Dr. Debra Pepler is a distinguished research professor of psychology  at York University  and co-founder of the Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network (PREVNet: www.prevnet.ca). Her work is widely credited with changing the way we think about bullying, aggression and other forms of violence, especially among marginalized and alienated young people.

Her research has been embedded in clinical settings at Breaking the Cycle, the Child Development Institute, and Pine River Institute. Dr. Pepler’s research focuses on children and youth in school and peer contexts, as well as on children in families at risk. Together with Shelley Cardinal of the Canadian Red Cross, she is working with Indigenous communities to learn how communities move from the cycle of violence to the circle of healing.

Debra received the Donald O. Hebb Award for Distinguished Contributions to Psychology as a Science from the Canadian Psychological Association.

Dr. Pepler's clinical work is in the areas of family break-up and children with emotional and behavioural problems.

She has served on several advisory committees related to parenting, antisocial behaviour, and safe school policies, within Canada and internationally.