AFTER 10 months of charged debate over whether attacks on overseas students are race-based, researcher Helen Forbes-Mewett wants to interview the assailants in an effort to get to the bottom of the issue.

At least 28 offenders have been charged with assault and armed robbery in Melbourne, Sydney, the Gold Coast and Brisbane over the attacks since 2008, with claims and counter-claims ascribed to their motives.

"If we are given the opportunity, we will try [to interview them]. We will ask what criminal activity they are aware of, including their own or someone else's," Dr Forbes-Mewett said.

The Monash sociologist has won a four-year Australian Research Council grant to investigate the nature of the attacks, which have caused great distress in the overseas student community and damaged relations with India.

The development comes as influential Indian magazine Outlook detailed a litany of crimes against Indians in Australia while failing to note that three people charged with the murder of Ranjodh Singh were Indian nationals.

Dr Forbes-Mewett said: "We want to establish the magnitude and nature of the threat that crime poses to international students, and whether it differs from that confronting domestic students."

She already has a strong track record on the issue, having done her PhD on overseas student security, and is mentored by an expert in the area, fellow Monash academic Chris Nyland.

The Monash sociologist plans to interview key informants, students, police and counsellors, and publish papers during the study.

She aims to determine "the crime-producing circumstances" of 15 critical incidents, including the fatal stabbing of Central Queensland University masters graduate Nitin Garg in Melbourne in January.

She credited the media with already bringing forward enough evidence for the government to act on what has become a significant human rights issue.

"I think there's a racial element. I see no point in denying that. But I think there are a lot of other social dynamics contributing to this," she said.

"There's many thousands of international students living in an area already occupied by people not particularly well off.

"Perhaps they aren't welcoming of people they see as outsiders, which doesn't necessarily mean it's racial."

Solutions could include a British-style neighbourhood watch for students, and a broad campaign about students' right to be safe along the lines of campaigns targeting AIDS and domestic violence, she said.