Ellie Whittingdale's Research Sparks Legal Change and New Partnership with Rape Crisis

A Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Ellie Whittingdale, has collaborated with Rape Crisis England & Wales (RCEW) to help facilitate a recent change in the law. Using research skills gained throughout her doctoral project with English sexual violence support services, Ellie worked closely with the policy team at the national charity RCEW as a DPhil student at the Centre. Ellie’s research played a crucial role in the organisation’s Keep Counselling Confidential campaign, which has led to a law change that will help to improve the experience of the criminal justice system for survivors of rape and sexual abuse. As part of this, Ellie researched into different jurisdictional approaches to requests for and disclosure of survivors’ therapeutic records during criminal justice proceedings.  Talking about this experience Ellie said:

‘I am so proud to have been a part of the Keep Counselling Confidential campaign with Rape Crisis England & Wales. To be able to work towards better recognition of the rights of those who have experienced sexual violence to privacy and confidential support was a privilege’.

Ellie’s placement with RCEW has also led to a new research partnership between the charity and the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford. This is an oral history project tracing the lives and work of Rape Crisis activists over the past 50 years. The project is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and the 30 oral history interviews are due to be deposited as a permanent public archive with the UK’s leading oral history fieldwork charity, National Life Stories at the British Library’. 

Watch the film exploring the collaboration, produced by Oxford Social Sciences Division.