Contact information
Email: alana.cattapan@uwaterloo.ca
Areas of Specialization
- Gender and public policy
- Reproductive justice
- Public engagement
- Community-engaged research
- Health policy and biotechnology
- Canadian politics
Alana Cattapan is an Associate Professor and the Canada Research Chair in the Politics of Reproduction in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo, and an Adjunct Professor at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan. She is also the director of the Politics of Reproduction Research Group. She studies gendered inclusion in policy making related to reproduction, identifying links between the state, the commercialization of the body, and reproductive labour. She has published peer-reviewed articles in Studies in Political Economy, the Canadian Medical Association Journal, the Canadian Journal of Political Science, and the Journal of Medical Ethics, among others. She is the co-editor of Surrogacy in Canada: Critical Perspectives in Law and Policy (Irwin Law, 2018) and Feministing in Political Science (University of Alberta Press, 2024).
Selected grants
- Contemporary Abortion Politics, A Workshop; University of Waterloo/SSHRC Exchange Grant, Principal Applicant, 2025-2026
- Governing Reproduction: Exploring Law and Politics in Canada; SSHRC Connections Grant, Co-Investigator, 2024-2025
- Rivers of Hope through Strength: Leveraging community expertise and capacity towards solutions for supporting Perinatal Women at risk of HIV and STBBI in Saskatchewan, CIHR Team Grant (LOI), Co-Applicant, 2024-2025
- Identifying Priorities and Taking Action: Building a Community-Engaged Reproductive Justice and Health Research Program, Saskatchewan Health Research Foundation Align Grant, Co-Investigator, 2024-2025
- Institut d'été sur la procréation assistée, SSHRC Connections Grant, Co-Applicant, 2023-2024
- Elective Egg Freezing in Canada: Towards Appropriate Regulation Governing Consent, SSHRC Insight Development Grant, Co-Applicant, 2022-2024
- Ova Obscura: Egg Donors in Canada, SSHRC Insight Grant, Principal Applicant, 2021-2024
- apihkatatan (Weaving Our Baskets): Intersectional Trauma-healing and Wisdom, CIHR Project Grant, Co-Applicant, 2021-2025
- Sanctum 1.5’s Hope Through Strength, CIHR Project Grant, Co-Principal Investigator, 2020-2024
- Surrogates’ Voices: Exploring Surrogates’ Experiences and Insights, SSHRC Insight Grant, Co-Applicant
Selected Publications
- Cattapan, Alana, Kathleen Hammond, and Eleanor McGrath. “Adolescent Access to Abortion Care in Canada: Age, Capacity, and Parental Consent.” Healthcare Policy 20.3 (2025): 15-22.
- Cattapan, Alana, Ethel Tungohan, Nisha Nath, Fiona MacDonald and Stephanie Paterson, eds. Feministing in Political Science. University of Alberta Press, 2024.
- Cattapan, Alana and Danielle Mastromatteo. “#headlesspreggos: Challenging Visual Imaginaries of Pregnancy and Reproduction.” Medical Humanities 50.2 (2024): 563-571.
- Cattapan, Alana. “Responsibility and Reproduction After the Royal Commission.” In Feminism’s Fight: Challenging Politics and Policies in Canada since 1970. Meg Luxton and Barbara Cameron, eds. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2023. pp.177-202.
- Cattapan, Alana, Jamesy Patrick, and Brenda Yuen. “Notes on the Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis Children, Youth and Families at the Supreme Court of Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 56 (2023): 483-489.
- Cattapan, Alana, Julianne Acker-Verney, Alexandra Dobrowolsky, Tammy Findlay, and April Mandrona. “Public Engagement in a Time of Confinement.” Canadian Public Policy 46.S3 (2020): S287-S299.
- Cattapan, Alana. “Medical Necessity and the Politics of In Vitro Fertilization in Ontario.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 53.1 (2020): 61-77.
- Moore, Samantha and Alana Cattapan. “Women’s Reproductive Health and Failure Speak.” Canadian Medical Association Journal. 192.12 (2020): E325-6.
- Gruben, Vanessa, Alana Cattapan, and Angela Cameron, eds. Surrogacy in Canada: Critical Perspectives in Law and Policy. Toronto, ON: Irwin Law, 2018.
Current projects
See current and archived projects at thepoliticsofreproduction.ca
Courses taught
- PSCI 260 - Canadian Government and Politics
- PSCI 490 - The Body Politic
- PSCI 662 - Canadian Political Process