Laurier expert alert: Consent Awareness Week

Sept. 19, 2023
For Immediate Release

WATERLOO — Consent Awareness Week runs from Sept. 18 to 22. Wilfrid Laurier University has a number of events planned to educate students about consent, share resources, strengthen allyship skills and build cultures of care. Consent Awareness Week goes beyond the campus, and invites everyone to have thoughtful conversations about consent as a cornerstone of all relationships, not just intimate ones.

The following list includes Laurier experts who are available to speak at this time but does not represent the full breadth of expertise that exists at the institution. For a more comprehensive inventory of Laurier’s faculty researchers, please consult the Experts at Laurier database.   

Jennifer Root, associate professor in the Faculty of Social Work, is an expert on gender-based violence, including intimate partner violence, child exposure to woman abuse and other forms of trauma perpetrated against women and girls. She is currently researching resistance, help-seeking and conceptions of safety among women who’ve experienced gender-based violence. Contact: jroot@wlu.ca

Andrew Welsh is an associate professor in the Department of Criminology and associate dean of the Faculty of Human and Social Sciences. He is an expert on the constructions of crime and justice in the media and popular culture and has studied how gender and violence are portrayed in films and on television. Contact: awelsh@wlu.ca

Michael Woodford, professor in Laurier’s Faculty of Social Work, is an expert on discrimination and the mental health and well-being of LGBTQ2S+ youth. Woodford’s research explores how bullying, sexual violence, and everyday microaggressions can increase LGBTQ2S+ youth's risk for poor mental health and other negative outcomes, as well as the factors that can foster resilience. Woodford is leading the Thriving on Campus Study, a province-wide study exploring the experiences mental health and academic success of LGBTQ2S+ university students in Ontario. Contact: mwoodford@wlu.ca