We are a team of feminist researchers with a wide range of skills and experience. We love what we do, and we do it with passion. We look forward to working with you.
Dr Tara Patricia Cookson
Co-founder and Director of Research
Tara is author of Unjust Conditions, an award-winning ethnography of women’s experiences of the world’s biggest anti-poverty programs, and Substantive Editor of UN Women’s flagship report, Progress of the World’s Women 2019-2020: Families in a Changing World. Tara is an Assistant Professor of Gender and Development at UBC’s School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Her research explores how power operates in development, with a focus on gender data, social protection, and care work. She is a Gates Cambridge Scholar, and was a proud board member of the Kelowna Women’s Resource Centre, not far from her grandmother’s birthplace, Ladysmith.
Email Tara: tara@ladysmithcollective.com
Dr Lorena Fuentes
Co-founder and Director of Practice & Advocacy
Lorena is an expert in social norms and gender-based violence. Her current research explores the relationship between GBV and social protection, and the role of data and reporting in making GBV visible and catalyzing action around it. She earned her PhD from the University of London as a School of Social Sciences Fellow and as Chair of the Gender & Social Policy in Latin America Academic Working Group. Lorena’s extensive advocacy work is driven by a commitment to connecting grounded needs and knowledge to policy formulation and service provision. Lorena is also a Lecturer in Gender and Development Studies at UCLA’s International Institute. Her work has appeared in Gender, Place & Culture, Antipode, and Global Public Health, among other outlets.
Email Lorena: lorena@ladysmithcollective.com
Alex Berryhill
Strategic Operations Lead
Alex oversees Ladysmith’s day-to-day operations, including partnership development and support, strategy and planning, and office administration. She is the Director of Digital Operations for Ladysmith’s Gender Data Kit, including in Cartagena, Colombia, where she has been working alongside women’s, youth, and migrant rights organizations over the last five years. Alex’s research interests center around women’s rights, social policy and technology, especially in contexts of humanitarian crises. She is pursuing a Master of International Affairs at Columbia University’s School for International and Public Affairs (SIPA), specializing in gender and public policy.
Email Alex about Ladysmith’s service offering, and how we can work together: alex@ladysmithcollective.com
Dr Julia Zulver
Senior Researcher
Julia is a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow at the UNAM (Mexico) and the University of Oxford (UK). She earned her PhD in Sociology from the University of Oxford, where she was a Commonwealth Scholar and a SSHRC Doctoral Fellow. Her research looks at women’s mobilization in high risk contexts, with a focus on Latin America (including Colombia and El Salvador). Julia is the Director of Field Operations for Ladysmith’s Gender Data Kit. Her work has appeared in Gender and Development, Gender, Place & Culture, Third World Quarterly, the Guardian, and Ms Magazine. She is currently based in Bogotá, Colombia.
Abha Saxena
Senior Researcher
Driven by a deep sense of equality and social justice, Abha specializes in M&E and policy and program analysis to ensure that all perspectives and voices are represented. Abha is a trained social worker and social psychologist, and her method is rooted in a natural ability to empathize with and understand people and their stories. Her extensive work in South and Southeast Asia includes two landmark studies on the implications of economic integration on women migrant workers for the ASEAN Economic Community, and women’s political participation in radically inclusive local governance structures in India.
Dr Melissa Langworthy
Senior Researcher
Melissa is a feminist economist with a PhD in International Development from Tulane University, where she studied the role of gender norms in women’s economic empowerment programs and policies in post-conflict Sri Lanka. She consults for the Kuwait Women’s Union and is currently researching the relationship between women’s empowerment and entrepreneurship in Kuwait. She has worked at the National Council on Women’s Health and the Women’s Refugee Commission. Melissa specializes in feminist approaches to economic development, M&E, humanitarian action, and building better options for women through the capabilities approach and participatory research methods.
Austin Nelson
Junior Researcher
Austin is currently conducting research on digital interventions to prevent and respond to gender-based violence. She holds a degree in French and Honors International Studies from Seattle University, where her research focused on the global uprising of neo-nationalism in the 21st century. She is both a teacher and student of languages, in France and the US. She is a passionate feminist interested in women’s empowerment, human rights and sustainable development.
