Support during UTS Christmas closure period
Closure dates
UTS will be closed from 25 December to 4 January.
Staffing across the university will be significantly reduced during this time.
If you need urgent support
Contact the UTS GBV Support Line for urgent support during the closure period.
Call the GBV Support Line
- Phone: 1800 531 626
- This connects you with UTS Security, who operate 24 hours a day throughout the closure
- They can help with immediate safety needs and link you with UTS Counselling
- Please note that UTS counselling services are also operating on reduced hours
In an emergency
- If you are in immediate danger, call 000
Everyone deserves to feel safe, respected and valued.
We take action against gender-based violence and discrimination by challenging inequality, shifting attitudes and behaviours. We foster a culture of care and accountability – where harm is never overlooked and people can learn, work and belong as their full selves.
If you have experienced harm including gender-based violence (GBV), sexual assault or harassment, we want to support you. Specialist staff are available to listen, provide confidential, trauma-informed support and help you understand your options.
Explore
Find about more in our Gender-based Violence Action Plan (PDF).
What is gender-based violence (GBV)?
GBV is any violence used against someone because of their gender (or perceived gender).
This includes, but is not limited to rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, domestic and family violence, coercive control, and any unwanted or unwelcome sexual behaviour or activity that occurs without free and informed consent.
It can be physical, emotional, psychological, social, cultural, spiritual, financial or technology-facilitated abuse. Some forms of GBV, such as sexual assault, image-based abuse and stalking, are also criminal offences.
Gender inequalities in society create the context in which GBV occurs. While people of all genders can experience GBV, it most often affects women and girls. Violence against LGBTIQA+ people is also recognised as GBV, as this is also driven by rigid and hierarchical ideas about sex, gender and sexuality.
Experiences of GBV are further shaped by multiple intersecting factors, including ethnicity, culture, racial marginalisation, disability, sexuality, gender identity, migration status, age and socioeconomic background.
Marginalised or minoritised groups often face greater risks and additional barriers to accessing help. We acknowledge this and seek to address these systemic inequalities within our broader work, while aiming to ensure the support we offer is inclusive and responsive to diverse experiences and needs.
UTS policies and rules require everyone in our community to treat others fairly and with dignity and respect, without discrimination, and to avoid any behaviour that involves bullying, harassment or vilification.
Learn more about GBV in our glossary of terms (PDF)
Help and support is available
If something has happened to you, we encourage you to come forward.
Respect.Now.Always
UTS is proud to be an active member of the national Respect.Now.Always. initiative, dedicated to a whole-of-university approach to preventing GBV in all its forms.
Driving change together
UTS is working to bring about long-term social and cultural change that prevents GBV before it occurs. We are also strengthening response systems so they can respond in a way that is compassionate, fair, effective and informed by community voices.
New national legislation is on the horizon and universities are being called to act. At UTS, that work is already well underway.
Consent Matters is a compulsory online training about appropriate behaviour and positive intervention. Every single staff and student will complete it once during their time at UTS to ensure that all members of our community have a shared understanding of healthy relationships and can help if they see unacceptable situations.
When someone experiences gender-based violence (GBV), the moment of harm is only the beginning. What happens next – the conversations, the silences, the support or lack of it – can shape everything that follows.
The UTS Domestic and Family Violence Research Network is a collaborative initiative dedicated to advancing research, policy, and practice related to domestic and family violence.
The trailblazing Australian author and journalist Dr Anne Summers AO joined UTS Business School in June 2022 to continue her research dedicated to ending domestic and family violence.
Jess Hill is one Australia’s leading thinkers and advocates on gendered violence and coercive control. Her longstanding research in this field includes the publication of the Stella Prize winning non-fiction book See What You Made Me Do, adapted into a three-part SBS documentary.