The Age of Inquiry A global mapping of institutional abuse inquiries

From the outset, this project was envisaged as a collaborative enterprise. In addition to the core project team, it actively seeks contributions from people with expertise on particular inquiries. If you would like to contribute, please contact us.

Inquiries are currently being added by geographic region. This first version is focusing on Australia, Nordic countries, the UK and Ireland. Professor Shurlee Swain has been responsible for compiling information on Australian inquiries, Professor Johanna Sköld for inquiries in the Nordic countries and Associate Professor Katie Wright for inquiries in the UK and Ireland.

This project has been considerably enriched by the generous contributions made by a number of scholars. We extend our thanks and appreciation to other experts who have contributed to the generation of data for this web resource:

• Dr Fiona Davis, Australian Catholic University, contributed entries for inquiries in Canada and the United States of America.
• Joel Löw, Linköping University, Sweden, contributed entries for five Norwegian inquiries.
• Professor Ingunn Studsrød, University of Stavanger, contributed the entry for Granskingsutvalget for barnevernsinstitusjoner i Rogaland in Norway.

The project has also benefited from collaborations and assistance at various stages. Dr Kathleen McPhillips of the University of Newcastle and Dr Fiona Davis of the Australian Catholic University were part of early discussions. We thank Sari Braithwaite for ongoing research support and Sidrah McCarthy for research assistance in late in 2016 and early 2017.

This site is powered by the Online Heritage Resource Manager (OHRM), a context-based resource discovery, access and management system developed by the eScholarship Research Centre (ESRC) at The University of Melbourne. We acknowledge the expertise of Associate Professor Gavan McCarthy, Dr Ailie Smith and Dr Antonina Lewis in customising the OHRM for The Age of Inquiry and thank them for their support and assistance with the development of this project.

The pilot phase of this project was funded by La Trobe University’s Transforming Human Societies Research Focus Area: “The Age of Inquiry: A genealogy of inquiries into historical abuse” (2016-2017). The project has also been supported by the 2016 Research Excellence Award (Early Career Researcher) received by Dr Katie Wright from the College of Arts, Social Sciences and Commerce at La Trobe University.

We thank the La Trobe University Library for hosting this site and for providing technical support and assistance.

The Age of Inquiry homepage was designed by Molly Seeary.

We thank the following organisations for permission to use images on this site: SAVIA, CLAN, Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, Getty, National Archives of Australia, State Library of Victoria, State Library of NSW, State Archives and Records NSW.