Dr. Tara Lyons
BA (SFU), MA (Concordia), PhD (Carleton)
Tara Lyons, PhD (she/her), is a faculty member in KPU’s Department of Criminology and Chair of the KPU Research Ethics Board. Dr. Lyons’ research examines how legal, health, and social systems and policies impact communities. Specifically, her work investigates how interconnected social and structural factors shape the health and wellbeing of 2SLGBTQIA+ people, sex workers, and people who use drugs. Her community-based research with 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals engaged in sex work and/or substance use has contributed to some of the only Canadian evidence in this area of study. She is currently leading studies investigating the experiences of 2SLGBTQIA+ post-secondary students. She has worked extensively within social justice activism, including prison justice and drug policy reform.
Dr. Lyons co-founded Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP) and currently serves as a CSSDP Strategic Advisor. In 2023, Tara was a recipient of KPU’s Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Award and the Faculty of Arts Research and Scholarship Mentorship Award.
Courses taught
- ARTS 1100 Exploring the Arts – Cannabis
- CRIM 1100 Introduction to Criminology
- CRIM 1101 Introduction to the Criminal Justice System
- CRIM 3104 Qualitative Research Methods
- CRIM 3217 Women, Crime, and Justice
- CRIM 3270 Substance Use and Harm Reduction
- CRIM 4900 Special Topics: Drugs, Crime, and Policy
- CRIM 5000 Honours Thesis I
- CRIM 5020 Honours Thesis II
Scholarly Work
- Machat, S., Lyons, T., Goldenberg, S. (2022). Internet Solicitation Linked to Enhanced Occupational Health & Safety Outcomes Among Sex Workers in Metro Vancouver, Canada 2010-2019. Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
- Lacombe-Duncan, A., Logie, C.H., Persad, Y., Leblanc, G., Nation, K., Kia, H., Scheim, A., Lyons, T., Horemans, C., Olawale, R. & Loutfy, M. (2021). Implementation and evaluation of the ‘Transgender Education for Affirmative and Competent HIV and Healthcare (TEACHH)’ provider education pilot. BMC Medical Education. 21, 561.
- Lacombe-Duncan, A., Kia, H., Logie, C.H., Todd, K.P., Persad,, Y, Leblanc, G., Nation, K.,, Scheim, A.I., Lyons, T., Horemans, C. & Loutfy, M. (2020). A Qualitative Exploration of Barriers to HIV Prevention, Treatment, and Support: Perspectives of Transgender Women and Service Providers. Health & Social Care in the Community.
- Lacombe-Duncan, A., Logie, C.H., Persad,, Y, Leblanc, G., Nation, K. Kia, H. Ortigoza, E., Scheim, A.I., Lyons, T. & Loutfy, M. (2020). Transgender Education for Affirmative and Competent HIV and Healthcare (TEACHH)’: Protocol of community-based intervention development and a non-randomized multi-site pilot study with pre- post-test design. BMJ Open, 10(7):e034144. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-03414
- Lyons, T,, Krüsi, A., Kerr, T., Shannon, K. (2019). The impacts of intersecting stigmas on health and housing experiences of queer women sex workers in Vancouver, Canada. Journal of Homosexuality. DOI: 10.1080/00918369.2019.1694337
- Amram, O., Shannon, K., Braschel, M., Machat, S., Moreheart, S., Lyons, T., Montaner, J., Goldenberg, S. (2019). Mapping workplace neighbourhood mobility amongst sex workers in an urban Canadian setting: Results of a community-based spatial epidemiological study from 2010-2016. Journal of Interpersonal Violence. DOI: 10.1177/0886260519846858. [Epub ahead of print]
- Krüsi A., Ranville F., Gurney L., Lyons T., Shoveller J., Shannon K. (2018) Positive sexuality: HIV disclosure, gender, violence and the law—A qualitative study. PLoS ONE 13(8): e0202776.
- Matthen, P., Lyons, T., Taylor, M., Jennex, J., Anderson, S., Jollimore, J., Shannon, K. (2018). “I walked into the industry for survival and came out of a closet”: How gender and sexual identities shape sex work experiences among men, two spirit, and trans people in Vancouver.” Men and Masculinities, 21(4): 479 – 500.
- Lyons, T,, Pierre, L., Krüsi, A., Shannon. K. (2018). Criminal justice versus health and human rights perspectives on trans sex work. Edited by Larry Nuttbrock. Transgender Sex Work and Society. Harrington Park Press, United States.
- Lyons, T., Krüsi, A., Pierre, L., Small, W., Shannon. K. (2017). The impact of construction and gentrification on an outdoor trans sex work environment: Violence, displacement, and policing. Sexualities, 20(8): 881-903.
- Lyons, T., Krüsi, A., Pierre, L., Kerr, T., Small, W., Shannon, K. (2017). Negotiating violence in the context of transphobia and criminalization: The experiences of trans sex workers in Vancouver, Canada. Qualitative Health Research, 27(2): 182-190. Published online before print October 28, 2015, doi: 10.1177/1049732315613311
- Lyons, T., Krüsi, A., Pierre, L., Smith, A., Small, W., Shannon, K. (2016). Experiences of trans women and two-spirit persons accessing women-specific health and housing services in a downtown neighborhood of Vancouver, Canada. LGBT Health, 3(5): 373-378.
- Lyons, T., Shannon, K., Richardson, L., Simo, A., Wood, E., Kerr, T. (2016). Women who use drugs and have sex with women in a Canadian setting: Barriers to treatment enrollment and exposure to violence and homelessness. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 45(6):1403-1410. DOI 10.1007/s10508-015-0508-2