This CIHR-funded research program focuses on reasons for variability in health and safety among one group of Canadians, sex workers, many of whom face elevated risks of violence and premature death.
Our team is made up of community partners, people who have had experience working in the sex industry, and academics and students from across Canada. Many of these people have worked for over two decades to raise public awareness about these issues. The purpose of a collaboration of this kind is to ensure our study reflects the experiences, and speaks to the interests of, as wide an audience as possible. This is to ensure the knowledge we produce is directly applicable to the people we are working with, and easily translated into practical change at different policy levels.
projects
The research program consists of seven inter-connected research projects exploring different aspects of sex work in Canada. Each project will collect data from the same locations across the country. Read more.
researchers
Led by a sociologist at the University of Victoria, the research program involves researchers from five universities in Canada and one in the United States of America. Read more.
community partners
A wide range of community partners actively participate in the program to help define the research questions and interpret the findings. Read more.