Dr. Angela Reed rsm PhD is the current Head of Mercy Global Action (MGA), the justice arm of Mercy International Association. Dr. Reed rsm is the Mercy representative to the United Nations where the Sisters of Mercy hold Special Consultative Status. Dr. Reed rsm is a graduate of RMIT University’s School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, in Melbourne, Australia where she completed her PhD on Human Trafficking. While living in the Philippines, her research focused on giving voice to Filipino women who had been trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Through her intimate knowledge of women’s lived experience of trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, Dr. Angela Reed rsm co-edited the book I Have a Voice: Trafficked women – in their own words and proposed a new paradigm encompassing the “Life Course” approach. In an effort to strengthen government and community policy responses to those vulnerable to being trafficked, she recommends a preventative approach to human trafficking which prioritize 17 “Optimal Life Course Conditions” (OLCCs) for the protection, promotion, and development of those at risk of trafficking. Dr. Reed rsm has presented her research and developments at United Nations conferences, educational workshops, public lectures, country embassies and many other forums. At a one-day workshop to begin formulating a comprehensive action-framework to prevent human trafficking organized by Catholic Relief Services and The Centre for Civil and Human Rights, University of Notre her keynote address was titled: “What is the OLCC Approach, and how does it relate to efforts to prevent human trafficking”.

Prior to her research, Dr. Angela Reed rsm was a part time lecturer for the Master of Social Work courses at RMIT University and coordinator at a women’s safe house in Melbourne, Australia. She managed ’Mercy Care,” a women’s safe house for 7 years where she encountered many women and children who were experiencing violence and abuse. Additionally, Dr. Angela Reed rsm was awarded the Vincent Fairfax Ethics in Leadership Fellowship in 2008 where she was one of fifteen Australian leaders chosen from business, government, and community.

Over the years, she has integrated her professional background in education, social work and theology to adopt an interdisciplinary approach to research, service provision and public advocacy. Her primary research interest is on gendered violence and in particular human trafficking.