Linda Liebenberg, PhD., is a leading researcher, evaluator and consultant in the field of resilience and community development, with a core interest in children and youth with complex needs. Her work explores how best to provide meaningful programs and resources that promote of positive youth development and mental health, using formal and informal processes of resilience. She achieves this through consultation on program and community development, conducting evaluations of service provision, and doing research with youth and their communities. As a key component of this work, Linda reflects critically on the best ways in which to conduct research and evaluations with children and their communities (including multiple service providers). These approaches include participatory image-based methods; sophisticated longitudinal quantitative designs; and the design of measurement instruments.
Linda has developed consulting and collaborative relationships with many international and community-based organizations, including Right to Play, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, Save the Children Denmark, the Public Health Agency of Canada, and Eskasoni Mental Health Services. She has presented on all five continents on culturally and contextually meaningful approaches to promoting positive psychosocial outcomes of children and youth through programming and community development. She has also presented extensively on the ways in which these topics can be researched and evaluated.
Linda consults on policy, program and infrastructure development as well as research and evaluation initiatives, advising on design, implementation, analysis and knowledge translation. She runs workshops on resilience, research with marginalised youth, data analysis and writing. She has also taught numerous courses on research and data analysis, both in Canada and internationally. Linda is Adjunct Professor at both Dalhousie University and Saint Mary’s University, Canada, as well as an International Research Affiliate at the UNESCO Child and Family Research Centre, National University Ireland, Extraordinary Member, Centre for the Study of Resilience, University of Pretoria, South Africa and Research Associate at the University of South Africa. She sits on the Board of Directors for the International Association for the Promotion and Dissemination of Research on Resilience, Resilio, is on the Advisory Board of the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology, and is Editor-in-Chief for the journal International Journal of Qualitative Methods (Sage publications).
Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Linda lived in Cape Town for many years, before relocating to Halifax, Canada in 2003.
Linda's full CV can be seen
Watch Linda’s IIQM/Atlas.ti master class on photovoice here. And click here for the related IJQM publication.
KEY PUBLICATIONS
Liebenberg, L. (2022). Photovoice and being intentional about empowerment. Health Promotion Practice, 23(2), 267-273. DOI: 10.1177/15248399211062902
Liebenberg, L., & Scherman, V. (2021). Resilience and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Promoting child and youth resilience and related mental health outcomes. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 31(5), 455-463. DOI:10.1080/14330237.2021.1978180
Liebenberg, L., Jamal, A., & Ikeda, J. (2020). Extending youth voices in a participatory thematic analysis approach. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19, 1-13. Doi: 10.1177/1609406920934614
Liebenberg, L. (2020). Reconsidering interactive resilience processes in mental health: Implications for child and youth services. Journal of Community Psychology. 1-16 DOI: 10.1002/jcop.22331
Liebenberg, L., Wood, M., Wall, D., & Hutt-MacLeod, D. (2019). Spaces & Places: Understanding sense of belonging and cultural engagement among Indigenous youth. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 18, 1-10. DOI: 10.1177/1609406919840547
Liebenberg, L. (2018). Thinking critically about photovoice: Achieving empowerment and social change. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 17, 1-9. Doi: 10.1177/1609406918757631
Liebenberg, L., Wood, M., & Wall, D. (2018). Participatory Action Research with Indigenous youth and their communities. In R. Iphofen & M. Tolich (Eds.). Handbook of Qualitative Research Ethics (pp. 339-353). London: Sage.
Liebenberg, L., Sylliboy, A., Davis-Ward, D., & Vincent, A. (2017). Meaningful engagement of Indigenous youth in PAR: The role of community partnerships. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 16, 1-16. DOI: 10.1177/1609406917704095
Liebenberg, L., & Hutt-MacLeod, D. (2017). Aboriginal community development approaches in response to neoliberal policy: The example of Eskasoni Mental Health Services. In P. Dolan & N. Frost (Eds.), The Handbook of Global Child Welfare. London: Routledge.