Gender-Based Violence Research Group

Mentor Areas

Dr. Millan AbiNader is a mixed-methods researcher who seeks to understand the social ecology of gender-based violence, with particular attention to intimate partner violence (IPV)-related fatalities. Dr. AbiNader also seeks to understand how one’s social and geographic position, like race or rurality, affects one’s experience of gender-based violence and investigates how organizational environment, like vicarious traumatization prevention policies, affects survivor-client experiences. Before entering academia, Dr. AbiNader worked as a community victim services advocate in the fields of sexual violence, intimate partner violence, family violence, and commercial sexual exploitation/trafficking. She delivered primary prevention interventions kindergarten through college, facilitated support groups in the community and in carceral settings, and delivered advocacy services to incarcerated women. 

Dr. AbiNader earned her MSSW from the University of Texas at Austin and her PhD in Social Work from Boston University where she completed an award-winning dissertation examining rural intimate partner homicide. Dr. AbiNader was a Postdoctoral Scholar at Arizona State University’s School of Social Work’s Office of Gender Based Violence under the mentorship of Dr. Jill Messing where she studied intimate partner homicide and risk assessment. Dr. AbiNader is currently an Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice, a Senior Scholar at the Penn Injury Science Center, a Senior Fellow at the Leonard Davis Institute for Health Economics, and a 2023 Deans' Distinguished Visiting Professor at the Perelman School of Medicine. Dr. AbiNader has won two awards while at Penn for her work on IPV-related fatality: the NVDRS New Investigator Award (APHA, CDC) for her investigation of suicide and coercive control in the IPV context and the Catherine Barber Award (APHA, the Joyce Foundation) for disseminating methods for investigating IPV-related fatalities in national datasets. 

Dr. AbiNader’s current research projects investigate intimate partner violence-related homicide and suicide, vicarious trauma, and gender-based violence intervention across contexts. She also works closely with community agencies to support program evaluations and needs assessments. Dr. AbiNader integrates her practice experience as a victim advocate and macro social worker with her research, aiming to lead studies that support survivor and perpetrator healing and change.

Description:

The GBVRG

The Gender-Based Violence Research Group (GBVRG) is the lab for Dr. Millan AbiNader at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Social Policy and Practice, and her collaborators. Dr. AbiNader is a mixed-methods researcher who seeks to understand the social ecology of gender-based violence, with particular attention to intimate partner violence-related fatalities. She also researches how one’s social and geographic position, like race or rurality, affects one’s experience of gender-based violence and investigates how organizational environment, like human resource policies, affects survivor-client experiences. The GBVRG works on a variety of projects, ranging from supporting local non-profits that do anti-violence work to quantitative data analysis of national administrative data. GBV is a complex social phenomenon, with a diverse network of antecedents that requires a transdisciplinary approach to prevention and intervention. GBVRG members work across disciplines, with collaborators from the community and researchers across the country, on projects to develop effective prevention interventions.

Research assistants on this project will join the Gender-Based Violence Research Group, entering into an existing supervision program and support system. Dr. AbiNader meets weekly with students to troubleshoot research issues and offer support. When applicable, the research assistants will receive supervision as a group. In collaboration with every student, she develops a work plan to ensure that the expectations, deliverables, and due dates are clear and transparent. The lab collaborates in a shared Box Drive, which ensures data security while creating a virtual environment for sharing resources related to research as well as opportunities in Philadelphia and on-campus. 

Preferred Qualifications

GBVRG research assistantships are perfect entry-level positions for students interested in the fields of administrative data, gender-based violence, and system-level interventions. All training will be provided.

• Detail-oriented,
• Excellent communication,
• Comfort learning new technology,
• Comfort asking questions,
• Willingness to make mistakes and try again,
• Comfort reading on screens,
• Ability to strictly apply definitions (reading comprehension),
• Experience using survey instruments (Qualtrics, google form, red cap, etc.),
• Enjoyment in identifying themes in written work (like in a literature class),
• Excellent note taking skills (using highlighters, writing in margins, etc.), and
• Good boundaries.