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The International Conference on Men and Abuse:
An Academic-Community Approach

The MaF conference collectively engaged scholars, community organizations, professional practices (e.g., law), governmental agencies, and other relevant stakeholders. Exploring how boys and men are involved in violence and abuse, whether as survivors, perpetrators, or both, was discussed.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Thursday, October 12, 9:30 – 10:30am ET

Disrupting Narratives on Masculinities and Violence

Benjamin Roebuck, PhD         
Federal Ombudsperson for Victims of Crime
Professor, Algonquin College, Ontario, Canada

 




Friday, October 13, 9:30 – 10:30am ET

Increasing Challenges with High Conflict Separations

Rachel Birnbaum, PhD, RSW, LL.M
Distinguished University Emeritus Professor, King's University College at Western, Ontario, Canada

While most parents who separate are able to make plans for their children on a consensual basis, perhaps with the assistance of lawyers or mediators, there has been a marked increase in the number of high conflict disputes that require resolution in Canada’s family courts. The presentation will discuss research findings from various family justice professionals as well as parents and children involved in high conflict family cases in Ontario.

MEET THE TEAM! 

CANADA

Susan Chuang, PhD, Cert.FM
Lead Organizer, Professor
University of Guelph, Ontario
schuang@uoguelph.ca   |   Susan Chuang

Susan Chuang is a certified family mediator. Her areas of expertise include, parenting, fathering, parent-child relationships in various sociocultural contexts, and the complexities of family dynamics and relationships. She is the Series Editor for two Springer book series, Advances in Immigrant Families Research and Men, Family, and Society. She has organized eight international conferences, and conducts workshops for parents, youth, and service providers on a volunteer basis.


Susan Burke, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Northern British Columbia, Britisch Columbia
susan.burke@unbc.ca   |   Susan Burke


Susan Burke has over 20 years of child welfare practice experience working with children and families. Her research is focused on Kinship care, Indigenous child welfare, and Indigenous social work practice and education.


Myriam Denov, PhD
Professor and Canada Research Chair
McGill University, Quebec
myriam.denov@mcgill.ca   |   Myriam Denov

Myriam Denov's research interests lie in the areas of children and families affected by war, migration, and its intergenerational impact. A specialist in participatory and arts-based research, she has worked with war-affected children and families in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Her current research is exploring children born of conflict-related sexual violence in northern Uganda, Rwanda, and Cambodia. 


Tony Fang, PhD
Professor and Stephen Jarislowsky Chair in Cultural and Economic Transformation 
Memorial University, Newfoundland
tfang@mun.ca   
|   Tony Fang


Tony Fang's areas of research interest encompass issues of compensation and benefits, high performance workplace practices, pension, retirement policy and the ageing workforce, education, immigration, and minimum wages, union impact on wages, innovation and firm growth, pay equity and employment equity. 


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Edward Kruk, PhD
Associate Professor Emeritus
The University of British Columbia, British Columbia
edward.kruk@ubc.ca   |   Edward Kruk

Edward Kruk specializes in child and family policy. As a child and family social worker in Canada and the UK, he has practiced in the fields of welfare rights, child protection, school social work, hospital social work, and family services.


Brian Ludmer, LLB
Family Lawyer
LudmerLaw, Ontario
brian@ludmerlaw.com   |   Brian Ludmer
 
Brian Ludmer has become an authority in business law and family law: one by choice and the other by necessity. These two practice areas often intersect, allowing Brian to combine his unique insights on behalf of his clients. He travels across North America to educate and inspire families experiencing high conflict divorce, and to act as strategic advisor on family law matters.

Diana McGlinchey, MSc
Prinicipal Investigator
Algonquin College, Ontario
mcglind@algonquincollege.com  |   Diana McGlinchey


Diana McGlinchey manages the Victimology Research Centre. Her research centers on the voices of people with lived experience of violence, trauma, and resilience. Past projects include the experiences of male survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) in Canada, and the similarities and differences between male and female survivors’ experiences of IPV. Current projects include concussion recovery in female survivors of IPV and vicarious resilience in people who work with victims and survivors of violence. 

Michael Sean McMurtry, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Alberta, Alberta
smcmurtry@ccmfalberta.ca  
 |   Michael Sean McMurtry
 


 
Lloyd Robertson, PhD
Clinical Psychologist, Adjunct Professor
University of Regina, Saskatchewan
lhrobertson@sasktel.net   |   Lloyd Robertson

Lloyd Hawkeye Robertson's main professional interest has been on the evolution and structure of the self. He has published on the psychological impacts of Indian residential schools, youth suicide, the construction of the aboriginal self, the concept of free will in psychotherapy, and male stigma as it affects men’s identity.  He is currently President of the New Enlightenment Project: A Canadian Humanist Initiative.

Scott Ronis, PhD
Professor and Associate Dean, Faculty of Arts

University of New Brunswick, New Brunswick
sronis@unb.ca 
 
|   Scott Ronis

Scott Ronis’s work has spanned various research areas and methodologies in clinical and forensic psychology but focuses primarily on the development of typical and problem sexual behaviour within broader family systems.


Justin Trottier
Founder, Chief Executive Officer
Canadian Centre for Men and Families, Canada
jtrottier@menandfamilies.org 
 |   Justin Trottier

Justin Trottier is the founder of the Centre for Inquiry Canada, a national educational charitable organization advancing science literacy. He speaks regularly in the media in defense of fundamental freedoms like free speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of inquiry.


Erica Woodin, PhD
Associate Professor
University of Victoria, British Columbia

ewoodin@uvic.ca   |   Erica Woodin

Erica Woodin's research goals are to examine the development of harmful relationship behaviours, understand the impact of these factors on partners, couples, and children, and to develop prevention programs to enhance couple and family functioning during periods of stress and change (e.g., transition to adulthood, transition to cohabitation, transition to parenthood).


Robert Wright, MSW
Executive Director
The Peoples' Counselling Clinic, Nova Scotia

robertseymourwright@gmail.com   |   Robert Wright   

Robert Wright's over 30-year career has spanned the fields of education, child welfare, forensic mental health, trauma, sexual violence, and cultural competence. A “clinician/academic/administrator,” he has always integrates his work delivering direct practice clinical service to clients with teaching and supervising interns and promoting lasting systemic change through social policy advocacy. He also consults, trains, speaks and comments on a wide range of issues.  

 

INTERNATIONAL

Elizabth Bates, PhD
Senior Lecturer
University of Cumbria, United Kingdom
elizabeth.bates@cumbria.ac.uk   
|   Elizabeth Bates

Elizabth Bates's main research areas are around domestic violence and aggression. Specifically she focus on male victims, psychological abuse and controlling behaviour, and how this is affected by personality and psychopathology e.g., attachment patterns, personality disorders. Bates is also interested in pedagogic research; specifically she has explored student transition to Higher Education, as well as student satisfaction and postgraduate student experiences utilizing photo-elicitation.


Anat Ben-Porat, PhD
Senior Lecturer
Bar-Ilan University, Israel
anatbenpo@gmail.com   
|   Anat Ben-Porat

Anat Ben-Porat is exploring domestic violence, an extensive phenomenon which has greatly increased in recent years, is one of the main social problems central to the social work profession. As her social worker role in a battered women’s shelter in Tel Aviv, she has been exposed both to the distress and the strength of these women and their children.  


Erica Bowen, PhD
Professor
Nottingham Trent University, United Kingdom

 

Erica Bowen is a Registered Forensic and Chartered Coaching Psychologist, with academic expertise in the field of violence prevention and offender rehabilitation. Bowen's applied research focuses on understanding and preventing violence within intimate relationships, and she is an advisor to Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service and the Scottish Government in relation to evaluation science and offender rehabilitation.

 
Melissa Corbally, PhD
Associate Professor
Dublin Trinity College, Ireland
m.corbally@tcd.ie
   |   Melissa Corbally

Melissa Corbally's broad spectrum of research expertise including intimate partner violence, gender and masculinities. Her doctoral thesis completed in 2011 highlighted the vulnerability of men who experience double victimization in an area which is largely gendered as a female entity. Since then, she has undertaken several research projects, published numerous papers and presented over 90 conference papers relating to her areas of interest.

Louise Dixon, PhD
Dean of Science at Te Herenga Waka
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
louise.dixon@vuw.ac.nz   |   Louise Dixon

Louise Dixon’s areas of expertise are centred on the prevention of interpersonal aggression, including a gender inclusive approach to understanding and responding to intimate partner aggression and abuse.


Keren Gueta, PhD
Senior Lecturer
Bar-Ilan University, Israel
keren.gueta@biu.ac.il   |   Gueta Keren

Keren Gueta’s research interests are gender and crime and feminist approaches to recovery from victimization and crime desistance. Her current research projects focus on the intersectional perspective of domestic violence. She is the co-director of The Israeli Society of Victimology. She is also a clinical criminologist who has worked at the Israeli Prisoner Rehabilitation Authority.


Denise Hines, PhD
Associate Professor
George Mason University, United States

dhines2@gmu.edu   |    Denise Hines

Denise Hines's expertise includes the causes, consequences, and prevention of family violence and sexual assault, with a particular focus on male victims of intimate partner violence. She is internationally recognized for her expertise on male victims of intimate partner violence, having published and spoken extensively on this topic.


Ching-Yu (Soar) Huang, PhD
Assistant Professor
Keele University, United Kingdom
c.s.huang@keele.ac.uk   
|   Ching-Yu Huang

Ching-Yu Huang is leading the BSc in Forensic Psychology program. Her areas of expertise include child forensic interview, child abuse and sexual violence. She dedicates her career in improving these vulnerable group's factors access to justice. She has served on the editorial boards for the Journal of Family Psychology and the Asian Journal of Social Psychology


Andreia Machado, PhD
Assistant Professor

Lusófona University of Porto and Lisbon, Portugal
p5410@ulp.pt   
|   Andreia Machado

Andreia Machado worked as a psychologist, forensic expert, and trainer in domestic violence and gender equality. She is author and co-author of publications at national and international level in the field of Victimology and Forensic Psychology. She is a member of the Portuguese Board of Psychologists.


Meerambika Mahapatro, PhD
Professor
National Institute of Health & Family Welfare, India

meerambika.mahapatro@gmail.com 
 |   Meerambika Mahapatro

Meerambika Mahapatro has focused on gender, violence, health, and well-being. She was instrumental in designing the first national-level study on domestic violence and health at ICMR. She has developed a behavioral intervention package to integrate into the health system to address pregnant women experiencing domestic violence.  


Brenda Russell, PhD
Professor 
The Pennsylvania State University, Berks, United States
blr15@psu.edu   
|   Brenda Russell

Brenda Russell's scholarly interests include psychology and law, perceptions of victims and perpetrators of domestic violence, homicide defendants, and the social psychological and cognitive aspects of jury decision making. She provides expert testimony in homicide cases and serves as consultant and program evaluator for various federal and state educational, law enforcement, justice, and treatment programs. 

Yee-San Teoh, PhD
Associate Professor
National Taiwan University, Taiwan
ysteoh@ntu.edu.tw   
|   Yee-San Teoh

As a developmental and social psychologist, Yee-San Teoh is particularly interested in identifying best practice investigative interviewing, child custody evaluation, and lay participation methods. She regularly provides specialized training to legal, social work, and medical professionals, and is also a Registered Intermediary. She serves as an expert witness in the criminal and constitutional courts.


Wallace Tsang, PhD
Assistant Professor
Hong Kong Shue Yan University, Hong Kong
whtsang@hksyu.edu   |   Wallace Tsang

Wallace Tsang's areas of expertise include areas of domestic violence, mental health, couple relationship, parent-child relationship, social impact, and social capital assessment. He is also serving on the Editorial Boards of several journals.
 

Arlene Walker, PhD
Associate Professor, Associate Head of School in Organizational Psychology
Deakin University, Australia

arlene.walker@deakin.edu.au   |   Arlene Walker

Arlene Walker's area of expertise is employee wellbeing, with a specific focus on how intimate partner violence (IPV) impacts the workplace, including impact on victims, teams and leaders, use and barriers to use of family and domestic violence policy, victim help seeking and barriers to help seeking at work, and colleague experiences of supporting IPV victims at work.


Meihua Zhu, PhD
Professor

East China University of Science and Technology, China
zhumeihua@ecust.edu.cn
   |