Paid Research Opportunity: SWERV! (Sex Workers Evaluate Reporting Violence)
1 July 2025
UPDATE 8 January 2026: NUM members approved on or after 1 April 2025 and provide in-person services in or near a major city? If so, we urgently need to hear from you!
Complete this paid survey in the Members’ Area. (Survey expected to close 28 February 2026).
We’re excited to announce a new paid research opportunity for sex workers, conducted in partnership with the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Brunel University London.
It is funded by the Public Health Research Programme at the National Institute of Health Research.
This study explores how effective violence prevention tools, such as NUM’s reporting and alerting platform and the NUMchecker tool, are in reducing or preventing violence and improving mental wellbeing among sex workers. We’re especially interested in hearing from sex workers who are new members of National Ugly Mugs (NUM), so we can better understand the impact of these tools compared to those who are not registered.
Available in Portuguese, Romanian, Polish, and English.
Who can take part?
You may be eligible to participate if you:
- Are over 18 years old
- Are a newly registered member of National Ugly Mugs (NUM) – Approved for membership from 1 April 2025 to present
- Have provided in-person sexual services (at least some of which have been indoor) within the last 6 months
- Work or have worked in a city, large town, or urban area
What’s involved?
If you are eligible and choose to take part, you’ll be asked to complete a 30–40 minute survey. To make it as easy as possible, we can support you with:
- Information about the project
- Help with the consent process
- Assistance with completing the questionnaire
- Answers to any questions you may have
Support is available by phone, video call, or face-to-face—whichever you prefer.
Compensation for your time
As a thank you for your participation, you will receive a £30 payment via your preferred method once your survey is completed and submitted. The payment options are as follows:
- Cash (provided by co-researchers and can be exchanged at an agreed location in London within office hours).
- Love2Shop Vouchers – emailed/text over
- Payment link via revolut – you get sent the Revolut link and it asks you to put details in and the money is transferred
- Bank transfer – done by LSHTM (requires bank details)
You’ll also be contributing to research that aims to improve safety tools and support services for sex workers in the future.
Confidential and secure
Your participation in the study is completely confidential. Any identifiable information, like your contact details, will only be accessed by members of the research team for follow-up if needed. All data will be anonymised and stored securely, and your contact details will be deleted after 6 months.