The University of Edinburgh/NSPCC Child Protection Research Centre



The Team - Deborah Fry: Research Fellow - Child Protection

 

 

Deborah Fry

Research Fellow: Child Protection


Phone no: 0131 651 4033
Email: Debi.Fry@ed.ac.uk

 

Work experience

At the Centre, Deborah undertakes primary research on the issues of child sexual abuse and youth violence and is involved in research exploring both interventions and effective prevention.  Prior to joining the Centre, Deborah was Research Director at the New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault.  During her time at the Alliance, Deborah was the Principal Investigator (PI) on 9 primary research studies on sexual violence and abuse in New York City ranging from participatory action research with immigrant communities to research with young people.  She has comprehensive experience in researching issues of violence within school settings, developing quantitative research including electronic and ACASI surveys, leading qualitative research, conducting systematic reviews and conducting research with practitioners.  Ms. Fry has a Master of Arts degree from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University and her Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University.  Deborah was also a Fulbright Research Scholar from 2001 to 2002.

 

In 2012, Deborah secured a prestigious Marie Curie Fellowship within the 7th European Community Framework Programme to follow a cohort of teacher trainees through to the end of their first year of teaching.  This 3.5 year study (2012-2015) will be the first of its kind to longitudinally examine the knowledge, attitudes and perceived self-efficacy of new teachers in responding to issues of bullying and safeguarding in the classroom, providing crucial information on how best to support teachers in the complex teaching environments in which they operate.

 

A hallmark of all her research has been working with young people and practitioners—be they school teachers, health clinicians or social workers—to explore the real-life, day-to-day issues for providing the safest and best environment to both reduce the impact of violence on young people and ultimately, to prevent violence from every occurring in the first instance.

 

Selected Publications

  • Fry, D., Messinger, A.M., Rickert, V.I., O’Connor, M.K., Palmetto, N., Lessel, H. and Davidson, L.L. (Forthcoming) Adolescent Help-Giving to Friends Experiencing Relationship Violence.
  • Messinger, A.M, Rickert, V.I., Fry, D., Lessel, H and Davidson, L.L. (2012) Revisiting the Role of Communication in Adolescent Intimate Partner Violence, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, 27(14).
  • Fry, D. (2011) A Systematic Review of Research on Child Maltreatment in the East Asia and Pacific Region. Report to the UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (278 pages).
  • Fry, D., Davidson, L.L., Rickert, V.I. and H. Lessel. (2008). Partners and Peers: Sexual and Dating Violence Among NYC Youth. A Research Report by the New York City Alliance against Sexual Assault in Conjunction with the Columbia Centre for Youth Violence Prevention.  New York City Alliance Against Sexual Assault: New York.
  • O’Sullivan, C. and Fry, D.. (2007). “Sexual Assault Victimization Across the Lifespan: Rates, Consequences and Interventions for Different Populations.” Victims of Crime, RC Davis, A Lurigio & S Herman, editors.

 

Selected Presentations

  • Fry, D. Participatory Tools for Engaging Communities in Sexual Violence Prevention. Workshop presentation accepted for the National Organisation for the Treatment of Abusers (NOTA) conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, 19-21 September 2012.
  • Fry, D. and Stafford, A. Supporting Each Other: Promising Practices in Training, Support and Development for teachers in Responding to Sexual Abuse and Bullying in School Settings. Presentation at the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) conference in Stirling, Scotland, 24-25 November 2011.
  • Fry, D. and Stafford, A. Schools at the Heart of Collaboration: Promising Practices of Interagency Collaboration and Innovative Partnerships to Prevent and Respond to Sexual Abuse and Bullying in School Settings.  Presentation at the Scottish Educational Research Association (SERA) conference in Stirling, Scotland, 24-25 November 2011.
  • Fry, D.A.  International Symposium on Community Approaches to Prevention of Violence Against Children and Young People.  International Community Development Conference, July 6-8, 2011: Lisbon, Portugal.

 

 

 

 


Photographs of children taken by
John Challicom, posed by models. NSPCC registered charity numbers 216401 and SC037717