Graduate Researchers

Haleakala Angus is a recent graduate of the MA Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy program at the University of Guelph, where she also completed her BA in Criminal Justice and Public Policy. In her master’s degree, she completed a major research paper that used Critical Race Theory to examine how Canadian drug policy has contributed to the disproportionate criminalization of Black women. Specifically, she explored how various identities (gender, race, and class) and broader systems of power overlap to produce oppression and disadvantage for women within the criminal justice system. Throughout her studies, Haleakala became passionate about advocating for women’s rights, specifically concerning gender-based violence. Currently, Haleakala is the Project Content Leader for the Femicide Watch Platform (FWP), a joint project with the United Nations Studies Association (UNSA). The FWP is a digital platform that shares knowledge and brings awareness to the global issue of femicide. She has volunteer and work experience at the Women’s Centre of Halton, a non-profit organization in her community where she provides support to women experiencing crisis, distress, or transition. Haleakala is currently working as a research assistant at CSSLRV on various projects.

Anna-Lisa Barrett is currently a Master of Arts student in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy program at the University of Guelph. She graduated with distinction with a Bachelors of Applied Science from the University of Guelph-Humber in Justice Studies. Her undergraduate degree inspired her to become interested in research and a career in academia. Under the supervision of Dr. Myrna Dawson and Dr. Laura MacDiarmid, her research focuses on how the advancement of Artificial Intelligence is increasing the dangers of cyber-sexual crime, and the lack of proper awareness by the government around educating middle school, secondary, and post-secondary students on how they are able to protect themselves, and how there must be policy changes toward the dangers of Artificial Intelligence and how it must be added into the school board curriculum. She currently volunteers at Hope 24/7, a non-profit organization that helps provide support services to domestic abuse and sexual assault victims. She is also a research assistant with Dr. Myrna Dawson at the Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence (CSSLRV). She has a keen interest in issues in Cybercrime and Human Trafficking particularly amongst minors, specifically on the advancement of Artificial Intelligence and the lack of proper education amongst school age children in the social media age, (ages 4-18). As well as gender-based violence and intimate partner violence.

Ciara Boyd is currently a PhD student in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph. Ciara completed her Honors B.A. from Western University with a specialization in Criminology and her M.A. in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy at the University of Guelph. Her research focuses on exploring and understanding different types of gender-based homicides, with a concentration on mass killings and familicides. With Myrna Dawson as her supervisor, Ciara’s M.A. thesis used a gendered theoretical framework to compare the characteristics of domestic and non-domestic mass killings in Ontario, a project she is expanding nationally in her PhD research. Ciara currently volunteers for the Femicide Watch Platform, a project coordinated by the United Nations Studies Association. Through this volunteer work, Ciara participates in various tasks that aim to evolve the understanding of femicide/feminicide, present key information, and address policy and decision-making at multiple levels. She is also volunteering for the Western Cold Case Society in London, Ontario, where she works collaboratively with students and faculty to analyze unsolved crimes that have occurred in both Canada and the U.S. Ciara works on various CSSLRV-research projects, including a SSHRC-funded project “Representing intimate femicide in Canada: Understanding media framing of gender-related killings of women and girls, 2010-2024.”

Ashley Ethier is a Master of Arts student in Sociology at the University of Guelph, specializing in Identities and Social Inclusion. She completed her undergraduate degree at Wilfrid Laurier University with a double major in Sociology and English and a double minor in Education and Women and Gender Studies. Under the supervision of Myrna Dawson, Ashley is working on her major research paper for her Master’s degree. Her area of research is focusing on same-sex intimate partner violence (IPV) and gender stereotypes. Ashley is passionate about advocating for LGBTQ2SIA+ communities and women’s rights.

Anna Johnson (she/her) is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Guelph. She completed her B.A. in Criminal Justice at Nipissing University and her M.A. in Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy at the University of Guelph. Since 2015, Anna has worked with Dr. Dawson on a number of CSSLRV-research projects. Under the supervision of Dr. Dawson, Anna’s PhD research takes a mixed method approach to understand criminal justice responses to filicide and criminal justice more broadly. Anna and Dr. Dawson are co-authors on three child homicide publications including: Filicide: An Oxford Bibliography, an article in Child Abuse Review that compares characteristics of child homicide by degree of intimacy between the victim and perpetrator, and an article in the International Journal of Law, Crime and Justice that compares criminal justice responses to child homicide by degree of intimacy.

Gabriella Meleski is a Master of Arts student at the University of Guelph in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy. She graduated from the University of Guelph with distinction, with a B.A. (Honours) in Criminal Justice and Public Policy. Gabriella has experience in research at the University of Guelph, involving Community Engaged Scholarship within the court system, along with police interactions with marginalized groups. She is pursuing her interests through researching femicide, along with a desire to research children’s homicide. Gabriella is currently working as a research assistant for Professor Dawson within the Centre of Social and Legal Responses to Violence (CSSLRV). 

Abigail Mitchell is a Sociology PhD Candidate at the University of Guelph, having recently graduated from their Master’s program in Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy. Her thesis research was on forensic pathologists’ decision-making in cases of sexual femicide. Abigail’s PhD research will focus on internet-facilitated child sexual abuse. She volunteers with the Femicide Watch Platform, and the University of Guelph’s Sexual Violence Advisory Committee. Abigail’s research interests more broadly include femicide, sexual violence, gendered violence, and LGBTQ2SIA+ communities. 

Emmanuel Rohn is a PhD student in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Guelph. He received his Bachelor of Arts Degree in sociology and social work from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science & Technology in Ghana. His undergraduate degree provided him with a distinctive perspective and way of seeing the social world and he became interested in research and a career in academia. After completing his bachelor’s degree, Emmanuel undertook a Master of Philosophy Degree in Sociology from the same University. With a research focus shift, he pursued another master’s degree in Sociology at the Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada. Specifically, his research focused on motivations and barriers to help-seeking behaviour among female survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Ghana related to the demography of sub-Saharan Africa. Since then, Emmanuel has developed keen interest in issues bordering on intimate partner violence, intimate partner femicide, social justice, women’s empowerment, social and institutional responses to violence. Under the supervision of Professor Myrna Dawson, Emmanuel’s PhD research will help shift research attention to intimate partner femicide in sub-Saharan African particularly Ghana and assist in eradicating this form of violence. Emmanuel also works as a research assistant with Professor Dawson at the Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence (CSSLRV).

Allison Sabean is a Master of Arts student in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy program at the University of Guelph. She graduated with distinction with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Toronto Metropolitan University in Criminology with a minor in Philosophy. Her research interests include the 1983 amendments to the crime of sexual assault in the Canadian Criminal Code and the impact this had on the arrest, prosecution, and sentencing of marital sexual assault cases. More broadly, she is interested in studying how intimate partner violence (IPV) cases are tried within the criminal justice system, the systemic barriers that survivors of IPV face when accessing justice, and the impact that IPV has on survivors and their communities.