SPEAKERS
Nicole Jacobs was appointed in 2019 as the first designated Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales. Nicole has dedicated her career to supporting victims and survivors and has more than 20 years’ experience as a frontline worker and in domestic abuse policy and intervention.
PROF. SUNDARI ANITHA
University of Lincoln
Prof Sundari Anitha (Criminology), University of Lincoln, School of Social and Political Sciences, College of Social Science, UK – Co-Investigator and supervisor. Sundari Anitha is a Professor of Gender, Violence and Work at the School of Social Sciences, University of Lincoln. Her research interests lie in the problem of violence against women and girls; and gender, race, and ethnicity in employment relations. She has previously managed a Women’s Aid refuge and was a caseworker at a ‘by and for’ refuge for South Asian survivors of domestic abuse. In this project, Sundari helps to conceptualise the links between migration and domestic abuse as well as conduct interviews with women victims/survivors.
Profile at: https://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/sanitha
DR. IWONA ZIELIŃSKA
The Maria Grzegorzewska University & EDAN Lincs
Dr Iwona ZieliÅ„ska (Sociology), EDAN Lincs, Lincoln, UK; The Maria Grzegorzewska University, Poland. – Principal Investigator in the project “Supporting Polish Women Victims of Domestic Abuse”, a specialist in researching gender, sexuality, social vulnerability, social exclusion and the work of frontline practitioners in the social sector.
Profile at: http://www.aps.edu.pl/nauka/zespol-naukowy-i-dydaktyczny/iwona-zielinska-pocwiardowska/?n=&i=26&d=&fi=54991
DR. MICHAEL RASELL
University of Innsbruck
Dr Michael Rasell (Social Care), University of Innsbruck, Austria – Co-Investigator and supervisor, specialises in the study of social interventions for vulnerable groups and has extensive fieldwork experience in Central and Eastern Europe. In the project, Michael advises on international aspects of knowledge transfer and developing outputs for dissemination to practitioner and policy audiences in the UK, Poland and other European countries.
DR. ROS KANE
University of Lincoln
Dr Ros Kane (Public Health), University of Lincoln, College of Social Studies, UK – Co-Investigator and supervisor and Research Director in the School of Health and Social Care, is an expert in service evaluation and the translation of research to practice-based settings. Ros offers guidance on conducting case studies of specialist organisations and maximising the impact of the study findings into practice and academic arenas.
Profile at: https://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/rkane
MAJA KUŹMICZ
Niebieska Linia
(Blue Line, Poland)
Maja Kuźmicz - psychologist, trainer and supervisor of preventing domestic violence. She has been conducting consultations and psychological assistance, as well as support groups and development workshops. She also trains representatives of various professional groups, and lectures at the Center of Counteracting Domestic Violence. She works in the Blue Line of the Institute of Health Psychology with adults, children and youth victims of violence.
URSZULA NOWAKOWSKA
Centrum Praw Kobiet (Women's Rights Centre, Poland)
Urszula Nowakowska, Co-founder and president of the Board of the Women’s Rights Center – feminist NGO created in 1994. She is lawyer by profession and feminist activist. She was also co –Founder of WAVE. She is an author of numerous legal manuals and reports on women’s rights and gender based violence. She developed many innovative projects but also – for a number of years – provided legal assistance to abused women. In 2019, she was awarded by the Ombudsman with the honorary badge "For Merit for the Protection of Human Rights.
JOANNA JANDULA
MSB Solicitors
Joanna Jandula is a solicitor. She specialises in Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking, actions against public bodies such as Social Services, Police, local councils, in cases of abuse of children or any vulnerable person whilst in care or failure to take into care, Judicial Reviews, False imprisonment / wrongful arrests and various aspects of Human Rights violations. She also undertakes various aspects of civil litigation work and deals with international family law cases including international child abduction, relocation and international divorces.
Joanna’s main goal is to develop a niche area of law that specialises in assisting minority groups in the region with their legal issues.
AGNIESZKA TENTEROBA
Vesta - Specialist Family Support CIC
Agnieszka Tenteroba is a Parenting Support Lead at Vesta SFS CIC. She holds the qualification of the Independent Domestic Violence Advocate and supported victims of domestic abuse for many years when she worked for Bawso. She is also an experienced family practitioner, qualified to support families through a variety of parenting courses and individual interventions. She is a wellbeing lead at Vesta, runs support groups for women, offers emotional support, designs and delivers wellbeing workshops. Agnieszka has a degree in rehabilitation education and she supported families as a probation officer in Poland.
EWA WILCOCK
Vesta - Specialist Family Support CIC
Ewa Wilcock is a Managing Director of Vesta - Specialist Family Support CIC. She led the delivery of various projects specifically for Polish victims of domestic violence. She was the founder of the first UK-wide Polish domestic violence helpline and a Polish website with information about support available in the UK. She holds a qualification of an Independent Domestic Violence Advocate and worked as a specialist domestic violence worker for Cheshire Without Abuse. She adapted a domestic abuse awareness and recovery programme (Gateway) and a parenting course (The Nurturing Programme) to Polish and successfully delivered it to groups and individuals. Ewa is a sociologist by profession (MA) and a qualified interpreter (DPSI).
IWONA NOWAKOWSKA
Vesta - Specialist Family Support CIC
Iwona Nowakowska - Psychotherapist in process of gaining qualifications, holds a Master's degree in Social Pedagogy, former director of Poles In Need - organisation supporting the Polish community in London. She is currently working with Vesta on projects related to parenting.
She is passionate about working with families with complex needs and recognising and addressing the Adverse Childhood Experiences. She is a facilitator of Freedom Programme for victims of domestic abuse as well as accredited parenting programmes: Strengthening Families Strengthening Communities and The Nurturing Programme. Iwona has over ten years of experience working directly with parents and children known to social services or Early Help teams in her local authority area.
The conference will be facilitated by Katarzyna Zatorski
KATARZYNA ZATORSKI
Truth Legal Solicitors
Katarzyna is the Head of the Family Department and a Solicitor. Katarzyna advises clients about all aspects of family law including divorces, financial consequences of the marriage breakdown, pre and post-nuptial agreements, and cohabitation agreements.
Katarzyna has a keen interest in the children-related matters including applications to the court to secure the living or contact arrangements for a child, grandparents’ rights, change of names or schools as well as internal and external relocation cases.
Katarzyna also deals with domestic abuse cases and often helps clients obtain immediate protection from the court to safeguard a child or an adult from the risk of harm. Katarzyna works closely with various domestic abuse agencies, refuges, charities, and children contact centres. She is involved in assisting Polish communities within the UK through various Polish charities, organisations and helplines.