zero Violence’ project across 2017-18. Dr Gilbert wrote and co-delivered this project to more than 700 lead professionals and practitioners over that period, including social workers, police officers, probation officers and medical workers, as well as Non-Governmental Organisations involved in social care and addictions, and mental wellbeing organisations. Subsequently, Dr Gilbert wrote and delivered a Train the Trainer programme to organisational champions in gender based and domestic violence.

Dr Gilbert and a team from her own social enterprise organisation, Cohort 4, delivered Domestic Abuse, Stalking and Honour based checklist training. They wrote the country’s Multi Agency Risk Assessment Meeting guidance in cases of domestic abuse and violence, and trained staff involved in delivering it. Dr Gilbert also acts as mentor to those leading the island’s survivor peer support organisation, SOAR, having delivered peer mentoring training sessions to women who have survived domestic violence.

“Our knowledge about domestic abuse continues to grow in terms of best practice and essential research knowledge,” said Dr Gilbert. “Two years of delivering three layers of training in Malta in 2017/2018 was a career highlight for me in my University of Worcester role, along with follow up work in a consultancy capacity. It is good to see this work being implemented across Malta and I wish Malta well in the future of collaborative work to reduce the harm to women, children and men on the island.”