Kimberly Matheson

Kimberly Matheson received her PhD in Psychology in 1988 from the University of Waterloo. She has been on faculty at Carleton University since 1990, is currently a Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and is the joint Research Chair in Culture and Gender Mental Health at The Royal Ottawa’s Institute of Mental Health Research and Carleton University. 

Professor Matheson’s research addresses cultural identity, collective and individual coping, resilience, and outcomes reflecting well-being, social justice, and social change. She has worked with community groups using multiple methodologies, including qualitative, quantitative, and biological analyses. Her research has been disseminated through academic journals and chapters, as well as to wider audiences through lay publications, videos and podcasts, public talks, and organizing workshops and conferences that engaged community members, youth, and front-line professionals. One of the main groups she has worked with for the past 15 years has been Indigenous Peoples. Professor Matheson is the project co-lead of the Indigenous Youth Futures Partnership that works with First Nations organizations and fly-in communities in Northwestern Ontario to co-develop and evaluate approaches to promoting community and youth resilience. 

Professor Matheson has considerable experience with formal and informal cross-sectoral partnerships, developed while serving as Vice-President (Research & International) at Carleton University, as well as through founding the Canadian Health Adaptations, Innovation, and Mobilization (CHAIM) Centre. She has run numerous concurrent research programs relevant to Indigenous youth and communities, trained over 120 thesis students at different levels. Her work has been funded primarily by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).