Research Team
Mónica Ruiz-Casares, PhD
Team Leader
Maliphone Douangphachanh, PhD
Research Country Coordinator, Laos
Magdalena Janus, PhD (Cantab)
Project Co-investigator
Mónica is Professor in the School of Child & Youth Care and Associate Member of the Graduate Program in Immigration and Settlement Studies & Policy Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University (Canada). Additionally, she is Adjunct Professor of Psychiatry and in the School of Social Work at McGill University (Canada), where she is also Associate Faculty in the Department of Equity, Ethics, and Policy and the Centre for Research on Children and Families. She has trained in Law, evaluation of human services, policy analysis & management, international development, and transcultural child psychiatry. She leads mixed-methods studies and evaluations on children rights and wellbeing internationally, mainly in low- and middle-income countries, with migrants and refugees, and in contexts of parent-child separation. She is a Credentialed Evaluator with the Canadian Evaluation Society, Co-Chair of the International Society for Child Indicators, and Member-at-Large of the Board of Directors of the American Evaluation Association. She has published more than 120 scientific articles, book chapters, edited volumes, and evaluation reports, and over 200 public presentations. She is member of the Editorial Board of Transcultural Psychiatry and Child Indicators Research.
Maliphone is a Lecturer and Researcher in the Faculty of Social Sciences at the National University of Laos. Her research focuses on child supervision and on gender, agriculture, and rural employment. She has experience in qualitative and mixed-method research and has contributed to projects on Gender, Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE), and Gender Equality Disability and Social Inclusion (GEDSI). As a research country coordinator for the MTC project, she was involved in conducting key informant interviews, workshops, and focus group discussions, and oversaw the data collection, translation, and analysis. She received a BA in Geography from the National University of Laos, a MA in Education-Planning and Administration in Education, and a PhD in Gender and Development from the University of Malaya, Malaysia.
Magdalena earned a PhD in Behavioural Sciences from Cambridge University. and joined the McMaster faculty in 2002. Since 1997, together with the late Dr. Dan Offord, and her Equity from the Start Team, Magdalena has been involved in a project monitoring children’s readiness to learn at school entry using the Early Development Instrument (EDI), to provide communities with actionable information on the state of early childhood development. Magdalena’s research interests include indicators of child development and their correlates in population and international contexts, social determinants of children’s health, transition to school, with a particular emphasis on children with special needs. She regularly serves as a consultant with various national and international organizations, including the World Bank, WHO, and UNICEF.
Abdul-Rahim Mohammed, PhD
Research Country Coordinator, Ghana
Jose Ignacio Nazif-Munoz, PhD
Project Co-investigator
Saithong Phommavong, PhD
Project Co-Investigator
Abdul-Rahim is a Senior Lecturer and currently the Vice Dean of the Faculty of Sustainable Development Studies at the University for Development Studies (Ghana). He has more than a decade of teaching experience at the University for Development Studies where he has mentored and supervised several students to complete their programs successfully. His research interests include exploring the notion of children’s agency in the Global South, child labour, social policies in the Global South, policy implementation gaps, and qualitative inquiries into food insecurity. He has authored one book chapter and 18 articles in reputable international peer-reviewed journals such as Sage’s Global Studies of Childhood (where he researched the impact of austerity on children’s education); Wiley’s Children and Society (where he focused on the implication of children’s thin agency for a school food program); and, Child Abuse Review (focusing on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child marriage). Before he joined academia, he worked with several NGOs focusing on community development, livelihood diversification, social protection, and skills development. He holds a B.A in Political Science (University of Ghana), a MSc in Social Policy and Development (London School of Economics, UK) and a PhD in Social Policy (University of Sheffield, UK).
Ignacio is an Associate Professor at Université de Sherbrooke, Chercheur-boursier Junior 2, Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé, working at the Addiction Studies and Research Programs, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Campus Longueuil. He has vast expertise in assessing policy changes using multiple datasets from countries such as Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Chile, and Serbia and a record of publication of more than 50 peer review papers including journals such as Epidemiology, Addiction, and Global Pediatric Health. His research focuses on vulnerable populations, including children, youth and pregnant women.
Saithong is an Adjunct Professor and Senior Researcher in the Faculty of Social Sciences, National University of Laos. His research interests are economic development, pro-poor tourism, political economy, sustainable development, land use planning, gender relations and child care. Some of his recent publications can be found in the International Journal of Culture and Tourism Research, Current Issues in Tourism, Global Social Welfare, and IntechOpen. He graduated with a Bachelor of Political Sciences from the National University of Laos, Master of Economics from Kobe University, Japan, and PhD in Social and Economic Geography from Umea University, Sweden.
Afua Twum-Danso Imoh, PhD
Project Co-investigator
Naïma Bentayeb, PhD
Project Lead
Afua is an Associate Professor in Global Childhoods and Welfare at the University of Bristol (UK). Much of her work focuses on constructions of childhoods; children’s rights and social and cultural norms; parent-child relations; the impact of historical developments on constructions of childhood and child-rearing practices; and problematizing the binary between the Global North and the Global South as it relates to childhood studies. Much of this research has concentrated on Ghana and Nigeria and has received external funding from numerous sources. The findings of her research have resulted in a monograph, 16 peer-reviewed journal articles and 16 book chapters. Further, Afua has co-edited four edited volumes, three as lead editor and led the production of two journal special issues. She is currently an Editor for the Palgrave Macmillan Study of Childhood and Youth Series and Editorial Board Member for: Third World Quarterly, Childhood: A Journal of Global Child Research, Children & Society, and the Rutgers Book Series in Childhood Studies.
Naïma is an institutional researcher at the SHERPA University Institute and an associate professor at the National School of Public Administration (ENAP) and the School of Social Work at McGill University. She holds a PhD (2018) and a master's degree (2010) in Public Administration, specializing in program evaluation. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University's Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry (2019). She is an associate editor at the Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation since 2020. Naima conducts evaluations and research focused on community and institutional practice settings. She is particularly interested in structural and systemic issues concerning the welcoming, integration, accessibility of services, and adaptation of interventions for immigrants, refugees, racialized individuals, and those identifying with a culturally minority group. With a multidisciplinary, cross-sectoral, and intersectional perspective, she promotes a developmental and participatory approach focused on learning and the continuous improvement of practices.
Trainees
Michelle Andrina, MSE, MPP
Graduate Research Assistant
Emilia Gonzalez, MSc
Graduate Research Assistant
Geneviève Grégoire-Labrecque
Research Collaborator (previously Graduate Research Assistant)
Michelle is a PhD student in Immigration, Settlement, and Diaspora Policies at Toronto Metropolitan University, working under the mentorship of Dr. Ruiz-Casares. Her research focuses on the experiences of female migrant care workers from Southeast Asian nations who have settled in Canada. She examines the impact of migration on these individuals and their families, exploring their lived experiences, transnational support systems, and the challenges they face, including familial responsibilities left behind in their home countries. Michelle holds a Master's degree in Public Policy from the School of Government and Public Policy in Indonesia and in Economics from the University of Indonesia. Previously, she worked as a researcher at The SMERU Research Institute in Indonesia.
Emilia is a PhD student in Social Policy at Toronto Metropolitan University, under the mentorship of Dr. Ruiz-Casares. As a researcher and facilitator, Emilia has been building bridges between academia and the social sector for over ten years. She is interested in participatory research processes that center the perspectives of children and young people with diverse lived experiences. As a Colombian-Canadian, she is constantly exploring questions around hybrid identities, intergenerational relationships, and community. Her previous research focused on newcomer youth wellbeing, resettlement, and participation in the community sector in Montreal. Emilia holds an MSc in Social and Cultural Psychiatry from McGill University (Canada).
Geneviève is a PhD candidate in the Individualized Program (INDI) at Concordia University (Canada). She is interested in the intersection of children and young people’s participation, rights and wellbeing with environmental education. She is also interested in social, racial and environmental justice as well as qualitative, collaborative, participatory and ethnographic methods. Her doctoral research examines the ways youth participation is understood, practiced, and experienced by youth and school staff in two initiatives on environment and climate change in two high schools in Montreal. Recipient of a Nelson Mandela Award, her research is also supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Concordia University. Prior to her PhD, she worked on diversity, inclusion, knowledge mobilization and children’s wellbeing in education, and health care and social services. Geneviève holds a BSc and a MSc in Anthropology from Université de Montréal. Geneviève is a member of the Child Rights Academic Network, the Canadian Coalition for the Rights of Children, a student member of the Centre de recherche en éducation et formation relatives à l’environnement et à l’écocitoyenneté (Centr’ERE) and of the Observatoire Société et Jeunes, and has been an academic member for the North American Regional Children’s Environmental Rights Consultations for the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment".
René Iwo, MA
Graduate Research Assistant
Samaneh Mansouri, MSc
Graduate Research Assistant
Camila Corrêa Matias Pereira, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Rene is a PhD Candidate in Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA. He is interested in social demography in low- and middle-income contexts. He has a special focus on his home country, Indonesia, where his dissertation research explores the topic of transition to adulthood using both quantitative and qualitative methods. He is also interested in comparative research with vulnerable or marginalized peoples in industrialized countries. His research centers around family life over the life course, exploring topics such as parenting, child development and aspirations, as well as intergenerational mobility. He also is interested in survey methods and implementation, having been involved in multiple large survey data collection projects.
Samaneh is a PhD candidate in Biostatistics at Laval University (Canada). Her research primarily focuses on the molecular-level effects of sex on psychiatric diseases, with a particular emphasis on depression. Combining her statistical expertise with scientific investigation, she applies rigorous analytical techniques to complex neurological phenomena. Her work has provided scientific evidence demonstrating sex-specific transcriptional signatures in depression. She developed the innovative R package “SubsetRV (external link) ” to uncover sex-specific genomic signatures in mental health. Driven to address gaps in child supervision in low and middle-income countries, Samaneh is now researching the effects of family-friendly policies on this issue. Compared to high-income countries, this area remains significantly understudied. She aims to raise public awareness and inform policies that improve child safety and supervision in these regions.
Camila, is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the faculty of medicine and health sciences, Université de Sherbrooke. Her research focuses on qualitative and mixed-method studies investigating suicide prevention and mental health promotion in various healthcare contexts, including among immigrants, suicidal behavior on social media, and public policy evaluation. She contributes to various projects by creating databases and coding public policies, which are essential for evaluating public health interventions and their impact. Before joining the team, she completed a postdoctoral fellowship in the Centre for Research and Intervention on Suicide, Ethical Issues, and End-of-Life Practice (CRISE), Université du Québec à Montréal (Canada). She is a nurse with a Master of Science and a PhD in Psychiatric Nursing from the University of São Paulo (Brazil).
Fabiane Friedrich Schütz, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Toufica Sultana, MSS, MA
Graduate Research Assistant
Ruo Ying Feng, BA
Research Collaborator (previously Research Assistant)
Fabiane is a Psychologist and researcher with expertise in psychological and social research, focusing on subjective well-being, family dynamics, and children's development in diverse social and cultural contexts. Her academic pursuits also encompass the influences of technology on education and personal development. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at McGill University, further advancing her research in policy evaluation and interdisciplinary and international contexts. She holds a PhD and a Master’s degree in Psychology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS). Beyond her academic accomplishments, Fabiane brings practical experience as a couples and family therapist, enriching her work with real-world insights into family relationships and dynamics.
Toufica is a PhD student in the Department of Family Medicine at McGill University (Canada).
Toufica has extensive research and teaching experience in several national and international institutes, including BRAC and North South University (Bangladesh). She is also the co-founder and director of the Knowledge and Dissemination Division at the South Asian Institute for Social Transformation (SAIST). Her research focuses on early childhood development, and child supervision in low- and middle-income countries, maternal and child health, need assessment, and mental health services in Canada, employing mixed methods and machine learning approaches. In her leisure time, Toufica loves reading literary books and watching movies. She holds an MA in Sociology from the University of Saskatchewan (Canada), and MSS in Sociology from the University of Dhaka (Bangladesh).
Ruo is a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa. She is interested in studying mental health among immigrant and racialized youth, with a focus on stigma related to mental illness, help-seeking behaviour, and racial discrimination. Beyond research work, Ruo is dedicated to incorporating a culturally informed, competent, and safe approach into her clinical practice with children, youth, families, and adults. Her passion lies in contributing to the evolving landscape of mental health, embracing diversity, and creating positive transformations in the lives of those she works with. She obtained a BA in Psychology (Hons) at McGill University. In her free time, Ruo loves to dance, read, visit coffee shops, and watch anime.
Yinan Yu, BA
Graduate Research Assistant
Negin Zamani, MSc
Research Project Coordinator
Yinan has experience in both qualitative and quantitative research. With a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology, Yinan is currently pursuing the MSc degree in Social and Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill University. She is passionate about providing culture-sensitive services to the immigrant population. Her research interests include immigrant mental health, especially Chinese immigrant mothers, cultural differences in childcare practices, and barriers to accessing services for immigrants. She is also a proud servant to her rescue cat from Egypt.
Negin has experience in qualitative, mixed-method, and community-based research methodologies, as well as research ethics, with a focus on the real-life experiences of individuals dealing with mental health difficulties. She is equally interested in exploring the role of socio-ecological factors, examining both challenges and, notably, the invaluable cultural assets and strengths that can inform implementation science, as well as service and policy evaluation. Negin completed her MSc in Social and Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill University and has a dual background in Psychology (BA, McGill University) and Nursing (BSc, Tehran University of Medical Sciences).