Victim Researcher Profile

BIO

Linda M. Williams, Ph.D., Director and Co-Founder of the JGBVR Initiative has directed research on consequences and memory of sexual assault, violence against women, commercial sexual exploitation of children, and sex offenders. The focus of her current work is on justice system response to sexual violence and child sexual abuse, investigation and adjudication of campus sexual assault, and domestic sex trafficking of adolescents. She is a senior research scientist at WCW and also serves as professor emerita at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. Author of 4 books and many scholarly publications she has lectured internationally on sexual violence, commercial sexual exploitation, trauma & memory, and researcher-practitioner collaborations. Williams has been principal investigator on 17 U.S. federally funded research projects and conducted longitudinal, multimethod and multi-site research including an examination of the long-term consequences of child sexual assault, a longitudinal study of child sexual abuse, physical abuse and partner violence in 530 Navy families; a field based study of pathways to commercial sexual exploitation of teens, and work on use of social marketing and in-person training programs to enhance bystander behaviors to prevent relationship violence on college campuses.

VICTIMIZATION FOCUS

Campus Sexual Assault, Child Abuse and Sexual Abuse, Child Trafficking and Exploitation, Domestic and Family Violence, Sexual Abuse or Violence (other than campus sexual assault), Trafficking in Persons

SPECIAL POPULATIONS

Child victims

RESEARCH EXPERTISE

Action research, Community-based participatory research, Data collection, Descriptive studies, Ethnography, Needs assessment, Program evaluation, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies, Quasi-experimental studies, Randomized controlled trial, Training and/or technical assistance

VICTIM RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

Community-based participatory research, Data collection, Descriptive studies, Ethnography, Needs assessment, Program evaluation, Qualitative studies, Quantitative studies, Quasi-experimental studies, Randomized controlled trial, Training and/or technical assistance