Prof Laura Tarzia

Laura Tarzia is Professor in the Department of General Practice & Primary Care, The University of Melbourne.

She is co-lead (with Kelsey Hegarty) of the Department's Sexual and Family Violence program and heads up the RESTORE Centre of Research Excellence which is focused on transforming health systems to promote healing and wellbeing for survivors of sexual violence.

Laura's research focuses on sexual, reproductive and intimate partner violence against women and their areas of overlap. Her research program aims to 1) understand the dynamics and context of different types of violence and 2) harness insights from victim/survivors to inform interventions in health settings and online. Currently, she is leading an ARC Discovery Project focused on sexual violence against older women, and a randomised controlled trial of trauma-sensitive yoga for survivors of sexual violence (funded by an NHMRC Ideas Grant).

Recently, she completed a major project focused on women international students’ experiences of sexual and intimate partner violence (INVEST). Resources from the project are available here. She also completed an in-depth, four-year program of work on intimate partner sexual violence (2017-2021) which resulted in a dedicated trauma-informed website to support women survivors, and a new measurement instrument specifically focused on IPSV. Her other main program of research focuses on understanding reproductive coercion and abuse and its intersections with coercive control and sexual violence.

View Laura’s University of Melbourne Find An Expert profile here.