Alexa Bennett is a PhD candidate in the Department of Geography and Environmental Management at the University of Waterloo. As a health geographer, she explores how natural, built, and social environments shape public health and wellbeing. Her doctoral research uses qualitative methods to examine the impacts of water insecurity on perinatal health in Ghana.
Alexa holds a Master of Science in Global Health from McMaster University and Bachelor of Education from McGill University. She has also completed several additional qualifications, including a Water Without Borders Graduate Diploma from the United Nations University - INWEH and a certificate in Humanitarian Water Engineering from York University.
Alexa brings a diverse professional background and global perspective, having travelled, studied, and worked in over 30 countries. At the University of Waterloo, she developed and instructed the Queen Elizabeth Scholars field course, an immersive 65-day program in Ghana for undergraduate students in the Faculties of Environment and Science. Additionally, she coordinated the WASHCanada (NSERC CREATE) training program in water and sanitation for low-resource contexts at the University of Victoria, where she supported the delivery of field programs in Colombia and Ecuador. Her research experience also includes positions at Mount Sinai Hospital (Canada), Dedan Kimathi University (Kenya), and the Arctic University of Norway (remote).
Throughout her doctoral program, Alexa has received external funding from the SSHRC Canadian Graduate Scholarship (CGS-D), Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), Flight 302 Legacy Award, and Michael Smith Foreign Study Award.
Publications
- Meeuwisse, S., Elliott, S., Bennett, A., Kapoor, V. (September, 2024). Water fetching and musculoskeletal health across the life-course in Sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review. PLoS Global Health. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgph.0003630
-
Bennett, A., Demaine, J., Dorea, C., & Cassivi, A. (February, 2023).A bibliometric analysis of global research on drinking water and health in low- and lower-middle-income countries. Journal of Water and Health, 21 (3), 417–438. https://doi.org/10.2166/wh.2023.293
-
Veyhl, J., Dunn, R. J., Johnston, W. L., Bennett, A., Zhang, L. W., Dennis, J. W., Schachter, H., & Culotti, J. G. (2017). The directed migration of gonadal distal tip cells in Caenorhabditis elegans requires NGAT-1, a ß1,4-N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase enzyme. PLOS ONE, 12 (8), e0183049. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0183049