The SVRI Forum is the world’s largest abstract driven conference on violence against women and violence against children and other forms of violence driven by gender inequality in low- and middle-income countries.
Connect | Share | Learn
Why participate?
Connect: Network with global experts from multiple fields. Create new and strengthen existing partnerships with colleagues all working to build evidence that will inform work aimed at ending violence against women and violence against children.
Learn: Build and expand your knowledge by participating in learning events and skills-building workshops and attending presentations to hear about new approaches being used to create a world where women and children live free from violence. Find out about the latest research and what is working and not working in the prevention of and response to violence against women and violence against children, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.
Share: Showcase your innovative, ground-breaking work through conference presentations, exhibition stands, participating in interactive panel sessions on programmes and research, discussions with colleagues from around the globe, and through participant-driven events.
Structure of the Forum
The Forum includes one day of knowledge and skills-strengthening workshops followed by three days of abstract-driven, inspiring and thought-provoking sessions and high-level panels and ending on Friday with participant driven events. Multiple networking and participant-driven events, self-care activities and spaces and exhibition opportunities are woven throughout the Forum week.
Who participates?
Delegates attending the SVRI Forum include leading researchers, activists, practitioners, policy-makers, United Nations agencies and government representatives, journalists, donors, and private sector agencies. Over 1600 delegates attended SVRI Forum 2026 from 124 countries and territories.
More on Forum innovations and opportunities below:
SVRI Forum Bursaries: Ensuring diversity and inclusion
Diversity and inclusion are key priorities of the SVRI Forum. To ensure the Forum is a diverse space, a limited number of bursaries from donors are awarded for researchers (including young and emerging researchers), practitioners, survivors and activists working on violence against children and violence against women from low- and middle-income countries, who might not otherwise be able to attend. Where relevant, the SVRI encourages northern researchers to ensure their southern-based partners attend and present at the SVRI Forum. Applications for bursaries are circulated via the SVRI Update (click here to subscribe) and the SVRI Forum event webpages. To contribute to the SVRI Bursary Fund, contact us at forums@svri.org
The Young Professionals Programme was introduced in 2011 as a way of mentoring early career researchers and practitioners who submit abstracts for presentation at the SVRI Forum.
The SVRI Forum’s Young Professionals Programme provides young professionals from low- and middle-income countries with an opportunity to attend the SVRI Forum and at the same time strengthen their presentation skills through mentorship from a more seasoned researcher.
This Programme was launched at the SVRI Forum 2011 in Cape Town, South Africa, where four young professionals received mentorship from experienced researchers to confidently and effectively deliver their presentations.
Since its inception, SVRI has consistently supported young researchers and practitioners at the Forums:
- Forum 2026: Eight young professionals participated in an expanded YPP in Thailand to include abstract mentoring.
- Forum 2024: Four young professionals participated in the Programme at the Forum in Cape Town.
- Forum 2022: Nine young professionals from seven countries were mentored at the Forum in Mexico.
- Forum 2019: Four young professionals were supported to attend the Forum in Cape Town.
- Forum 2017: Six participants attended the Forum in Brazil, coinciding with the program’s expansion to include Spanish and Portuguese-speaking mentors and mentees.
What exactly does mentoring entail in the Young Professionals Programme?
The goal of the programme is to support, nurture and guide young professionals who have had an abstract accepted for presentation. Mentors are experienced researchers and research practitioners who support young professionals through a two-month process of developing and refining their presentation and provide guidance on public speaking where necessary. Mentoring happens online.
The SVRI Forum Young Professionals Programme is funding dependent. A call for applications will be circulated via the SVRI Update during the Forum year should funding be available. To contribute to this Programme through the SVRI Bursary Fund, contact us at forums@svri.org
Through the SVRI Forum Awards we recognise and celebrate work presented by young researchers and practitioners, particularly those working in low- and middle-income countries.
Awards are given to young researchers and practitioners in recognition of their contributions to the field. A selection panel reviews and scores eligible presentations and these scores inform the awards.
SVRI Hall of Fame
Learn more about SVRI Forum award winners by clicking on the links below.
Self-care, collective care and well-being activities and events
Care and wellbeing are central to how we convene the SVRI Forum. We recognise that working to prevent and respond to violence can be emotionally demanding, and that many of our delegates bring lived experience of violence to these conversations.
Each Forum includes trauma-informed counselling and the Brave Room, a dedicated space where delegates can step away from the programme to rest, reflect and reconnect. Over the years, our wellbeing offerings have grown to include yoga, meditation, movement, creative activities, dialogue circles and other opportunities for self-care and collective care.
Explore wellbeing programmes from previous Forums:
- SVRI Forum 2026 | Bangkok, Thailand
- SVRI Forum 2024 | Cape Town, South Africa
- SVRI Forum 2022 | Cancún, Mexico
Practice-based knowledge is “the cumulative knowledge and learning acquired by practitioners through designing and implementing programmes in different contexts, including insights gained from observations, conversations, direct experience, and monitoring.” [1]
The role and importance of practice-based knowledge (PBK) is increasingly being recognised and incorporated into evidence-informed approaches where it provides an additional layer of context, analysis, and intersectionality. It is also increasingly being formalised in projects and used as a key source in knowledge sharing. Yet, there is still much to be done to capture, analyse, and share PBK. Identifying and exploring its limitations and strength as well as appreciating how it can complement other sources of knowledge and research are key to integrating this vast source of knowledge.
[1] https://prevention-collaborative.org/guide-programming/practice-based-knowledge
