Winter Visiting Scholars

Visiting scholars join the Faculty of Arts

Every year, UCalgary fosters international collaboration and academic exchange through the Visiting Scholars Program. This winter, the Faculty of Arts is pleased to welcome three scholars who will make a significant contribution in the departments of Economics, Psychology and Sociology.

Dr. Katrina J. Debnam

Dr. Katrina Debnam, PhD, visited the Department of Psychology in January 2026. During her visit, she advanced ongoing work in health equity, youth development and violence prevention by engaging students, faculty and community partners through a series of events which included: A graduate workshop on mixed‑methods research; a keynote lecture on barriers Black youth face in accessing intimate partner violence supports; a Social, Personality, and Social Development (SPSD) colloquium presentation on the culturally responsive Double Check program; and a community workshop on preventing dating violence among Black youth.

Dr. Debnam is an associate professor in the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia (UVA). She also holds a joint appointment in the School of Nursing at UVA and an adjunct appointment in the Department of Mental Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Her scholarship stems from her interests in health outcomes for marginalized adolescents through community-based violence prevention strategies. 

Dr. Lars Alberth

Dr. Lars Alberth, PhD, is visiting the Department of Sociology for the Winter 2026 term. His research examines how institutions and professions define, evaluate and respond to children’s vulnerability—especially in child protection—through the lenses of generational and gender orders, organizational practice and (non-)knowledge.

As a visiting scholar, he is advancing his research on adultism and its impact on young people in Germany. In alignment with the department’s focus on systemic injustice and structural harm, he will also study the history of child welfare organizations and the ways these institutional pasts are used to reinforce generational power imbalances.

Dr. Alberth is a full professor of Theories and Methods of Childhood Studies at Leuphana University Lüneburg. He has held research appointments in Germany, Sweden and the United States—including a fellowship at the Crimes against Children Research Center (University of New Hampshire).

Dr. Lala Ma

Dr. Lala Ma, PhD, is visiting the Department of Economics for the Winter 2026 term. Dr. Ma is one of the world-leading experts on the economics of environmental justice and her research focuses on estimating the values placed on environmental quality, as assessed through housing markets and health impacts.

During her visit she has been sharing her insights by teaching graduate students, presenting her work on property buyouts in flood-prone areas, and coauthoring a paper with a UCalgary graduate student. 

Dr. Ma is an associate professor of Economics in the Gatton College of Business and Economics and holds the Carl F. Pollard Professorship in Health Economics at the University of Kentucky. She is also a University Fellow at Resources for the Future. 

Her academic background includes BA and MA degrees in economics and a BA in mathematics from Tufts University, followed by an MA and PhD in economics from Duke University.

Join us on April 9 to hear Dr. Ma’s talk: Environmental Justice: The Causes and Consequences of Inequitable Pollution Exposure.