2017 2017: UMass Dartmouth sociology professor wins Fulbright to study sexual violence in Hungary

Research will focus on underreporting of rape and sexual assault in Hungary, and training of legal and victim response professionals to improve reporting and understanding of sexual violence.

UMass Dartmouth Professor of Sociology Robin A. Robinson has been selected as a Fulbright Research Scholar to conduct research on sexual violence in Hungary. Professor Robinson’s two-part, two-year research project entitled, “Beyond Obstacles, Toward Justice for Victims of Sexual Violence in Hungary,” will examine underreporting of rape and sexual assault in the central European nation.

“Hungary, the country with the lowest rates of reported rapes in Europe, has recognized this as a problem of underreporting,” Professor Robinson said. “As sexual assault within its universities was revealed, the problem of rape myth acceptance has become a focus of legitimate concern.  Nationally, Hungarian researchers and officials seek to understand and act to dispel the myth that victims cause sexual violence, or that they invite it.”

For her Fulbright scholarship, Dr. Robinson’s host institution will be the National Institute of Criminology of Hungary, Scientific Research Institute of the Supreme Prosecution. She will work with colleagues at the Institute throughout the two years.

In year one Dr. Robinson will design and lead a study of rape myth acceptance among legal professionals and others in Hungary, including judges, prosecutors, police, victim services providers, and first responders. In year two, she will work with Institute colleagues to develop training protocols for each of these groups to improve legal discretion and response from victim services, and further, to impact public perceptions and prevention. 

Dr. Robinson is a professor of sociology and coordinator of the Community Engaged Research Initiative at UMass Dartmouth. With a Ph.D. in social policy from Brandeis University and a Psy.D. in clinical psychology from George Washington University, her research combines psychoanalytic theory and critical and feminist criminology in the study of trauma, criminality, and social control of women and girls.

More about UMass Dartmouth research

UMass Dartmouth, with a $27 million research enterprise, is the only Massachusetts research university located south of Boston. The university was officially designated as a doctoral research university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education and earned National Tier 1 designation by U.S. News & World Report in 2016.

More about Fulbright

With the support of the United States government and through binational partnerships with foreign governments, the Fulbright Scholarship Program sponsors U.S. and foreign participants for exchanges in all areas of endeavor, including the sciences, business, academe, public service, government, and the arts and continues to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. The program offers more 500 teaching, research or combination teaching/research awards in over 125 countries. Opportunities are available for college and university faculty and administrators as well as for professionals, artists, journalists, scientists, lawyers, independent scholars and many others.

To engage American scholars unable to spend extended periods of time abroad, the Fulbright Flex Award option is available to researchers who propose multiple, short-term stays in the host country over a period of one to two years. Flex award scholars will be required to give public talks, participate in seminars, mentor students, and otherwise engage with the host country academic community.

“Hungary, the country with the lowest rates of reported rapes in Europe, has recognized this as a problem of underreporting.”