About the project
StopWatch are excited to kick off a national research project speaking to young women about their experiences of stop and search.
The project was devised in response to girls and young women reporting stop and search encounters to be frightening and humiliating experiences. They expressed frustration that despite being directly impacted by stop and search powers, they were excluded from community and policy discussions, and left feeling voiceless and ignored. The research we are conducting will give a voice to and empower these and other young women.
The teams who will be carrying out the research are young women between the ages of 16 and 30 years. They are being trained in research skills by Dr Louise Owusu-Kwarteng, associate dean and director of undergraduate research at Greenwich University. We believe that with continued training and assistance the research teams can be supported to influence policy using an array of new skills in research, policy and advocacy.
Everyone involved in this project is female, and our motto is ‘Research About Us, By Us, For Us’. We believe that women are best placed to research and tell their own stories, and young women being interviewed by their peers will produce a comfortable and authentic interview process.
Interviewing survivors
We interviewed Dr Koshka Duff, who received an apology from the Met police in January 2022 after a strip search [read more about the case here].
Watch the video to learn about her harrowing experience as well as her views on how stop and search affects young women and girls.
Subscribe
We have a newsletter / podcast you can sign up to! Just click on the button below to sample our content and sign up!
Subscribe to the girls and young women's research project newsletterStop and search girls questionnaire
To make this research really count we need 5,000 responses! It will only take a couple of minutes to complete our quick anonymous survey, have your voice heard and contribute to this ground-breaking research.
If you have had a stop and search experience that you would like to discuss in a more detailed interview, please contact national research lead Shenna (contact details also in bio).
Questionnaire formIn keeping with our organisational values of collaboration, inclusivity and diversity, the project will be a collaboration between StopWatch, and groups from the following regions:
- London (flagship research team)
- Liverpool
- Manchester
- Nottingham
Click on the links below to find out more about participants from the following regions. To get involved in the project or to find out more information, please contact national research lead Shenna (contact details also in bio).
Blog series on the girls and young women's research project
Girls and young women's research project: Week 1National research lead

Flagship research team [London]







Research team [Liverpool]



Research team [Nottingham]





Advisory board




