Kristina Owen Mensik

As Trainings Fellow, Kristina Mensik studies the field of use of research evidence. Alongside staff and members, she draws on those findings to help develop and deploy SSN trainings to equip scholars to participate in the policy process.

Outside of SSN, Kristina is a policy and research consultant specializing in issues at the intersection of democracy reform and the criminal legal system. She founded and co-chairs the Democracy Behind Bars Coalition, an inside-outside group that works to secure access to the ballot in Massachusetts prisons and jails through direct organizing and legislative advocacy.

Previously, she worked on these issues and to reduce barriers to political participation and strengthen election administration at Common Cause Massachusetts, and served as Campaigns Director for The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls. Before that, Kristina helped researchers translate and engage their work with and for practitioners in her role as Senior Research & Policy Fellow at SSN. Kristina earned a BA in Peace & Justice Studies from Tufts University, and is an incoming Political Science PhD Student at Duke University.