Alina Potts

The George Washington University, Global Women's Institute, Research Scientist

Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, Teaching Associate, Alumna

Boston University, University Professors Program (UNI), Alumna

Metropolitan College of New York, MPA in Emergency and Disaster Management, former member of teaching staff

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Alina Potts is a practitioner-researcher who has led programs responding to gender-based violence in emergencies and now engages in applied research to better prevent violence. As part of the Global Women’s Institute at George Washington University, she undertakes feminist participatory action research with women and girls in refugee settings to mitigate the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse in the way aid is distributed. She previously coordinated violence prevention research at UNICEF, including examining the intersection of violence against women and children in emergencies. As an aid worker with the International Rescue Committee, Alina led gender-based violence in emergencies (GBViE) programming in Cox’s Bazar, Lebanon, Syria, DR Congo, Dadaab and Darfur. Her experience in forced migration extends to refugee resettlement in the US

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Whose voices matter? Using participatory, feminist and anthropological approaches to centre power and positionality in research on gender-based violence in emergencies

Global Public Health

An expansive view of 'rigorous' research is needed, particularly when studying complex he... more An expansive view of 'rigorous' research is needed, particularly when studying complex health and human rights issues in settings where the imbalance of power between research participants, users and producers is heightened. This article examines how applying participatory, feminist and anthropological methods in gender-based violence research can hold researchers accountable to both acknowledging and explicitly addressing these power disparities. Applying these approaches throughout the research process takes time - to build trust and share stories rather than 'extract' data, to engage in collective meaning-making with those whose lived experiences are a form of expertise, and to consider how knowledge is represented and with whom it is shared. We provide examples and reflections from Empowered Aid, participatory action research that examines sexual exploitation and abuse in relation to humanitarian aid distributions, and tests ways for making aid safer. The study is grounded in ethnographic research by Syrian and South Sudanese women and girls living as refugees in Lebanon and Uganda, to safely take an active role in asking and answering questions about their own lives.

GBV and mental health among refugee and host community women in Lebanon

Forced migration review, 2021

ECRE Guidelines for the Treatment of Afghan Asylum Seekers & Refugees in Europe

Berman, G., Hart, J., O'Mathúna, D., Mattellone, E., Potts, A., O'Kane, C., Shusterman, J., and Tanner,T. (2016). What We Know About Ethical Research Involving Children in Humanitarian Settings: An overview of principles, the literature and case studies, Innocenti Working Paper No. 2016-18, UNICE...

Participative Ranking Methodology: A Brief Guide: Version 1.1

Participative Ranking Methodology is a ‘mixed methods’ approach to data collection, in which a gr... more Participative Ranking Methodology is a ‘mixed methods’ approach to data collection, in which a group of knowledgeable participants are guided in generating responses to a specific question or set of questions. It is a ‘mixed methods’ approach in that it draws on both quantitative and qualitative methodologies to generate rich, contextualized data that can nonetheless be counted, ranked, and compared across or within groups. This methodology promotes an engaged and participatory process, which rapidly highlights key findings while providing the opportunity for deeper analysis as resources permit. Collected in a structured manner, results can be swiftly consolidated and used to develop action plans addressing identified priorities.

Country: Results from a Nationwide

Measuring human rights violations in a conflictaffected

COVID-19: Reducing the risk of infection might increase the risk of intimate partner violence

EClinicalMedicine, 2020

Alina Potts

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