Dr. Katharina Maier

Biography

Katharina Maier is an Associate Professor and Research Chair in Family Justice with the University of Calgary’s Centre for Transformation (https://familyjustice.ucalgary.ca/). She earned a law degree (J.D. equivalent, Erstes Juristisches Staatsexamen) from the University of Münster in Germany and holds a PhD from the University of Toronto’s Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies. As a criminologist and legal scholar, Dr. Maier conducts transdisciplinary, multi-method research on family law and justice, homelessness, and addiction. She has also studied socio-legal and criminological issues related to prisoner reintegration, policing, and community-based sanctions.

Dr. Maier’s collaborative research has been funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, among other sources. Her work has been published in prominent international and Canadian journals such as the British Journal of Criminology, Social Problems, Law & Social Inquiry, Theoretical Criminology, and Punishment & Society. Currently, she co-leads the Canadian Crime & Homelessness Study (https://www.canadiancrimeandhomelessness.com/research-team), a large-scale, multi-year project examining homelessness and victimization across multiple Canadian provinces and cities. She also serves as a Co-Investigator with the Alltogether4Ideas research consortium, where she applies her expertise in criminal justice and law to analyze ongoing health syndemics (https://www.alltogether4ideas.org/). 

As the Research Chair in Family Justice at the Faculty of Law, Dr. Maier is particularly interested in the experiences of marginalized individuals within family justice and other legal systems. She explores the intersections of family and criminal law, aiming to promote both legal and non-legal reforms by collaborating with legal professionals, families, and communities in Alberta and beyond. Her work involves partnering with legal and non-legal organizations to drive evidence-based change. 

Dr. Maier has a strong focus on student training and supervision. She regularly involves undergraduate and graduate students in her projects, providing valuable training and research experience. Students are encouraged to email her with their research interests. 

Before joining the University of Calgary, Dr. Maier was an Associate Professor and Graduate Chair in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Winnipeg. She also served on the Board of Directors of the John Howard Society of Manitoba from 2019 to 2026, holding roles such as Deputy Chair and Chairperson.