Professor Schafer's current research examines the relationship between social and environmental change in Mozambique from the late nineteenth century to the present, with a focus on forests and wildlife. Her previous research projects, with the universities of Oxford, Sussex, and Victoria, include livelihoods and natural resource management in post-conflict situations; post-conflict social and political change; reintegration of demobilized soldiers after civil war; and early childhood development in Africa. She has conducted research for the United States Agency for International Development, the Overseas Development Institute, and the Department for International Development of the United Kingdom.