Staff Profile

I currently work as a Research Associate at the Population Health Sciences Institute within the Faculty of Medical Sciences at Newcastle University. In my current role, I am working on three studies broadly around Intimate partner violence and abuse (IPVA). The VISTA study aims to move forward the agenda of service integration, with a focus on the family to evaluate innovative models of practice which seek to respond to the needs of both adult and children impacted by IPVA. The PROTECT 2 study is focused on understanding what effective support looks like from the perspective of practitioners supporting victims-survivors of IPVA, and how it can be best implemented. It involves observations of partnership steering group meetings, in-depth interviews with professionals, and a document analysis of child protection plans to glean a clearer and more in-depth understanding of what practice works, and in what circumstances for adult victims-survivors of IPVA. In my role as a co-investigator in the OUTCOMES study, we are aiming to understand the impact of Outcome 16 on racially minoritized women and girls’ participation in domestic violence investigations across three study sites across UK.

I come from an interdisciplinary education (and practice) background spanning social sciences and statistical sciences and have experience in using a range of qualitative, quantitative, and visual research methods. My PhD in Sociology from Lancaster University, titled “Towards an explanation of marital violence against women: A case study of Assam, India” employed qualitative methodology as the primary methodology and photographs as an illustrative tool. Informed by the Critical Grounded Theory methodology that is based on the philosophy of Critical Realism, the research aimed to understand how women who face marital violence deal with it and analysed how such violences occur and are maintained or resisted, by highlighting the structural factors that support and sustain marital violence more explicit.

I have previous work experience in research, advocacy, and project management on issues related to gender and violence, human rights and conflict, migration, and the informal labour sector. I have often integrated visual methods with traditional research methods – producing and designing comprehensive and holistic research reports with the specific aim of disseminating findings to different audiences.

Qualifications:

BSc (Hons) Statistics, University of Delhi (2005)

MSc Operational Research, University of Delhi (2007)

MA Sociology, Lancaster University (2017)

PhD Sociology, Lancaster University (2023)

Research Interests:

Intimate Partner Violence and Abuse                                                                               

Gender-based violence

Mixed methods

Critical Realism

South Asia/ India

List of publications:

Sarma, K. (2024). Understanding Marital Violence: A Case Study from Northeast India (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003505204