Feminist studies on violence, in its many forms, sit at the historical core of gender studies and a multitude of feminist movements (academic, civil societal, political) have actively contributed to this large, heterogeneous and contested research field. Violence continues a very long feminist tradition on the multiple historical linkages between practice, policy and theory and interrogates the relationship between theorizing, activism and the politics of and around the domain of violence.

The aim of Violence is to conduct excellent research to develop feminist theories and conceptualisations of violence, to develop methodologies and indicators to measure and compare the extent of violence, to develop tools and terminologies to evaluate the quality of policy on violence and to inform policy, practice and action against violence,

Violence takes into consideration the wide range of approaches within different academic disciplines to the concept of violence, the difference between forms of violence, the distinctions and boundaries between violence and non-violence, and the significance of multiple inequalities to the conceptualization of violence.

Focus is placed on how analysis can be a starting point for assessing if, how and to what extent the inclusion of multiple inequalities could increase both quality of policy and methods for data collection and comparisons across the domain of violence, as for both reducing and stopping violence and for assisting those subject to violence, to violent acts, and to violations. The field also addresses the question of how and to what extent violence and violation figure in contemporary theorizing on gender and intersectionality. 

A long term and overarching goal is to mainstream gender into the overall theory and analysis of violence to integrate the often fragmented and dispersed analyses of various forms of violence, so as better to explain changes and variations in violence and to build the knowledge base for policies to reduce violence.

To these ends, violence is treated as a trans-disciplinary research field in its own right and the GEXcel Research Field includes and welcomes collaborations between trans- multi- and interdisciplinary research and researchers, practitioners, activists and politicians. The objective of Violence is to promote an inclusive view of feminist research interests in the study of violence.

The field Violence includes three GEXcel research strands: The Politics of Violence; Feminist Theories of Violence; Violent Mobilities; and links to The Feminist Restructuring of the Gender Equality Architecture, and The Theorising of Men and Masculinities.

Violence includes several on-going research projects, which are currently funded by the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE), the European Commission’s (EC) DAPHNE III Programme, the Swedish Research Council (VR), the European Parliament (EP) and the European Science Foundation (ESF).

Violence is explicitly linked to three other GEXcel Research Fields: Politics and Feminism, Intersectionality, Culture and Society, and Critical Studies on Men and Masculinities.