8th international EFJCA Conference | 30 November & 1 December 2026 | Portlaoise (Ireland)

Bio Davina James-Hanman

Davina is a Violence Against Women Consultant having been active in this area of work for 40 years. This has been in a variety of capacities including advocate, campaigner, conference organiser, crisis counsellor, policy officer, project manager, refuge worker, researcher, trainer & writer. She has published innumerable articles, four book chapters & has developed a range of original resources for survivors.

She was the UK Department of Health policy lead on domestic violence, a Lay Inspector for HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate & developed & implemented the first two London Domestic Violence Strategies for the Mayor of London. She was also the Director of AVA (Against Violence & Abuse) for 17 years. She acted as the Specialist Adviser to the Home Affairs Select Committee Inquiry into domestic violence, forced marriage and 'honour' based violence (2007/08) and Chairs the Accreditation Panel for Respect (national co-ordinating body for perpetrator programmes).

In 2003 she was seconded to the Department of Health as their policy lead on domestic abuse and from 2008-09 she was seconded to the Home Office to assist with the development of the first national Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy. Davina was also an Expert Adviser to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, a Special Adviser to Women in Prison, a Trustee of the Centre for Women's Justice and a Research Fellow at Trinity College Dublin. She is internationally recognised as an expert in coercive control and domestic abuse related deaths.

In 2007 she received an OBE for her work and in 2014, was awarded the Emma Humphrey's Memorial Prize for lifetime achievement. Current and recent projects include: chairing and authoring Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews; expert court reports; quality assurance work for a number of organisations, strategy development for both charities and local government; complaint investigations, evaluation of innovative projects and several research projects.

Are DARDRs a feminist endeavour or a tool of the State?

What lessons are we learning from Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews [Aside: the name has changed to include both homicides and suicides] and what implications does this have for practice? This includes:

• understanding the critical role of coercive control in domestic abuse related deaths
• the relationship between domestic abuse related deaths and femicide
• what we are missing when we prioritise risk identification
• how might we achieve earlier intervention through effective multi-agency collaboration?