Michael Seto , PhD

Dr. Michael Seto is the Director of the Forensic Mental Health Research Unit at The Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research (IMHR) affiliated with the University of Ottawa, as well as the Director of Forensic Rehabilitation Research in the Integrated Forensic Program of the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group.

He completed his PhD in clinical psychology at Queen’s University (1998), and previously worked as a research scientist and then psychologist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) between 1994 and 2008.

Dr. Seto is cross-appointed to four universities in Ontario (University of Toronto, Ryerson University, Carleton University and the University of Ottawa) and currently supervises graduate students at Carleton University and the University of Ottawa. He has published extensively on pedophilia, online offending, sexual offending, and mentally disordered offenders, and frequently presents on these topics at scientific meetings and professional workshops.

Much of Dr. Seto’s work is summarized in two well-reviewed academic books, Pedophilia and Sexual Offending Against Children (2008, and second edition appearing in 2018) and Internet Sex Offenders (2013); both published by the American Psychological Association. His research has been funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Ontario Mental Health Foundation, Correctional Services Canada and the Mental Health Commission of Canada.