Meet the Team
People are at the heart of our partnership. Our team includes co-applicants and collaborators who have knowledge and experience of forced migration and research/education, and who also bring different positionalities and perspectives, with particular attention to lived experiences of displacement, language (French, English, bilingual, multilingual), stage of career, discipline, sector, and geographic representation across Canada.
Leen Aboujaish
Leen Aboujaish is an undergraduate student pursuing her HBSc in Biopharmaceutical Science with a specialization in Genomics. As a Communications and Logistics Assistant at the University of Ottawa, she creates multimedia content and manages project logistics for educational projects. Previously, she supported pedagogical content development as a Communications Assistant.
Leen has interned at the United Arab Emirates University, where she conducted advanced biochemistry research and is a current member of the Stefanelli lab at the University of Ottawa. She is also involved in environmental advocacy having previously served as an Environmental Communications Advisor with GentleWays for OurPlanet, and engages in STEM outreach with Let’s Talk Science.
Akm Alamgir
Akm Alamgir (ORCiD 0000-0003-4804-6609), holds a Ph.D. in evaluation research, a Master's in epidemiology, and a Bachelor's in medicine. He is the Director of Knowledge and Learning at Access Alliance (Toronto), an Adjunct Professor at York University and a guest teacher at the University of Toronto. His area of research and advocacy focuses on developing a resilience model and a population-based Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Framework for residents made vulnerable by the system and poverty. His collaborative research with academics and community partners is funded by PHAC, CIHR, SSHRC, and other funders amounting to nearly $2 Million. He wrote three post-secondary textbooks on public health and has over 50 peer-reviewed publications.
Idil Atak
Idil Atak is a professor at the Lincoln Alexander School of Law, Toronto Metropolitan University. Her research focuses on irregular migration, refugee protection, and human rights of migrants in Canada. Former editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Migration and Border Studies, Dr. Atak is a past president and current director-at-large of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies.
Kiran Banerjee
Kiran Banerjee is Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair of Forced Migration and Refugee Policy at Dalhousie University. His research addresses global migration governance, focusing on international institutions and domestic political actors in responding to forced displacement. Banerjee's broader research interests include international ethics, global governance, international relations theory, and migration studies, as well as legal theory. Before joining the Department of Political Science, Banerjee was a faculty member in the Department of Political Studies at the University of Saskatchewan and a SSHRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Global Policy Initiative and School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University.
Bantayehu Chanie
Bantayehu Shiferaw Chanie is a Visiting Researcher at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and a Research Associate at the Center for International Policy Studies (CIPS), both at the University of Ottawa. Until July 2023, he was an Assistant Professor and PhD Program Coordinator in the Department of Political Science and International Studies at Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia. He was an African Presidential Scholar at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, during the 2021/2022 cohort. His research interests include forced displacement, diaspora politics, state-building, ethnic politics and conflict, and political transitions, with a focus on the Horn of Africa.
Christina Clark-Kazak
Christina Clark-Kazak is a bilingual research leader in forced migration and age rights, with broad experience in government, civil society and academia. A professor in uOttawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, she previously worked for York University, Saint Paul University, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, and the Canadian government. She collaborates with community partners to provide experiential learning opportunities in courses related to human rights, migration, democratization and research methods. Christina has authored and (co-)edited 12 books, over 30 articles and book chapters, and many policy briefs on ethics, methodology, forced migration and age discrimination. She is regularly invited to contribute to public education, policymaking and media discussions.
Beth Clarke
Beth Clarke is the Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at World Education Services (WES Canada), leading efforts to support the integration of immigrants, refugees, and international students into the Canadian labour market. With nearly 25 years of experience, Beth has spearheaded initiatives that create academic and professional opportunities for newcomers with qualifications earned abroad. Before joining WES, she worked to foster immigrant-inclusive workplaces through roles with the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council and JVS Toronto. Beth is a graduate of George Brown College and Trent University and has been recognized with multiple awards for her contributions to community services.
Matthew Fast
Matt has a decade of experience supporting newcomers and displaced populations in Canada and abroad. In 2013 Matt graduated with a Master’s in Peace and Conflict Studies from the University of Manitoba, and in 2017 authored a book published by Fernwood Publishing entitled: Finding Their Way Again: The Experiences of Gang-Affected Refugee Youth. Currently, Matt lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia where he supports researchers and their projects as the Program Manager, Intentional Research at Research Nova Scotia.
Adèle Garnier
.jpg)
​Adèle Garnier is an Associate Professor at the Department of Geography, Université Laval and from September 2024 Director General of the Centre de recherche Cultures – Arts – Sociétés (CELAT). She coleads the l’Équipe de recherche sur l’Immigration au Québec et Ailleurs (ÉRIQA), is a co-editor of Refuge: Canada’s Journal on Refugeesand a member of the Canada Research Chair in Global Migration Processes. Her research focuses on power relationships in migration and refugee policy in a comparative and multilevel governance perspective.
Jennifer Hyndman
​Jennifer Hyndman is a Professor at the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change and Associate Vice-President Research at York University, Toronto. Her research spans the violence of war zones (in Sri Lanka) to refugee camps (in Kenya) and Canada’s efforts to provide humanitarian protection through refugee resettlement, particularly outside the largest cities. Hyndman’s last book is Refugees in Extended Exile: Living on the Edge, co-authored with Wenona Giles (Routledge, 2017). She is author of Dual Disasters: Humanitarian Aid after the 2004 Tsunami (2011), Managing Displacement: Refugees and the Politics of Humanitarianism (2000), and co-editor, Sites of Violence: Gender and Conflict Zones (2004).
Michaela Hynie
MICHAELA HYNIE, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Psychology, Executive Member of the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University, and an Honorary Professor in the College of Medicine in the University of Rwanda. Dr. Hynie collaborates with communities, community-serving agencies and activist groups on the development and evaluation of social, institutional and policy interventions that can improve health, mental health and well-being by addressing structural and social exclusion. Her work has primarily been situated in Canada and Rwanda, but also the Democratic Republic of Congo, India, Liberia, Nepal, Sierra Leone and South Africa. Dr. Hynie is the past president of the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies.
S. Karly Kehoe
S. Karly Kehoe is Professor of History and Canada Research Chair in Atlantic Canada Communities. She explores how religious minority migrants acquired and exercised colonial privilege in the north Atlantic world (1750-1850). She a champion of research-led public engagement and chairperson of the Gorsebrook Research Institute for Atlantic Canada Studies. She is also a practitioner of grassroots science diplomacy and an awarding-winning humanitarian. She founded three major international and national initiatives to support academic researchers displaced by war, conflict and/or persecution. She is also a fellow of the International Science Council and member of its Freedom and Responsibility in Science standing committee.
Elishma Khokhar
Elishma Noel Khokhar (she/her) is a multi-genre artist, author and activist. She has exceled in various roles and has over a decade’s experience in rights-based research, advocacy, public education, campaigning and front-line service provision. Currently, Elishma serves as a campaigner at Amnesty International Canada’s English-Speaking Section.
Lois Klassen
Lois Klassen is an artist, writer, and researcher based on Coast Salish Territory (traditional and unceded) in what is referred to as Vancouver. Klassen’s long-range art projects such as Reading the Migration Library engage participants in collective actions that deliberately face ethical demand by way of social, aesthetic and material methods. Lois Klassen’s academic research has focused on ethics and participatory art practices—a topic she covers for the Canadian Association of Research Ethics Boards Circle of Experts. She is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at criticalmediartstudio (cMAS), School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University, and a research ethics coordinator at Emily Carr University of Art + Design.
Shauna Labman
Shauna Labman is the Executive Director, Global College at the University of Winnipeg. She is an Associate Professor of Human Rights and a legal scholar who writes and speaks extensively on refugee law, resettlement and private refugee sponsorship within a broader context of human rights and public international law. Her book, Crossing Law’s Border: Canada’s Refugee Resettlement Program (UBC Press 2019) examines the intersection of international rights, responsibility and obligation in the absence of a legal scheme for refugee resettlement. She is co-editor of the book Strangers to Neighbours: Refugee Sponsorship in Context (MQUP 2020).
Peter Milley
Peter Milley is a Full Professor in the Faculty of Education and Director of the Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services (CRECS) at the University of Ottawa. Peter teaches and conducts research on a variety of topics related to educational leadership, administration, policy, and evaluation. Prior to joining the University, Peter served as a researcher and learning advisor in the Canadian federal public service on a variety of public administration and governance reforms domestically and internationally.
Susan McGrath
Susan McGrath C.M. is Professor Emerita and Senior Scholar at the School of Social Work, York University where she served as Director of the Centre for Refugee Studies from 2004-2012. She led the SSHRC Strategic Knowledge Cluster Grant (2008-15) that supported the formation of the Refugee Research Network. In 2015, she was awarded the SSHRC Partnership Impact Award for forging innovative, interdisciplinary, equitable and cross-sector partnerships and in 2014, she was invested into the Order of Canada: “For her contributions to research and policy on refugee rights and for fostering collaboration among scholars in her field”.
Sofia Noori
Dr. Sofia Noori is an Assistant Professor at UBC's Faculty of Education, specializing in Refugee Education. She earned her PhD in 2020 and has taught across various educational levels in the Greater Tkarónto Area. In 2021, she received York University’s President’s University-Wide Teaching Award. Her research explores how refugee youth adapt to schooling systems following experiences of conflict, migration, and resettlement, drawing on postcolonial theory and developmental psychology. Dr. Noori collaborates with educators nationwide to create resources and strategies addressing the academic and psychosocial needs of students from war zones.
Solomon Oyelekan
Dr. Oloyede Solomon Oyelekan obtained a Ph.D. degree from the Department of Science Education, University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria in 2009. He was later appointed a lecturer in the same department and rose to the rank of Associate Professor, and departmental chair. He was a Visiting Professor of Science Education at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada between October 2022 and October 2023 and still teaches in the university as a sessional instructor. Apart from teaching as a Partial Load Professor at Northern College, Ontario, Solomon also volunteers for Science World, Vancouver in a program called Scientists and Innovators in Schools.
John Packer
Neuberger-Jesin Professor of International Conflict Resolution in the Faculty of Law and Director of the Human Rights Research and Education Centre at the University of Ottawa
Over his academic career (Essex Law, Fletcher/Tufts, KSG/Harvard, LauterpachtCentre/Cambridge), following 20 years as an intergovernmental official (UNHCR, ILO, OHCHR, UNDPPA, OSCE), Prof Packer has investigated serious violations of human rights in several countries, advised on peace processes in over fifty countries, and contributed to the development of international instruments and mechanisms to address, prevent, resolve and repair harms. In recent years, he has contributed to major reports on the genocides against the Rohingya, Uyghurs, Ukrainians, and Tigrayans and testified before a number of parliaments. Since 2020, he co-directs the “Voices in Exile” project working with activists-in-exile in Canada and beyond.
Shayna Plaut
Shayna Plaut, PhD is the Director of Research and Collections at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Shayna’s work sits at the intersections of academia, journalism and advocacy and always takes an intersectional approach to power. As an educator, researcher and journalist, Shayna has served as a consultant for the UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Amnesty International and a variety of migrant and human rights organizations. Her co-edited 2023 book, The Messy Ethics of Human Rights Work (UBC Press) is a collaborative effort focusing on the uncertain and ever present gray areas of engaging in human rights work.
Marcella Randazzo
Marcella Randazzo is a Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning Advisor at WUSC, supporting the design and implementation of projects and programs in the portfolios of Education and Complementary Pathways for Refugees. With an academic background in Economics and research experience in the measurement of poverty dynamics at the University of Pavia (Italy), she has an extensive experience in organizational performance measurement and the evaluation of development programsin a variety of sectors.
Shabnam Salehi
Shabnam Salehi, a fellow and researcher at the University of Ottawa, is a scholar and women's rights activist from Afghanistan. With an LLB and a master’s degree in public policy and administration from Kabul University, she possesses expertise in legal studies and policy analysis. Pursuing her Ph.D. at Carleton University, Shabnam's academic journey began in 2012 as an assistant professor at Kabul University. She served as a Women’s Rights Commissioner at the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission from 2019 to 2021, advocating for women's rights and driving legal reforms. In exile, she continues supporting initiatives for gender equality and justice.
Kathleen Sherrell
Kathy Sherrell is the Chief Program Officer – Settlement and Refugee Services at the Immigrant Services Society of BC (ISSofBC).
Kathy holds a PhD in Geography from the University of British Columbia and a Master of Arts Degree from Simon Fraser University with an emphasis on refugee resettlement in Canada. Kathy continues to be actively engaged in research. At present Kathy is a co-investigator on two pan-Canadian, multi-year refugee research projects. She is an Affiliated Scholar with York University’s Centre for Refugee Studies and is the sector co-chair for the National GAR RAP (Resettlement Assistance Program) Working Group.
Stephanie Stobbe
Stephanie Phetsamay Stobbe is a professor in Conflict Resolution Studies and Business at Canadian Mennonite University. She is a leading expert on Southeast Asian dispute resolution processes, conducting conflict resolution and peacebuilding workshops around the world. As an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) educator and practitioner, she has worked and conducted research in Canada, United States, South America, Europe, India, and Asia. Stephanie has served on ADR Institutes of Manitoba and Canada Boards; American Bar Association team advising the United Nations; and Expert Advisory Board for Asia Pacific Refugees Studies at Auckland University. She is President of Canadian Association for Refugees and Forced Migration Studies. Stephanie is a researcher for the Hearts of Freedom project, and curator of the museum exhibition, HOF – Stories of Southeast Asian Refugees.