Project Updates
Summer Update (August 2026)
Since January 2026, we have been focused on finalising our interviews and case studies and coding all the data collected to date, ready for analysis. It has been an intense year, and we are ready for a summer holiday, but the work puts us in a good position to begin writing up the analysis and planning outputs and impact for years 4 and 5 of the project (November 2026 to October 2028). More details on each stage below. Please also see our Newsletter #5, released in early June.
Stage 2. Regulatory and case data:
Stage 2 has two distinct elements: (2a) is retrospective sexual misconduct case data provided by regulators and (2b) consists of systematic searches of media articles, regulator archives and other sources to find cases already in the public domain. In a sense, (2b) ‘open data’ was our insurance approach, should (2a) ‘requested data’ prove challenging.
The requested data is going better than we could have hoped. The breakthrough came with Nate developing a template for collection, based on one set of data received, and then trialling that with other regulators. It is not full-proof, because every data-holder has a different way of collecting and storing information and a different way of defining ‘sexual misconduct’. But it has given us a baseline approach for comparability.
Nate and Emma are also working on developing a common reference point for workforce data across the selected professions. Understanding the wider demographics and numbers of employees within each sector will help us to situate our sexual misconduct data. But again, this is no easy task.
The compilation of case studies through open data (2b) has proved pivotal. A combination of regulator judgments, media articles and other documents has provided rich qualitative data. We have developed around 1000 individual case studies across the professions and, by the end of September 2026, will have catalogued every case study under multiple markers and coded all the associated qualitative data thematically. For police, doctors and the military, given the volume of case studies and/or the volume of paperwork for each case, we have thematically coded a random sample of the qualitative data (around 15%, or where theoretical saturation is met).
Stage 3. Interviews:
We have conducted over 150 interviews. These have been mainly with individuals working for regulators, tribunals and professional bodies or staff supporting anyone involved in a disciplinary process, but also include individuals who act as legal counsel in such cases; and journalists who report on sexual misconduct, particularly for ‘trade’ journals or investigative outlets.
This is a sensitive area of research. For those who prefer to talk to us in ‘off-the-record’ interviews – i.e. they do not want to sign a consent form – we have still followed ethical procedures by using verbal informed consent, immediately anonymising handwritten notes or transcripts; clarifying how data will be used and stored and checking (and recording systematically) with the interviewee whether, if any, of the discussion is quotable or it is just to inform our thinking. See more on this in our How To… blog.
Thematic coding of these interviews has begun, and we will complete this by the end of October 2026 (i.e. the end of year 3 of the project)
Stage 4. Survey:
While the primary focus of this project is on perpetrators and institutional processes, the voices of those who have experienced and witnessed abuse are central to understanding whether and how justice processes work in practice. We have a good sense of those experiences by talking to survivor and advocacy groups, and by reading testimonies posted online, and we have also been running an anonymous online survey for victim-survivors and witnesses. We have received around 50 responses to date and they provide critical qualitative insight. Again, thematic coding of these responses will be completed by end of October 2026.
Stage 5. Analysis and synthesis:
Having catalogued and coded all our data sets, we are then ready to look across the data and start to identify our findings. All data has been coded taking a grounded approach, and in relation to the original five research questions. In the analysis and synthesis stage, we will temporarily detach from the research questions in order to identify themes cross-cutting the data. This is an iterative process, carried out both by individual team members and in discussion with each other. We will also re-visit our Stage 1 literature set (see Stage 1 outputs, published in Autumn 2024) to inform that process. We are in the process of updating our Stage 1 literature to reflect publications between July 2024 and July 2026.
Once the key themes have been mapped, we can return to answering our research questions through writing up different outputs. The team are continuing work on developing a repository to hold all of this data, and to cross-reference our findings with publicly available data on the demographic composition of each workforce. Once themes have been synthesised across the research questions, we aim to produce an interactive tool to display this information for public use on the project website.
Planning for impact
The project has generated significant interest among policy-makers, advocacy and campaign groups, within the regulatory sector and from our academic colleagues here in the UK and internationally. We have been keeping a record of all our impact and engagement activities since 2024. As the data analysis emerges, we also now have a clearer sense of ‘what findings would be useful where’. We will continue to refine our impact plans through Autumn 2026.
Tracking our data collection
To help us understand where we are with data collection, and to be transparent about our ongoing progress on the project, Nate and Emma developed a data collection tracker (see below). We are also excited to have a paper accepted for publication in the journal Violence Against Women (due Spring 2027), which outlines the challenge of accessing, collecting and understanding sexual misconduct data. We hope this will be useful for other researchers.
Finally, any comments and questions are always welcome here: Comments and suggestions – Powerful Perpetrators
Autumn Update (September 2025)
Through 2025, we have been working on data collection stages 2, 3 and 4 of the project. As a reminder, these stages are:
Stage 2. Regulatory and case data:
This involves engaging with UK professional regulators to build retrospective datasets of fitness-to-practice cases and other data related to how sexual misconduct cases are identified and managed within professional organisations. We are also pulling together data already in the public domain.
Stage 3. Interviews:
We are interviewing: (1) staff working for regulators, tribunals and professional bodies or staff supporting anyone involved in a disciplinary process; (2) individuals who act as legal counsel in such cases; and (3) journalists who report on sexual misconduct, particularly for ‘trade’ journals or investigative outlets. For those who prefer to talk in a non-research interview format, we are arranging an ordinary meeting and taking hand-written notes, which we can use to inform our thinking, but will not quote directly.
Stage 4. Survey:
We are surveying individuals who have been victims or witnesses to sexual misconduct, violence or abuse perpetrated by professionals. While the focus of this project is on perpetrators and institutional processes, the voices of those who have experienced and witnessed abuse are central to understanding whether and how justice processes work in practice. This anonymous online survey is open until mid-2026.
Tracking our data collection
To help us understand where we are with data collection, and to be transparent about our ongoing progress on the project, Nate and Emma have developed a data collection tracker (see below). Interviews and regulatory and case data collection will continue through to Spring 2026, so you will start to see an increase overall and a more even distribution between professions. We will begin analysis concurrent to the data collection, from Autumn 2025.
Data Collection Tracker
Autumn Update (October 2024)
Summary of Existing Literature
Through May to July 2024, we conducted an extensive review of published literature and used our five project research questions to analyse and represent that existing evidence base.
Over the summer, we spent time discussing the literature together and we will continue to add to, and draw on this Stage 1 foundation, as a resource throughout the project. We have now distilled this work into 2-page open access briefings for each profession:
You can also compare and contrast the findings using our Interactive literature summary tool here.
Analysis of Existing Methods
In addition to synthesising the literature, the team also recorded the methods and sources used to investigate sexual misconduct for each profession. Method type and data source type were inductively categorised so that we could compare the methodological design of existing studies by profession.
Overall, we found that the literature on doctors, judges, and lawyers employed similar methods to understand sexual misconduct: namely, document analysis and commentary. Studies on psychiatrists and religious leaders are predominantly theoretical papers and/or commentary. Research on the military, police and politicians tends to utilise surveys and interviews.
Reflecting on the different methodological designs, we recognise how the accessibility of different professions and professional institutions (operating within different gatekeeper frameworks) may limit the ability of researchers to use people-based methods. For this reason, researchers may rely on investigative/document-based approaches or theoretical analysis and commentary. Research depends also on the extent to which regulators and professional groups collect, store and publish data, and at what level of granularity.
Explore methods using our dashboard here.
Summer Update (May 2024)
The project commenced on 1 November 2023 and runs until end of October 2028.
In January 2024, ethical approval for the project was received from a University of Bristol ethics committee.
Through December 2023 and January 2024, research posts were advertised for the project and I am very happy to welcome Hannah Richards, Emma Yapp and Nathan Birdsall, who joined over May 2024 (see Meet the Team). Each bring expertise in gender based violence, in professions related to the project, and in a wide range of methods.
As a team, we have started work on Stage 1. This involves synthesising the available international evidence on professional sexual misconduct in relation to the research questions (see About the Project). We have split the work according to our existing experience, so: Hannah is leading on the military and the legal profession; Emma on doctors and psychiatry; Natasha on religious leaders and politicians; and Nate on policing and on drawing together methodological insights from across the field. We are also mapping the regulatory terrain and identifying key contacts and organisations.
As a team, we will share our work with each other in July 2024, and start to identify points of connection and difference between the professions. We are going to use this groundwork to shape our data collection instruments. We then plan to go out to data holders from late 2024.