Academic Partners
Given the complexity of responder-perpetrated sexual exploitation and abuse (RP-SEA) in conflict-affected and fragile contexts, a diverse multidisciplinary collaboration committed to EDIA principles is essential to ensure comprehensive and actionable results. Participants will contribute expertise in areas such as SEA, humanitarian crises, peacekeeping, women, peace, and security, sociolegal studies, psychology, disability, masculinities, LGBTQI+ rights, respondent-driven sampling, mixed-methods and qualitative research, and sensemaking.
Dr. Susan Bartels
Dr. Susan Bartels is a Clinician-Scientist and Canada Research Chair in Humanitarian Health Equity at Queen’s University. An emergency physician, she conducts global public health research on how humanitarian crises affect women, children, and other equity-deserving groups. Her work spans Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, with a focus on improving health outcomes and mitigating the adverse impacts of conflict and disasters.
Dr. Bartels uses innovative methods to better understand the social determinants of health in complex settings and brings an equity lens to her work, prioritizing collaboration with local communities and organizations. In her role as project director, she leads the research, oversees data collection and coordination, and guides outreach, dissemination, and budget management..
Dr. Sabine Lee
Professor of Modern History at the University of Birmingham, she leads research on children born of war (CBOW) and the social consequences of armed conflict and conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). Her work spans contemporary history and interdisciplinary studies on conflict and security, with a particular focus on CRSV.
She has led multiple international and interdisciplinary research projects, including two AHRC-funded research networks and a European Union H2020 doctoral training network on children born of war (www.chibow.org). The project and its research dissemination strategy were awarded the 2021 Ralf Dahrendorf Prize for the European Research Area.
Lee has authored or edited eleven books and numerous peer-reviewed articles. Her monograph, Children Born of War in the 20th Century (Manchester University Press, 2017), the first comprehensive research-based study of children born of war, won the proxime accessit 2019 Book Prize from the Social History Society. She has collaborated with creative partners to share research with non-academic audiences: the co-production with Dheeraj Akolkar, The Wound is Where the Light Enters, based on projects with Ugandan CBOW, won the AHRC Research in Film Award 2021, and her knowledge mobilization work with CBOW was showcased as one of the UK’s most impactful development research initiatives by the UK Research Collaborative on Development Research in 2023.
Dr. Lee will connect our project with international networks on war and society and the UK’s Prevention of Sexual Violence Initiative (PSVI) while co-leading the Training Committee with Dr. Kalmendi.
Mr. Kuol Akok Deng
University of Juba
Mr. Kuol Akok Deng, Senior Lecturer and the Deputy Head of the Department of Research and Publication at the University of Juba, Mr. Deng is one of Partners on “Responder-Perpetrated Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (RP-SEA) in Humanitarian Crises—A Partnership for Accountability and Change” the project. With over a decade of academic experience, he has significantly contributed to teaching, supervising thesis projects, and developing course materials. He is also a Human Rights Lawyer with extensive experience in legal consultancy. His research focuses on Human Rights, Gender-Based Violence, Child Protection, and Child Soldiering.
Mr. Deng holds multiple degrees, including two Master’s degrees in Law and a Master of Business Administration. Mr. Deng’s wealth of knowledge in the academic and legal fields and his commitment to human rights make him a valuable asset to the “Responder-Perpetrated Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (RP-SEA) in Humanitarian Crises—A Partnership for Accountability and Change” project.
Dr. Sawsan Abdulrahim
Sawsan Abdulrahim (PhD, MPH) is Professor of Public Health and IDRC Research Chair in Forced Displacement at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. She is a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard FXB Center for Health and Human Rights. In her research, she utilizes mixed methods to illuminate social inequities in health across the life course, with a focus on the wellbeing of refugees and labor migrants in the Arab region.
Her research interests include forced migration and health; aging and care; and the impact of structural violence on the wellbeing of displaced populations. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on research methods, health promotion theory, social epidemiology, and forced migration.
Dr. Heide Glaesmer
Heide studied psychology at the University of Leipzig and finished her PhD in Public Health at the Freie Universität, Berlin. She is a trained psychotherapist (Cognitive behavioural psychotherapy), and is currently the vice head of the Department of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology (University of Leipzig), and the head of the research group “Psychotraumatology and migration research” as well as “Suicide research”.
Her main research focus in psychotraumatology is on mental health and mental health care in refugees, conflict-related sexual violence against all genders, institutional sexual abuse (e.g. child care institutions) and on Children Born of War. In 2012 she completed her habilitation on mental disorders and particularly on traumatic experiences and PTSD in the elderly as long-term consequences of WWII at the Medical Faculty of Leipzig. Her habilitation was awarded with the “Gerd-Sommer-Award of Peace Psychology” and the with the “Falk-von-Reichenbach-Award”. She has (co-)authored more than 500 scientific articles and book chapters.
Dr. Marie-Rose Bashwira
Center of Research and Expertise on Gender and Development
Associate Professor at the Higher Institute of Rural Development and coordinator of the Center of Research and Expertise on Gender and Development (CREGED). Her mission is to contribute to a society in which men and women have equal rights and opportunities to help develop their communities and society. She will co-host the year 6 learning institute in the DRC.
Dr. Annie Bunting
York University
Professor of Law & Society at York University, specializes in gender violence in conflict situations, child marriage, and international human rights, focusing on Africa.
She led the SSHRC Partnership Grant, "Conjugal Slavery in War" (2015-22), with SOFEPADI as a key partner. She is skilled in community-based knowledge mobilization, notably through the museum exhibit ‘Ododo Wa: Stories of Girls in War’, a four-part podcast, and web platforms, enhancing the Partnership’s dissemination efforts.
She will co-lead the KM Committee in collaboration with Ms. Brostrom.
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Dr. Meghan Goodchild
Meghan Goodchild is the Interim Head Digital Initiatives and Open Scholarship Librarian. She leads the library department that provides services, systems, and tools connecting library users with rich and varied information resources and services.
Meghan was formerly the Research Data Management Librarian at Queen’s University Library and Scholars Portal of the Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL). She has expertise research data management, digital preservation, and data visualization.
Dr Stéfanie von Hlatky
Professor of Political Studies and Canada Research Chair in Gender, Security, and the Armed Forces at Queen’s, with expertise on military cooperation.
As the former Director of the Centre for International and Defence Policy, her experience in bridging the gap between academia and the world of practice informs research strategies with military actors. Dr. von Hlatky is the founder of Women in International Security – Canada and Honorary Colonel of the Princess of Wales’ Own Regiment.
Dr. Kaltrina Kelmendi
Associate Professor at the University of Prishtina, Kosovo. As a social psychologist, she has extensive expertise in mixed-method research design, interpersonal violence, and participatory action research.Her research interests include domestic, gender-based, and youth violence, drug abuse, and child protection.
Her recent work focuses on the study of resilience in Kosovo and South-Eastern Europe. Adding to her distinguished career, Dr. Kelmendi was honored with a Fulbright Visiting Scholar position for the academic year 2020/2021.
She will lead the training committee along with Dr. Lee.
Dr. Yvon Janvier
L’École Supérieure Catholique de Droit de Jérémie
Lawyer and human rights researcher in Haiti, holding a Doctorate in Humanities and Human Rights. He teaches at L’École Supérieure Catholique de Droit de Jérémie (ESCDROJ) and co-founded the Humanitarian and Leadership Studies Institute.
With over 30 years of experience, his expertise is essential for addressing sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian contexts.
Dr. Heather Tasker
Dr. Heather Tasker (she/her) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada. Heather's research explores accountability and access to justice following gendered violence in conflict-affected contexts, drawing on and contributing to the fields of transitional justice, human rights, and feminist security studies.
Heather holds a PhD in Socio-Legal Studies from York University, where her dissertation explored barriers to meaningful justice following peacekeeper-perpetrated sexual exploitation and abuse in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Heather co-leads, with Pascale Solages, the RESPONDER EDIA sub-committee and she is a member of the Training sub-committee.