Lana Wells

Lana Wells is a top-ranked and globally respected scholar in the field of social work, public policy and violence prevention. She is a change-maker in advancing gender and social justice, equity, and social inclusion, engaging and mobilizing men in violence prevention while advancing systems and structural change through collaboration and innovative policy approaches that are focused on preventing violence. Wells created the first research hub in Canada to focus solely on stopping domestic and sexual violence before it starts - Shift: The Project to End Domestic Violence at the Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary (www.preventdomesticviolence.ca). Shift’s focus is designing and testing new behavioural approaches to prevent gender-based violence by advancing equity and inclusion and integrating evidence into policy and practice. She has worked with hundreds of community-based organizations and all orders of government to transform our systems of oppression and reimagine new possibilities through an equity-lens. Since the appointment to the Chair position in 2010, Lana has held over $11 million in research funding, grants, and awards and raised over 22.5 million in support of violence prevention efforts. In 2023, Lana received the prestigious Killam Professor Award and in 2022 The Order of the University of Calgary in recognition of her community work. In 2016 she was awarded the John Hutton Memorial Award for Social Action/Policy from the Alberta College of Social Workers. From 2012 – 2016 Lana led the MSW Leadership Program in the Faculty of Social Work where she also teaches leadership, advocacy & diplomacy along with social policy. She actively supervises graduate students within the Faculty of Social Work and the School of Public Policy where in 2012 she became a Research Fellow and Instructor. Lana holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from the University of Calgary and a combined honours degree in religious and women studies from McMaster University.