Bree Akesson

My program of research focuses broadly on global adversity and wellbeing, with projects ranging from micro-level understandings of the experiences of children and families affected by war to macro-level studies on social service and mental health systems strengthening. I focus on the intersections of adversity, displacement, and wellbeing, with a particular emphasis on children and families affected by conflict and climate change. My past research projects include:

• a SSHRC-funded phenomenological study of the experiences of pregnancy loss among Syrian refugee families living in Lebanon (2020-2024).
• a USAID-funded project to support the counseling psychology academic programs in Afghanistan (2016-2018).
• a UNICEF-funded project to support university professors to mainstream child protection content into undergraduate curriculum in Ghana (2015-2018).
• a SSHRC-funded mixed methods study investigating Syrian families’ well-being and mobility in Lebanon using geographic information systems (GIS) (2015-2018).
• an eight-country baseline study to determine child protection practices and social service workforce needs in southeast Europe (2015-2016) in partnership with Terre des Hommes.
• a SSHRC-funded place-based study on the experiences of Palestinian children and families living in the West Bank and East Jerusalem (2014).
• a UNICEF-funded mapping of social work education in West and Central Africa (2014).
• an evaluation of psychosocial programs for children in Chechnya (2005) with International Rescue Committee and northern Uganda (2008) with Save the Children.

My current research projects include:

• a SSHRC-funded program evaluation of a health assistant training program for young Rohingya women in Bangladeshi refugee camps (2025-2026).
• a SSHRC-funded longitudinal study on Rohingya refugee families' perinatal experiences in Bangladesh (2023-2027).
• a SSHRC-funded qualitative pilot project exploring the conflict-climate-displacement nexus among Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh (2024-2026).
• a mixed methods study of the resettlement experiences of refugees in Ontario, funded by the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and Science (2020

• 2024: Merit Award for Scholarly Activities (Wilfrid Laurier University)
• 2023: International Social Work Prize for Best 2022 Journal Paper (Sage Journals)
• 2020: Merit Award for Scholarly Activities (Wilfrid Laurier University)
• 2019: Early Researcher Award from Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation and Science
• 2019: Merit Award for Scholarly Activities (Wilfrid Laurier University)
• 2018: Early Career Researcher Award (Wilfrid Laurier University)
• 2017: Merit Award for Scholarly Activities (Wilfrid Laurier University)
• 2016: Merit Award for Scholarly Activities (Wilfrid Laurier University)
• 2015: Distinguished Dissertation Award from Canadian Association of Graduate Studies (CAGS) / University Microfilms International.
• 2015: Prix d’Excellence (Award of Excellence) from L’Association des Doyens des Études Supérieures au Québec (Association of Deans of Graduate Studies in Quebec).
• 2014: Director’s Prize for Outstanding Doctoral Research in Social Work from McGill University School of Social Work.
• 2014: K.B. Jenkes Prize for Thesis Excellence from McGill University’s Faculty of Arts.
• 2013: Graduate Student Teaching Award from McGill University's Faculty of Arts.
• 2011-2014: Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Vanier Canadian Graduate Scholarship.

I am willing to supervise students interested in all aspects of global adversity and wellbeing. Research assistantships related to these themes may also be available. Please email me for more information.

Books

• Akesson, B. & Basso, A. (2022). From bullets to bureaucracy: Extreme domicide and the right to home. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
• Denov, M. & Akesson, B. (Eds.) (2017). Children affected by armed conflict: Theory, method, and practice. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.

Special Issues

• Bragin, M., Akesson, B., Ayubi, B., & Tankink, M. (Eds.) (2018). Special issue on mental health and psychosocial support in Afghanistan. Intervention Journal of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Conflict Affected Areas.
• Denov, M. & Akesson, B.(Eds.) (2016, September). Special issue on children affected by armed conflict. Children & Society, 30(5), 337-422.

Journal Articles

• Frensch, K. & Akesson, B. (in press). Socio-spatial initiatives to foster belonging among refugee families resettled in Canada. Accepted to Wellbeing, Space & Society on 1 May 2025.
• Isaqzai, S., Akesson, B., & Frensch, K. (2025). Where there is hope and family, there is home: Foundations of refugee families’ wellbeing in Canada. Accepted to Journal of Immigrant and Refugee Studies on 26 May 2025.
• ElRayes, W., Malik, S., Akesson, B., Mahmood, I., Hafiz, M.G., Aldalaykeh, M., Mahmood, A., Gautam, B., & Watanabe-Galloway, S. (2025). Mental health services among Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh: Perspectives from field service providers. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, 21(1), 17-35
• Alnaji, N., Akesson, B., Bagenda, D. (2024). Exploring stressors impacting the mental health of refugee mothers in Lebanon during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study. International Social Work, 67(3).
• Alnaji, N., Akesson, B., & Gottlieb, A. (2024). The cultural significance of Syrian refugees’ traditional childbirth and postpartum practices. Midwifery, 139, 104180.
• Badawi, D. & Akesson, B. (2024). Surviving crisis after crisis: Strengths and gaps in support for Syrian refugee families living in Lebanon. International Journal of Migration, Health, and Social Care, 20(2), 337-353.
• Frensch, K., Akesson, B., Delioglu, F., & Keftaro, A. (2024). Syrian refugee families’ experiences of pregnancy loss services in Lebanon: A qualitative study. International Health Trends and Perspectives, 4(3), 60-75.
• Sousa, C., Akesson, B., & Siddiqi, M. (2024). Parental resilience in contexts of political violence: A systematic scoping review of 45 years of research. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 26(1).
• Akesson, B., Badawi, D., & Frensch, K. (2023). “The life needs to go on”: The perinatal experiences of Syrian mothers in Lebanon. Journal of Motherhood Studies, 8.
• Gokani, R., Wiebe, S., Sherzad, H., & Akesson, B. (2023). “We’re looking for support from Allah”: A qualitative study on the experiences of trauma and religious coping among Afghan refugees in Canada following the August 2021 withdrawal. Religions, 14(5), 645.
• Bragin, M., Akesson, B., Ahmady, M., Akbari, S., Ayubi, B., Faqiri, R., Faiq, Z., Oriya, S., Zaffari, R., Rasooli, M.H., Azizi, B.A., Barakzai, F., Haidary, Y., Jawadi, S., Wolfson, H., Ahmadi, S.J., Karimi, B.A., & Sediqi, S. (2022). Peace, love, and justice: A participatory phenomenological study of psychosocial wellbeing in Afghanistan. International Social Work, 65(3), 457-479.
• Ratliff, G.A., Sousa, C., Graaf, G., Akesson, B., & Kemp, S.P. (2022). Reconsidering the role of place in health and welfare services: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and Canada. Socio-Ecological Practice Research.
• Akesson, B., Milne, L., Canavera, M., Meyer, E., & Reinke, C. (2021). Changing public perceptions and supporting improved working conditions for the social service workforce: Expert perspectives from a global Delphi study. Journal of Social Service Research, 47(6), 808-822.
• Bragin, M., Tosone, C., Akesson, B., Taaka, J., & Nzeyimana, G. (2021). To live in peace: Women ex-combatants in Burundi and Northern Uganda envisioning psychosocial wellbeing. Peace and Change, 46(2), 183-207.
• Akesson, B., Elkchirid, A., & Badawi, D. (2020). "I am mostly concerned with their education": Syrian refugee families and the right to education in Lebanon. Canadian Journal of Children's Rights, 7(1), 98-127.
• Akesson, B., Bogossian A., & Gokani, R. (2020). A model of paternal protection in the context of political violence: Insights from the occupied Palestinian territories. International Social Work, 63(2), 238-256.
• Akesson, B. & Sousa, C. (2020). Parental suffering and resilience among recently displaced Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Journal of Child and Family Studies, 29(5), 1264-1273.
• Basso, A., Ciaschi, P., & Akesson, B. (2020). Cumulative domicide: The Sayisi Dene and destruction of home in mid-20th century Canada. Current Sociology, 1-18.
• Canavera, M., Akesson, B., Landis, D., Armstrong, M., & Meyer, E. (2020). Mapping social work education in the West African region: Movements toward indigenisation in 12 countries’ training programmes. International Journal of Social Welfare, 29,83-95.
• Sousa, C., Akesson, B., & Badawi, D. (2020). "Most importantly, I hope God keeps illness away from us": The context and challenges surrounding health for Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Global Public Health, 15(11), 1617-1626.
• Dhembo, E., Akesson, B., & Hazineh, L. (2019). Social work education in Albania: A developing landscape of challenges and opportunities. European Journal of Social Work.
• Akesson, B., Braganza, M., & Root, J. (2018). Is theory development essential for the social work dissertation? Social Work Education, 2, 209-222.
• Akesson, B. & Canavera, M. (2018). Expert understandings of supervision as a means to strengthen the social service workforce: Results from a global Delphi study. European Journal of Social Work, 21(3), 333-347.
• Akesson, B. & Coupland, K. (2018). Seeking safety, finding fear: Syrian families’ experiences of (im)mobility and the implications for children’s rights. Canadian Journal of Children’s Rights, 5(1), 6-29.
• Akesson, B. & Coupland, K. (2018). Without choice?: Understanding Syrian refugee families’ decisions to flee. International Organization for Migration (IOM) Migration Research Series, 54. 
• Akesson, B., Hoffman, D.A., El Joueidi, S., & Badawi, D. (2018). “So the world will know our story”: Ethical reflections on research with families displaced by war. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung / Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 19(3), Art. 5.
• Bragin, M. & Akesson, B.(2018). Towards an Afghan counseling psychology: A partnership to integrate psychological counseling into the university curriculum. Intervention Journal of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Conflict Affected Areas, 16(3), 261-268.
• Bragin, M., Akesson, B., Ahmady, M., Ahmadi, S.J., Akbari, S., Ayubi, B., Faqiri, R., Faiq, Z., Oriya, S., Azizi, B.A., Barakzai, F., Noori, H., Sharifi, K., Rasooli, M.H., & Wolfson, H. (2018). Developing a culturally-relevant counseling psychology degree program in Afghanistan: Results from a DACUM study. Intervention Journal of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Conflict Affected Areas, 16(3), 232-242.
• Canavera, M. & Akesson, B. (2018). Supervision during social work education and training in Francophone West Africa: Conceptual frameworks and empirical evidence from Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire. European Journal of Social Work, 21(3), 467-482.
• Acai, A., Akesson, B., Allen, M., Chen, V., Mathany, C., McCollum, B., Spencer, J., & Verwoord, R. (2017). Success in student-faculty/staff SoTL partnerships: Motivations, challenges, power, and definitions. The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 8(2), Art. 8.
• Akesson, B., Burns, V., & Hordyk, S-R. (2017). The place of place in social work: Rethinking the person-in-environment model in social work education and practice. Journal of Social Work Education, 53(3), 372-383.
• Akesson, B. & Oba, O. (2017). Beyond words: Comics in the social work classroom. Journal of Social Work Education, 53(4), 595-606.
• Braganza, M., Akesson, B., & Rothwell, D. (2017). An empirical appraisal of dissertations that used grounded theory: Implications for social work research and teaching. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 1-12.
• Akesson, B., Basso, A., & Denov, M. (2016). The right to home: Domicide as a violation of child and family rights in the context of political violence. Children and Society, 30(5), 369-383.
• Bailey, S.N., Bogossian, A., & Akesson, B. (2016). Starting where we are at: Developing a student-led doctoral teaching group. Transformations: The Journal of Inclusive Scholarship and Pedagogy, 26(1),74-88.
• D’Amico, M., Denov, M., Khan, F., Linds, W., & Akesson, B. (2016). Research as intervention? Exploring the health and well-being of children and youth facing global adversity through participatory visual methods. Global Public Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice, 11(5-6), 528-545.
• Trocmé, N., Akesson, B., & Jud, A. (2016). Responding to child maltreatment: A framework for mapping child protection agencies. Child Indicators Research, 9(4), 1029-1041.
• Gokani, R., Bogossian, A., & Akesson, B. (2015). Occupying masculinity: Fathering in the Palestinian territories. NORMA: International Journal of Masculinities, 10(3-4), 203-218.
• Rothwell, D., Lach, L., Blumenthal, A., & Akesson, B. (2015). Patterns and trends of Canadian social work doctoral dissertations. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 35(1-2), 46-64.
• Akesson, B. (2015). School as a place of violence and hope: Tensions of education in post-intifada Palestine. International Journal of Educational Development, 41, 192-199.
• Akesson, B. (2015). Trees, flowers, prisons, flags: Frustration and hope shaping national identity for Palestinian families. Global Studies of Childhood, 5(1), 33-46.
• Akesson, B. (2014). “We may go, but this is my home”: Experiences of domicide and resistance for Palestinian children and families. Journal of Internal Displacement, 4(2), 8-22.
• Akesson, B., D’Amico, M., Denov, M., Khan, F., Linds, W., & Mitchell, C. (2014). “Stepping back” as researchers: Addressing ethics in arts-based approaches to working with war-affected children in school and community settings. Educational Research for Social Change, 3(1), 75-89.
• Akesson, B. (2014). Castle and cage: Meanings of home for Palestinian children and families. Global Social Welfare, 1(2), 81-95.
• Denov, M. & Akesson, B. (2013). Neither here nor there? Place and placemaking in the lives of separated children. International Journal of Migration, Health and Social Care, 9(2), 56-70.
• Akesson, B. (2012). The concept and meaning of place for young children affected by political violence in the occupied Palestinian territories. Spaces and Flows, 2(2), 245-256.
• Akesson, B., Hoven, C., Mandell, D., Donina, K, & Doan, T. (2012). Parental involvement with the criminal justice system and the effects on their children: A collaborative model for researching vulnerable families. Social Work in Public Health, 27(1-2), 148-164.
• Ager, A., Akesson, B., Stark, L., Okot, B., McCollister, F., Flouri, E., & Boothby, N. (2011). The impact of the school-based Psychosocial Structured Activities (PSSA) program on conflict-affected children in northern Uganda. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52(11), 1124-1133.
• Ager, A., Stark, L., Akesson, B. & Boothby N. (2010). Defining best practice in care and protection of children in crisis-affected settings: A Delphi study. Child Development, 81(4), 1271-1286.
• Akesson, B. (2008). Addressing the psychosocial needs of pregnant women affected by war: Program approaches and program gaps. Refuge, 25(1), 55-59.
• Akesson, B. (2005). War is not the only trauma: Rethinking psychosocial healing in complex emergencies. Columbia Social Work Review, 3, 34-42.

Book Chapters

• Akesson, B., Frensch, K., & Isaqzai, S. (in press). Out of place, into the future: Refugee families’ experiences of displacement and dreams of the future. In M.C. Benwell, S. Spyrou, and E. Theodorou (Eds.), Children, young people and the future. Routledge.
• Akesson, B. & Frensch, K. (2025). The ethics of using GPS in qualitative research with war-affected families: Experiences from Palestine, Lebanon, and Canada. In H. Busby (Ed.), Advances in research ethics and integrity. Emerald.
• Akesson, B. (2024). The war-climate nexus: Educating future social workers about the global adversities related to war, climate change, and environmental degradation. In Hillock, S. (ed.), Greening social work education: Caring sustainability (pp. 161-182). Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
• Akesson, B. & Mfoafo-M’Carthy, M. (2024). A process evaluation of an international university partnership to strengthen the child protection system in Ghana. In S. Levy & U. Okoye (Eds.), Routledge handbook on African social work. Routledge.
• Dhembo, E., Akesson, B., & Diebold, A. (2024). Social service reform, education, and the professionalization of social work: The case of child protection services in Albania. In R. Baikady (Ed.), Oxford handbook of power, politics and social work. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
• Akesson, B. (2023). Extreme domicide and home unmaking: The biopsychosocial implications of loss of home in contexts of political violence. In P. Boccagni (Ed.), Handbook of home and migration (pp. 183-194). Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.
• Sousa, C., Kemp, S., & Akesson, B. (2023). Teaching place in social work. In R. Forbes & K. Smith (Eds.), Ecosocial work: Environmental practice and advocacy (pp. 233-245). Washington, DC: NASW Press.
• Akesson, B. & Badawi, D. (2021).“My heart feels chained”: The effects of economic precarity on Syrian refugee parents living in Lebanon. In C.W. Greenbaum, M.M. Haj-Yahia, & C. Hamilton (Eds.), Political violence toward children: Psychological effects, intervention and prevention policy (pp. 301-320). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
• Elkchirid, A. & Akesson, B. (2021). Parenting in contexts of war, displacement, and resettlement: Refugee voices from the Syrian conflict. In B. Sethi & R. Csiernik (Eds.), Working with refugees in the Canadian context (pp. 60-69). Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Akesson, B. & Coupland, K. (2020). When fieldnotes don't work as expected: The challenges of team research with war-affected populations. In C. Burkholder & J. Thompson (Eds.), Using fieldnotes in international educational research: Approaches, practices, and ethical considerations (pp. 89-). Routledge.
• Akesson, B. & Grinberg, O. (2020). A present absence: Representations of Palestinian children in the home. In S. Frankel & S. McNamee, (eds), Bringing children back into the family: Relationality, connectedness and home (Vol. 25) of Sociological studies of childhood and youth. West Yorkshire, UK: Emerald Publishing.
• Akesson, B. & Canavera, M. (2019). Expert understandings of supervision as a means to strengthen the social service workforce: Results from a global Delphi study. In T. Hafford Letchfield & L. Englebrecht (Eds.), Contemporary practices in social work supervision. Milton Park, Abingdon, & Oxfordshire, UK: Taylor & Francis. [Previously published in 2018 as journal article in European Journal of Social Work.]
• Canavera, M. & Akesson, B. (2019). Supervision during social work education and training in Francophone West Africa: Conceptual frameworks and empirical evidence from Burkina Faso and Côte d’Ivoire. In T. Hafford Letchfield & L. Englebrecht (Eds.),Contemporary practices in social work supervision. Milton Park, Abingdon, & Oxfordshire, UK: Taylor & Francis. [Previously published in 2018 as journal article in European Journal of Social Work.]
• Mfoafo-M’Carthy, M. & Akesson, B. (2019). “Family is everyone who comes through the doors of our home”: West African concepts of family bridging the North-South divide in the diaspora. In A.T-D. Imoh, M. Bourdillon, & S. Meichsner (Eds.), Global childhoods beyond the north-south divide (pp. 99-120).Palgrave Studies on Children and Development Series. Palgrave Macmillan.
• Akesson, B. (2018). “Every corner tells a story”: Using neighbourhood walks and GPS to understand children’s sense of place. In S. Kleinknecht, L-J. van den Scott, & C. Sanders (Eds.), The craft of qualitative research: A handbook(pp. 232-236). Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholar’s Press.
• Akesson, B. (2017). A baby to tie you to place: Childrearing advice from a Palestinian mother living under occupation. In A. Gottlieb and J. DeLoache (Eds.), A world of babies: Imagined childcare guides for eight societies (pp. 92-122). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.     
• Akesson, B. (2017). Refugee youth affected by war and displacement: A socio-ecological approach. In S. Wilson-Forsberg & A. Robinson (Eds.), Immigrant youth in Canada (pp. 361-377). Oxford University Press.
• Akesson, B. (2017). The miasma of occupation: The effects of seen and unseen violence on Palestinian children and families. In C. Ergler, R. Kearns, & K. Witten (Eds.), Geographies of children’s health and wellbeing in urban environments. Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, UK: Routledge.
• Akesson, B. & Denov, M. (2017). Putting the pieces together: Future directions in research with children affected by armed conflict. In M. Denov & B. Akesson (Eds.), Children affected by armed conflict: Theory, method, and practice (pp. 319-336). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
• Akesson, B. & Denov, M. (2017). Socio-ecological research methods with children affected by armed conflict: Examples from Northern Uganda and Palestine. In M. Denov & B. Akesson (Eds.), Children affected by armed conflict: Theory, method, and practice (pp. 139-162). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
• Denov, M. & Akesson, B. (2017). Approaches to studying children affected by armed conflict: Reflections on theory, methods, and practice. In M. Denov & B. Akesson (Eds.), Children affected by armed conflict: Theory, method, and practice (pp. 1-22). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
• Gokani, R., Bogossian, A., & Akesson, B. (2016). Occupying masculinity: Fathering in the Palestinian territories. In A-D. Christensen & P. Rasmussen (Eds.), Masculinity, war and violence (pp. 15-30). New York, NY: Routledge.
• Akesson, B. (2015). Palestinian children forging national identity through the social and spatial practices of territoriality. In Z. Millei and R. Imre (Eds.), Ideals of childhood and nation in the twenty-first century: International Case Studies and Perspectives (Critical Cultural Studies of Childhood Series) (pp. 141-162). New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan.
• Akesson, B. (2015). Holding everything together: Experiences of Palestinian mothers under occupation. In T. Takseva & A. Sgoutas (Eds.), Mothers under fire: Mothering in conflict areas (pp. 40-56). Bradford, ON: Demeter Press.
• Akesson, B. (2015). Using mapmaking to study the personal geographies of young children affected by political violence. In N. Worth, I. Hardill, & S. Lucas (Eds.), Researching the lifecourse: Critical reflections from the social sciences (pp. 123-141). Bristol, UK: Policy Press.
• Akesson, B. (2014). Arrested in place: Palestinian children at the border. In S. Spyrou & M. Christou (Eds.) Children and borders (pp. 81-98). Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
• Akesson, B. (2014). Geographies of Palestinian children: A critical review of the research and a future research agenda. In K. Horschelmann and C. Harker, (Eds.), Conflict, violence, and peace (Vol. 11) of T. Skelton (Ed.), Geographies of children and young people (pp. 1-18). Singapore: Springer.

• SK111: Introduction to Social Welfare
• SK121: Introduction to Social Work Practice, Values, and Ethics
• SK211: Human Behavior and Environment
• SK431: International Social Work
• SK480B: Applied International Social Work Practice
• SK500: Human Development in Context
• SK615: Research II (online)
• SK751: Applied Qualitative Research
• HR360I: QES Ghana Internship

2024

2023

2022

2021

2019

• Laurier researchers receive over $20,000 in provincial funding
• Refugees, incarcerated people find ways to be resilient, researchers say at Roatch-Haskell lectures
• Advice on how to be happy from the third least happy country in the world

2018

• Syrian refugees share their stories with WLU prof's research team
• Laurier researchers' website uses interactive storytelling to provide an intimate look at the lives of Syrian refugees in Lebanon
• Laurier presents inaugural Early Career Researcher Awards to recognize research excellence
• Improving mental health in Afghanistan
• Laurier-led study tour strengthens teaching and learning strategies for Afghan professors
• WLU professor finds success using comics as teaching supplement in social work course

2017