Myrna Dawson, Ph.D.
Dr. Myrna Dawson is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Public Policy in Criminal Justice and Director of the Centre for the Study of Social and Legal Responses to Violence (CSSLRV), College of Social and Applied Human Sciences, University of Guelph. Her research focuses on trends/patterns in and social/legal responses to violence with emphasis on violence against women and femicide. Dawson established the CSSLRV in 2005 with funding from the Canadian Foundation of Innovation to support the establishment of a research centre focusing research activities on understanding and preventing violence. In 2008, Dawson received funding to expand the CSSLRV to create/mobilize knowledge about effective violence prevention through rigorous research, exchange of knowledge to inform policy, and to train future researchers. Dawson is also Co-Director of the recently-established Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative (www.cdhpi.ca).
In 2002, Dawson served as an expert witness at the Ontario Coroner’s Inquest into the killing of Gillian Hadley of Pickering by her ex-husband. She now serves as member of Canada’s first Domestic Violence Death Review Committee implemented in Ontario as a result of one of the inquest recommendations. Dawson has been an International Visiting Scholar, Faculty of Law, University of Melbourne, 2011; a TC Beirne School of Law Distinguished Visiting Fellow, University of Queensland, 2012; and a Visiting Scholar, Griffith University, Queensland, 2016, where she was recently appointed an Adjunct Professor. She is the author/co-author/editor of numerous publications and reports including Woman Killing: Intimate Femicide in Ontario, 1991-1994; Violence Against Women in Canada (Oxford University Press, 2011); and Domestic Homicides and Death Reviews: An International Perspective (Palgrave Macmillian, 2017). She has published in various journals; most recently, in Trauma Violence & Abuse, Child Abuse & Neglect, Violence Against Women, Journal of Research in Crime & Delinquency, and the Journal of Interpersonal Violence. She has presented research and delivered keynotes in Australia, Canada, Europe, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Dr. Dawson's recent publications include:
- Saxton, M., Jaffe, P., Dawson, M., Olszowy, L., & Straatman, A-L. (2020). Barriers to police addressing risk to children exposed to domestic violence. Child Abuse & Neglect, 106. DOI: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104554
- Richardson, C., Jeffrey, N., Dawson, M., Campbell, M., Bader, D., Straatman, A-L., Poon, J., Jaffe, P., & Fairbairn, J. (2020). Domestic Homicide Brief 8 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND HOMICIDE IN RURAL, REMOTE, AND NORTHERN COMMUNITIES: UNDERSTANDING RISK AND KEEPING WOMEN SAFE.
- Reif, K., Jaffe, P., Straatman, A-L., & Dawson, M. (2020). Provision of Specialized Services for Children Exposed to Domestic Violence: Barriers Encountered in Violence Against Women (VAW) Services. Children and Youth Services Review, 109. DOI: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104684.
- Fairbairn, J., Sutton, D., Dawson, M., & Jaffe, P. (2019). Putting Definitions to Work: Reflections from the Canadian Domestic Homicide Prevention Initiative with Vulnerable Populations. DOI: 10.1108/S1537-466120190000025005.