Sex offending focus of Vic research team

Serious violent and sexual offending will be the focus of a research team set up at Melbourne's Swinburne University.

The Catalyst Consortium at Swinburne University of Technology aims to improve understanding of what causes repeat violent and sexual offending.

The consortium is part of the Labor government's response to the Harper Review into the management of serious sex offenders, commissioned after the murder of 17-year-old Masa Vukotic.

Minister for Corrections Gayle Tierney officially opened the consortium on Wednesday. The team will be headed by forensic psychologists James Ogloff and Michael Daffern, who will oversee a network of researchers in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US.

"By learning more about what causes repeat violent and sexual offending, we'll be in a better position to reduce reoffending to improve community safety," Ms Tierney said in a statement.

The consortium will also look at forensic mental health and how to better support people with mental illness in the justice system.