Lauren Vollinger

​​Lauren Vollinger, PhD is a community psychologist, evaluator, consultant, and award-winning community-based researcher whose work focuses on coordinated systems response to human trafficking. Over the past decade Dr. Vollinger has partnered with local and state anti-trafficking task forces, schools, and law enforcement to understand the inter-organizational needs of agencies to best support survivors of trafficking in their communities. Her research examines the process of exiting the sex industry over time and how intersecting social identities impact survivors’ experiences with formal systems. She also focuses on the role economic abuse and coerced debt play in the lives of people who have experienced sexual exploitation and intimate partner violence. Dr. Vollinger utilizes an intersectional, trauma-informed, participatory approach to her research methods and emphasizes community engagement and activism to disseminate research findings beyond academic circles. She is also passionate about incorporating the arts and creativity into research methods and social action on human trafficking, which she discussed in her 2020 TedxTalk.