MsElla Marshall

Ella Marshall is a PhD Candidate, graduate researcher, sessional academic, and research assistant at Deakin University. She is also a member of the Deakin Network Against Gendered Violence (DNAGV), Crime and Criminology Group (C2G), and the Advancing Rural, Regional Culture and Society (ARRCS).

Ella Marshall's main area of research seeks to examine the complexities of victim-survivors becoming advocates against gender-based violence in a post-MeToo movement era. Despite the renewed resurgence of public and social advocacy surrounding gender-based violence, the roles of victim-survivors as advocates, and the challenges they encounter, remain largely under-explored. Her research therefore aims to understand how victim-survivor advocates challenge and potentially transform narratives around gender-based violence.

This research flows on from Ella Marshall’s honours thesis, which examined the ways Australian media shaped understandings of survivor recovery. Drawing on political and criminological theories, this research investigated how Australian newspapers framed the dual role of victim-survivors and advocates for systemic reform. It found that media representations often imposed narrow and restrictive narratives, shaping public perceptions of what advocacy ‘typically’ looks like. By situating a high-profile victim-survivor advocates experiences of advocacy within broader discussions of victim-survivor agency and institutional change, this work contributed to contemporary debates on trauma, justice, and the collective responsibility to foster environments that support meaningful recovery in the fight against gender-based violence.

Due to opportunities presented through research assistant work, Ella Marshall’s area of research also explores the complicated dynamic of defamation law in Australia, and how it can often be weaponised within the civil courts to stifle the voices of victim-survivors of sexual violence as a retaliatory mechanism.

Ella Marshall is currently being supervised by Dr Sally Kennedy, Associate Professor Jessamy Gleeson, Associate Professor Ian Warren, and Associate Professor Danielle Tyson. Together, they provide interdisciplinary guidance on her research into victim-survivor advocacy and gender-based violence.