Columbia University | United States
Mrs. Ava Kamdem is a rising scholar and advocate whose academic and lived-experience journey converges at the intersection of psychology, human trafficking research, and social justice. Graduating B.A. in Psychology from Columbia University School of General Studies, she has already contributed to multiple peer-reviewed manuscripts on topics such as predicting victim versus offender status among female defendants in federal sex-trafficking prosecutions and mapping online sex-buyer networks via large-scale web scraping and social network analysis. Among these, two works are published or under review in journals including Victims & Offenders and Journal of Prevention & Intervention in the Community. While a specific h-index is not publicly confirmed, her early publications already show citation activity and scholarly engagement. Her research output spans qualitative coding of thousands of human trafficking cases, quantitative modeling in R and Python, and presentations at major conferences such as American Psychological Association and American Society of Criminology. Drawing upon her lived experience as a formerly incarcerated survivor of trafficking, Kamdem also holds leadership roles in student-organised advocacy, non-profit outreach, Social Network Analysis and institutional advisory groups. Her work embodies a commitment to both rigorous empiric inquiry and real-world impact in the policy, justice, and academic arenas.
Profile: Scopus | Orcid
Featured Publication
Kamdem, A. (2025). Trafficker or trafficked? Predicting victim versus offender status of female defendants in federal sex trafficking prosecutions using the T.R.A.P. typology. Victims & Offenders.