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Melanie BeresBSc PhD (Alta) MSc (Guelph)

Associate Professor in Sociology

Contact Details

Room 5C15, Richardson Building
Tel +64 3 479 8736
Email melanie.beres@otago.ac.nz

My core area of interest is in sexual violence prevention.  In particular I am interested in understand how people give consent to sex, and how we might be able to use this information to develop effective educational programming. I am also interested more broadly in constructions of sexuality including queer sexualities. I engage with both qualitative and quantitative methods.

Teaching

I co-ordinate and teach:

Postgraduate supervision

  • Sexual violence prevention
  • Consent
  • Sexualities

Current Students

Ola Kattoura PhD

Arab and Jewish Battered Women in Shelters

Seamyi ChungPhD

Anti-aging practices of older Korean women in New Zealand

Mahfuzur RahmanPhD

The causes of plateau in fertility transition in Bangladesh

Nishanthi PereraPhD

Sexual health of international students from South Asia

Bell MurphyPhD

Empowerment beyond the neoliberal self: An autoethnography of a feminist self defence teacher in Aotearoa

Publications

McCall, D., Luu, X., Krogh, C., Phelan, L., Dempsey, A., Acosta, C., … Beres, M. A. (2024). A comparative account of institutional approaches to addressing campus-based sexual violence in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Violence Against Women, 30(6-7), 1586-1613. doi: 10.1177/10778012231183654 Journal - Research Article

Dixon, L., Treharne, G., Pettie, M., Bowden, C., Patterson, T., Beres, M., Mirfin-Veitch, B., Shaw, R., Eketone-Kelly, A., & Ashdown, J. (2023). Male survivors of sexual violence and abuse (SVA): Barriers and facilitators to reporting and accessing services. (pp. 1-110). Wellington, New Zealand: Ministry of Social Development. [Technical/Scientific Report]. Working Paper; Discussion Paper; Technical Report

Wardell, S., Beres, M., Gilmour, F. E., Withey-Rila, C., & Studio Rebeko, including Lazarević, B. (2022, December). Tagging In: A resource for social media admins & moderators. 23p. Retrieved from https://thetagginginproject.com/ Other Research Output

Patterson, T. G., Hobbs, L. D., Treharne, G. J., & Beres, M. A. (2022). Seeking of help and support after experiencing sexual harm: Considerations for cisgender-women, cisgender-men and gender-diverse people. In L. Wilson, H. Harcombe, P. Jayakaran, L. Burga, J. Antony, K. Morgaine, M. Garelja, A. Middleton, M. Anwar & T. Milne (Eds.), Proceedings of the 262nd Otago Medical School Research Society (OMSRS) Meeting: Research Staff Speaker Awards. Dunedin, New Zealand: OMSRS. Retrieved from https://ourarchive.otago.ac.nz/handle/10523/12839 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

Beres, M. (2022). Finding the 'why': Institutional responses to sexual violence. In C. Young, H. Briggs, M. Knowler, C. Rhyne & T. Felton (Eds.), Proceedings of the Fourth Annual Te Whare Tāwharau Symposium: Empowering Communities: A Way Forward From Sexual Violence. (pp. 25). Dunedin, New Zealand: Te Whare Tawharau Centre for Sexual Violence Support and Prevention, University of Otago. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10523/13643 Conference Contribution - Published proceedings: Abstract

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