In 2015 a number of academics who were currently researching commercial sex from a number of perspectives (law, criminology, sociology, gender studies, sexual health, anthropology) came together with a number of NGOs, including Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) and UglyMugs.ie, to create an all-Ireland network for research into sex work and sexual governance scholarship within the island of Ireland.  The new network was called the Irish Sex Work Research Network (ISWRN) and is based on the UK’s Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) that has been in existence for several decades now.  The aim of the network is to research issues around commercial sex on the island of Ireland in partnership with sex workers and support organisations. 

Source: ISWRN

The ISWRN takes as its starting point that sex workers are best placed to make take decisions about issues that affect their own lives, and that research as a matter of ethics and morality should involve sex workers as full and active participants. The ISWRN’s objectives can be listed as follows:

• Critique and challenge exclusionary and undemocratic processes that impact sex workers negatively;
• Identify opportunities for collaborative research across partner institutions, partner agencies and individuals domestically and internationally;
• Provide a centre for expertise on sex work research and evaluation and
• Influence law, policy and practice in the field of sex work and sexual governance.

The ISWRN hub welcomes membership from academics, students, practitioners, sex workers, policy makers, lawyers, advocates and individuals in Ireland or with an interest in the Irish context.

The network is committed to:

• Collaborative research and practice that prioritises sex workers’ lives;
• Developing a robust evidence-base on sex work in Ireland that recognises sex workers as experts in their own lives and contexts;
• Promoting the highest ethical standards in sex work and sexual governance research;
• Including sex workers as peers and collaborators in the research process;
• Supporting research that informs law, policy and praxis based on social justice

Research on migration and sex work

It is important to understand that sex worker migration is rarely a matter for either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland exclusively, but often has an all-island dimension, particularly when the majority of sex workers tour between cities in Ireland and Britain.  Understanding how sex workers are impacted by migration is one of the core research strands of the ISWRN. Research has been conducted by the network on migrant sex workers’ access to sexual health advice, among other things.    

Mapping the terrain of commercial sex in the UK and Ireland

In 2020, Professor Ellison (Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland) and Dr Kathryn McGarry (Maynooth University, Republic of Ireland) were successful in their bid for an Economic and Social Research Council – Irish Research Council network award with the title Mapping the terrain of commercial sex in the UK and Ireland. The project started on 1^st March 2021 and a website will be announced in due course.     

Currently there are over 60 members of the network. These include sex workers, sex worker activists, NGOs, statutory organisations and academics in both the UK and Irish Republic. A range of events and activities planned at Queen’s University Belfast, Maynooth University, the University of Strathclyde and Birkbeck College London are forthcoming. 

 

 

Professor Graham Ellison

School of Law