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Student Advice and Signposting Hub
  1. Student Advice and Signposting Hub
  2. Advice, wellbeing and mental health
  3. Sexual Harassment and Violence

Sexual Harassment and Violence

Stop violence

Being physically attacked, raped, sexually assaulted or harassed is a very distressing experience which can have long lasting effects and a significant impact on someone’s wellbeing.

Queen Mary's Report and Support pages offer information about local and national support services for anyone in this situation. There is also the option to make a report to the University, either anonymously or with contact details.

The university is required to publish a ‘single source of information’ for students (and staff) on how we are meeting the content of Office for Students Condition E6, which requires us to protect students from ‘sexual misconduct’, i.e. sexual harassment and sexual violence, and harassment more widely. This single source of information contains details of how to make reports and request support (amongst many other things) and can be found here: https://reportandsupport.qmul.ac.uk/campaigns/our-commitment

Sexual Assault and Harassment support

The university employs two permanent, full-time Sexual Assault and Harassment Advisers, or SAHAs. These are based within the Advice and Counselling Service.

SAHAs are specialist advisers that provide emotional and practical support to students who have been raped, sexually assaulted, or harassed, whether that’s happened recently or in the past. The SAHAs support students whether this happened at the university or not, and can also help them access external support services.

The SAHAs can support students to explore their options should they wish to report what has happened and can support them through this process if they choose to make a formal report.

While they do not provide counselling or therapy, the SAHAs offer short term emotional support to look at managing the impact of what has happened. They can also work with students to provide practical support and look at ways of making them feel safe.

Contacts

Report and Support, SAHA Service

More information can be found on our Report and Support pages, as well as the website for the SAHA service within Advice and Counselling.

Security

For issues which occur on campus there is a Security Team at Queen Mary who are responsible for maintaining safety and security on campuses. To find out more about what they do and how to contact them please visit the Security website. The security team also have a list of safe spaces which are open 24/7 for students travelling between campuses or students who are in the local area. Any student can access these if they are feeling unsafe or harassed.

Consent Matters

As part of our obligations under Condition E6 and our aspiration to make Queen Mary the most inclusive university of its kind, it is essential that we have a demonstrable commitment to making Queen Mary safe and respectful everyone.

As such, there is a mandatory course on QMplus called Consent Matters; in this course students will learn how to recognise and ask for sexual consent, look out for others, and where to find support. We expect all students to complete this module.

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