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Undergraduate Student, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario

 

Catrina is pursuing a Bachelor of Health Sciences at Queen’s University and eager to continue learning and growing in the field of global health.

 

She currently supports the RESPONDER Partnership under the supervision of Susan Bartels and Sabine Lee, learning about research pertaining to sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian settings. Her interests lie at the intersection of women’s and maternal health, and she is motivated to build the skills and insight needed to advance equitable, evidence-based care for diverse populations in Canada and globally.

Research Assistant, University of Birmingham, UK

 

Lydia is a Research Assistant on the RP-SEA project, where she contributes to the initial preparatory work for a scoping review. Her work includes screening articles against inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracting data, and synthesizing findings.

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Lydia completed her undergraduate thesis at the University of Birmingham under the supervision of Professor Sabine Lee. In 2025, she began her Master’s in History at the University of Birmingham. Her research interests focus on gender-based violence and humanitarian crises, with particular attention to how colonial legacies shape sexual violence and contribute to health disparities in post-contact Indigenous nations.

Research Fellow at University of Birmingham

 

Dr Kirstin Wagner is a Research Fellow at the University of Birmingham working at the intersection of humanitarian protection, conflict-related sexual violence, and evidence-informed policy. She is part of the Rights for Time research network, where her work examines the documentation, governance, and long-term impacts of sexual violence in humanitarian and peacekeeping contexts.

 

Her research focuses on survivor-centred documentation practices, ethical data governance, and the translation of research evidence into policy and operational guidance for international organisations and frontline actors. Kirstin completed her PhD at the University of Birmingham, where she examined sexual exploitation and abuse by UN peacekeepers and its long-term impacts on women and children in post-conflict settings.

Research Assistant at Queen's University

 

Kali Coles is a graduate student and research assistant with interests in global health and health equity. She will begin a part-time Master of Science program with a specialization in Epidemiology in September 2026. Her research has examined sexual and reproductive health among women and girls affected by displacement in South Sudan and has contributed to qualitative research exploring the clustering of sexual and reproductive health challenges. Kali's interests focus on how structural inequalities shape health outcomes for populations in humanitarian and conflict contexts. She is particularly interested in feminist approaches to global health research and how these frameworks can inform more equitable health systems and policies. 

 

Kali is currently contributing to the RESPONDER project through a scoping review that will help inform the development of survey questions. She plans to be involved in data analysis as part of her future master’s thesis work. 

Sickkids Center for Global Child Health

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Dr. Luissa Vahedi is a PhD-trained epidemiologist working at the intersection of research, policy, and practice to address global public health challenges. Her work focuses on the fragility of public services and the links between violence and population health, particularly for women and children. 

 

Since 2017, she has led projects spanning survey research, systematic reviews, and advanced quantitative and qualitative analysis, integrating gender and violence protections into social policy and humanitarian programs. She is passionate about translating rigorous research and lived experience into actionable evidence that reduces health disparities and informs real-world policy and practice.

MA student, University of Birmingham
 

Fae is the Collaborative Research Intern for the RESPONDER project at the University of Birmingham, currently studying towards an MA in Creative Writing. She is a humanitarian and development practitioner with experience across the UK, Central America, the Caribbean, and the Middle East, working in international development, emergency response, and interagency coordination with both large humanitarian organisations and grassroots NGOs. Most recently, she co‑led the revision of the British Red Cross’s Standard Operating Procedures for International Emergency Response, strengthening HR processes including safeguarding, vetting, and reporting linked to international deployments.

She holds a BA in English and Spanish and an MA in Conflict, Security and Development from the University of Exeter, and is interested in how humanitarian practice can better centre community engagement and accountability, ensuring that aid systems protect and respond to people’s needs without doing further harm.

Undergraduate Student and Research Assistant, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
 

Anita is a Bachelor of Health Sciences student at Queen’s University. She currently contributes to the RESPONDER Project, supporting a scoping review through study screening, data extraction, and evidence synthesis on responder-perpetrated sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian settings, under the supervision of Dr. Bartels.

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Her research interests include global health, health equity, and health care systems, with a focus on how structural inequalities and power imbalances shape vulnerability in crisis-affected contexts. She is particularly interested in survivor-centred research and in translating evidence into more equitable policies and practices. Anita is fully bilingual in English and French.
 

Undergraduate Student and Research Assistant, Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario
 

Abitha is a Bachelor of Health Sciences student at Queen’s University. Through the RESPONDER Project, she contributes to a scoping review investigating responder-perpetrated sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian settings. Her work involves screening academic and grey literature and conducting data extractions, supporting the broader evidence synthesis under the supervision of Dr. Bartels and Dr. Lee.

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Her interests lie in global health and its intersectional nature, with a particular curiousity for how social and structural forces shape health outcomes across diverse places and populations. She is especially drawn to research that connects evidence with real-world impact, particularly in global and humanitarian contexts shaped by conflict and inequity.