Research

Research: making the data human

Housing policy is written from datasets in which survivors appear as categories and codes. HerPathHome's research strand exists to put the lived experience back in: rigorously, ethically, and in women's own words.

Written by a domestic abuse practitioner Research strand Updated June 2026

Where this is heading

Research participation opportunities (surveys, interviews, story collection with consent) will be published here as they open. Join the mailing list on the homepage to hear when they do.

The questions we care about

Our research interest sits exactly where this whole platform sits: the space between housing provision and human recovery. What actually transforms a house into a home after abuse? What happens to women in the months after the tenancy starts, when the files close? Which parts of the system help recovery, which quietly hinder it, and what would survivors design differently if anyone asked them?

These questions are informed by over a decade of frontline practice in housing and domestic abuse, and by current postgraduate study in housing: academic rigour and duty-desk reality, together.

How it will work

For researchers, students and organisations

If you are working on housing, trauma, domestic abuse or recovery and see an overlap: for collaboration, data sharing within ethical bounds, or amplifying each other's work: get in touch. This field is better joined-up than fragmented.