Abebaw has a PhD in Social Work and Social Development. He is Associate Professor in Social Psychology. He is currently the Chair of the Forced Displacement and Migration Studies Center at the College of Education and Behavioral Studies at Addis Ababa University. He has 15 journal articles on trafficking, attitude of migrants, mental health of migrants, left behind children, intervention strategies to reduce unsafe youth migration and refuge women experiences of social support. He has several publications on health, education and child rights. He won the 2009 young scholars grant award of OSSREA and the 2016 Civil Society Scholarship Award of the Open Society Foundation. He has extensive presentations on trafficking and migration on various international conferences (USA, South Korea, Kenya, South Africa, Morocco, Somali Land, Poland and Tanzania).