Professor Rachel Fenton
Professor Rachel Fenton is an international expert on bystander programming for the prevention of harmful behaviours, sexual violence, sexual harassment, and domestic abuse. Rachel is a Professor of Law and the Director of Business Engagement and Innovation at the University of Exeter – where she is also a Speak Out Guardian, Diversity Champion, and Domestic Abuse Champion.
Professor Rachel Fenton has given evidence to the UK Parliament’s Women and Equalities Committee, as well as Senedd Cymru’s (Welsh Government’s) inquiry into preventing gender-based violence. Her work has informed stakeholders including the United Nations, Universities Australia, Drinkaware, and the Ministry of Defence.
Funding from the Economic and Social Research Council enabled Rachel to translate know-how into real-world environments such as sports and communities. Developing and testing a bystander programme for football and sports (Football Onside™) – a male-dominated environment – revealed significant positive results across a range of measures. Likewise, the testing, together with Public Health England, of a bystander prevention programme for communities (ABC: Active Bystander Communities) also showed significant positive results. Professor Fenton led a multi-disciplinary team for Public Health England to review the literature, develop, and then evaluate the first evidence-based bystander programme for higher education. The Intervention Initiative has since been recommended by Universities UK and implemented by universities nationally and internationally.
Professor Rachel Fenton has been invited to discuss her work across the media, including The Guardian; Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour; Victoria Derbyshire; Times Higher Education; and BBC News (university campus culture research; adoption of the bystander approach in higher education). Rachel has given countless talks to universities, research forums, and professional bodies, including the 2018 International Women’s Day Lecture at Cambridge University.
The list of research publications authored by Rachel Fenton can be found here, with some also available on our Resouces page. She recently led an investigation into gender-based violence as applied to UK universities, as well as the first research into bystander behaviours to domestic abuse during the Covid-19 pandemic for Public Health Wales.
