Katherine Bright draws on over twenty years of working with, and learning from, trauma survivors. Prior to earning a PhD, Katherine worked a direct service practitioner, primarily serving homeless youth, teenage mothers and boys aged 12-18 years old, who were transitioning from juvenile detention and/or surviving foster care. These roles strengthened her “boots on the ground” knowledge of trauma-informed practices and have continued to shape the kind of research, teaching and service she engages in. For the last decade, Katherine has worked as a field researcher, collecting original data on at over twelve research projects. While her previous work has focused on the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) and human trafficking, her current research focuses on the intersection of technology and gender-based violence. Her latest project, The Digital Footprint of Sexual Violence, investigates the ways in which the non-consensual documentation and public spread of digital victimization records expand and extend the collateral consequences and victimization risk for survivors of sexual violence. In her first year at UCCS, she started the Trauma-Informed Methodological Activism Lab which brings together survivor-leaders, PhD students, and undergraduate students to create a peer-mentoring and learning experience. The lab challenges traditional, scientific standards for research ethics and rigor to include emotionally-engaged, equity based and trauma informed approaches. Learn more about our values and the work we are doing in the lab. Lastly, Katherine’s students, from across multiple semesters and schools have contributed the Anthology Textbook. The Anthology Textbook pulls together multiple creative projects, built by students for other students, and for those in the community who are not able to attend college. To see a full representation of student’s work, please go to the Anthology website here and choose any of the subject matter topics to see a sample of students’ work. In her free time, Katherine tries to walk amongst the trees, read silly books, and take naps in the sun. She pretends to like yoga and running, but mostly she just eats ice cream and watches a ridiculous amount of sports.

• Sexual/Gender-Based victimization
• Technology
• Human trafficking
• Trauma-informed research and qualitative methods
• Digital sexual privacy and image-based sexual harm
• Intersectional inequities

K. Bright CV