Congratulations Asli Ozer for receiving the 2023 David and Rachelle Chertkow Elder Abuse/Family Violence Prevention Essay Prize!

Our warmest congratulations to our M.A. student, Asli Ozer, on receiving the 2023 David and Rachelle Chertkow Elder Abuse/Family Violence Prevention Essay Prize. She is also the recipient of the 2022 CERi Fellowship Program Award.

About Asli Ozer –

Asli is a second-year M.A. Sociology student in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. Her research interests are violence against women, intimate partner violence, help-seeking behaviours, and COVID-19 pandemic-related issues. Her research focuses on how Turkish women seek help when they experience intimate partner violence before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her research will further explore how Turkey's political and cultural context impacts Turkish women's experiences with help-seeking. Asli is conducting her community-engaged field work and actively working with shelter organizations and charities such as Gelincik Projesi in Ankara, Turkey.

About Asli’s research –

Asli’s thesis, "When Home is Not Safe: Intimate Partner Violence Help-Seeking Behaviours of Turkish Women," focuses on the help-seeking behaviours of Turkish women who experience intimate partner violence before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. More specifically, how do Turkish women seek help formally (e.g., women's shelters or the police) or informally (e.g., family, friends, and relatives), and how did the social isolation restrictions and policy changes during the pandemic affect women's help-seeking behaviours. She has chosen to focus on intimate partner violence to explore Turkish women's experiences with intimate partner violence and their help-seeking behaviours and address a significant research and applied knowledge gap of this topic. She hopes her research will also provide a platform and the opportunity for vulnerable women to express their concerns and opinions about sensitive domestic issues.

About Asli’s award-winning essay –

Asli is nominated for the award based on an essay that she completed for Dr. Barbara Mitchell’s Graduate Seminar, "Families, Communities, and Health." Asli has decided to elaborate on women's intimate partner violence experiences and their help-seeking behaviours by using a critical, aging life course lens. Multiple factors are included, such as Turkey's historical, cultural, and political context and geographical locations (e.g., class, status, age, gender, and race), that shape women's lives and experiences with intimate partner violence.

Asli is honoured to be the recipient of the 2022 CERi Fellowship Program Award and the 2023 David and Rachelle Chertkow Elder Abuse/Family Violence Prevention Essay Prize. With these awards, she extended her research focus by conducting community-engaged fieldwork and expanding the age range of women. She was also able to elaborate on women's experiences at different life course stages and from different generations. Asli is happy and honoured that both awards would assist and improve her research and thesis work.