Lauren Martin, PhD

Affiliation: University of Minnesota

Lauren Martin is an associate professor in the School of Nursing at the University of Minnesota. Her work uses qualitative, mixed-methods, collaborative, and action research rooted in strengths, assets, meaning-making, and experience to explore the ways that trading sex is a critical community health challenge, intertwined within other forms of structural oppression and violence. She started this work with community partners in 2005. In addition to writing and presenting, she also works with partners to develop programs, prevention, and policy that centers the knowledge of marginalized people. She was the recipient of the University of Minnesota President’s Engaged Scholar award in 2016, and is affiliated faculty at the Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center (UROC) and the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Dr. Martin received her PhD in Anthropology from the New School for Social Research in New York City. Her personal research mission is to co-create empirical knowledge in service of effective social change for justice and equity.

Research Interests:

• Action research

• Sex trading

• Human trafficking

• Community context

• Commercial sex markets

• Trafficking operations