NIHR Global Health Research Group on a package of care for the mental health of survivors of violence in South Asia at University College London Institute of Child Health

a) The UCL 2034 Global Strategy utilises the strength of cross-disciplinary, problem-focused research on social needs, ethical principles, and user engagement. UCL is “London’s Global University”, a world leader in research, a leading centre for innovation and interdisciplinarity, a beacon for public engagement, and a global leader in combined medical and health research. The four UCL Grand Challenges (Global Health, Sustainable Cities, Intercultural Interaction, and Human Wellbeing) concentrate expertise to address aspects of the world’s key problems. The strategic objectives of our research reflect those of UCL: create networking opportunities across disciplines and foster expert networks, provide spaces for debate bringing together different expertise, perspectives and methodologies to provoke new understanding, stimulate novel research through cross-disciplinary activity to generate wisdom and societal debate, and improve policy and practice through enhanced public service and policy, quality of life and social justice and equity. b) UCL had the highest research strength rating in the 2014 UK Research Excellence Framework. Global health and improving the lives of people in low- and middle-income countries are at the core of the UCL Grand Challenges programme. The hub of our group will be the new UCL Centre for the Health of Women, Children and Adolescents at the Institute for Global Health (IGH). IGH conducts multidisciplinary research with partners in over 40 countries, supported by funding from, among others, NIHR, Wellcome, MRC, DfID, BMGF, European Commission, and ESRC. IGH is committed to capacity development through a high-quality, extensive teaching programme that delivers an intercalated BSc, MScs, MPhils, PhDs and short courses. It has a track record of delivering strong community-based research in South Asia. Previous work with collaborators in DAC countries has cemented relationships and an emphasis on collaborative response to local and national issues. The Division of Psychiatry is a multidisciplinary centre that has a large research programme with over £40m of research income from NIHR, Research Councils, and medical charities. It has an excellent track record in developing the careers of young researchers. The Divisional strategy includes expanding work with LMICs, for which many of its research strengths in randomised controlled trials, epidemiology, and applied health research are priorities. c) The group will build on existing institutional partnerships between UCL and SNEHA, and LSHTM and Sangath. Substantial investments in research to prevent and address the consequences of violence against women are already in place, with MRC, Wellcome, and large programme support from the UK Department for International Development (UKAid) for research on prevention of domestic violence in Asia. The LSHTM Gender, Violence and Health Centre (GVHC) has a current multi-country evaluation of prevention of modern slavery in South Asia, funded by UKAid, and a track record of quantitative and qualitative research on modern slavery in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the UK. GVHC pioneered research on VAW, conducted the first systematic study on the global prevalence of gender-based violence, and, in partnership with the South Africa MRC, is conducting a global study on the effectiveness of interventions to prevent violence (in which DFID is investing £25 million over five years). LSHTM and KCL have a longstanding partnership through the Centre for Global Mental Health and through jointly held grants (PROTECT, NIHR PRP funded research on the NHS response to victims of human trafficking, led jointly by Howard and Zimmerman, with Oram and Abas as co-investigators). Howard, Abas and Oram have a strong track record of research on gender-based violence and mental health at the Section of Women’s Mental Health led by Howard, including NIHR funded research into partner violence, NIHR Research Professorship funded research