Academic Partner

Dr. Bree Akesson is the Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Global Adversity and Wellbeing, Associate Director of the Centre for Research on Security Practices, and Associate Professor of Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has worked for nearly 25 years with children and families impacted by war and displacement in settings such as Chechnya, Northern Uganda, Palestine, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. Her program of research ranges from micro-level understandings of the experiences of war-affected families to macro-level initiatives to strengthen global social service workforce systems. Ongoing research projects include the perinatal experiences of Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, the impact of climate change on families displaced by war, and integrated service access for refugee families in Canada. Her 2022 book From Bureaucracy to Bullets: Extreme Domicide and the Right to Home explores the impact of home loss for displaced populations and was the inspiration for a United Nations report calling for the classification of home demolition as a war crime. In addition to her research, Dr. Akesson has 15 years of experience working directly with children and families as the Clinical Treatment Facilitator with the Global Psychiatric Epidemiology Group, based at the New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia University.