Alexis Buettgen is an Assistant Professor in the Community Psychology Program and Associate Director of the Viessmann Centre for Engagement and Research in Sustainability at Wilfrid Laurier University, as well as an Adjunct Clinical Professor in the School of Rehabilitation Science at McMaster University, Critical Disability Studies Program at York University and Applied Disability Studies at Brock University. She is also Co-Investigator and leading partner of the Disability Inclusive Climate Action Research Programme at McGill University. Alexis is co-lead of IDEA’s Measurement and Evaluation Activity Area.

Prior to joining Laurier, Alexis held postdoctoral fellowships at the DeGroote School of Business and Department of Economics at McMaster University, and at the Institute for Work and Health where she advanced innovative research on disability inclusion in the green economy and equity-based co-creation. These experiences proceeded from over 15 years of experience in community-based research, health and social services, academic institutions, and activist organizations including a majority of provincial, national and international organizations of persons with disabilities (OPDs).

Alexis’ work focuses on advancing research, practice, and policy in the areas of social and climate justice, inclusion, poverty reduction, and community capacity and coalition building, with a particular interest in disability studies. Her current research focuses on disability inclusion in the green economy and bridging the gap between academic knowledge, climate action and social justice.

D. Buettgen is Co-Editor in Chief of the Handbook of Disability: Critical Thought and Social Change in a Globalizing World (2024), and Co-Editor of Young People in Time of Crises: Global Revelations and Social Change (2025). Alexis has a PhD in critical disability studies from York University and an MA in community psychology from Wilfrid Laurier University.
 

“My interest in advancing employer capacity for inclusive employment stems from a concern about how economic and political environments influence forms of employment available to people with disabilities and the capacities of employers to be inclusive. I am particularly interested in critical analyses of work and employment (broadly defined) as a potential solution to poverty. I am motivated by the needs, interests and priorities of diverse people with disabilities and finding creative ways to bring stakeholders in the public, private and non-profit sectors together to co-design solutions to wicked problems of exclusion.”