New research group tackles modern slavery and social sustainability

A new research group set up by Cardiff Business School and SPARK, Cardiff University’s Social Science Research Park, brings together academic experts and external partners to address modern slavery and social sustainability.

The Modern Slavery and Social Sustainability Research Group is the first of its kind in Wales and the UK.

Dr Maryam Lotfi, Lecturer in Supply Chain Management at Cardiff Business School, and Dr Anna Skeels, Research Fellow at Cardiff University’s Social Science Research Park (SPARK), are co-founders and co-directors of the group.

Working with key partners across academia, industry, business, and public and third sector organisations to build and share expertise, they aim to provide evidence-based solutions to challenges in this field.

Modern slavery is a complex and concealed issue, making it challenging for research efforts to explore its full nature and extent. Research on sustainability tends to over-focus on economic and environmental aspects at the expense of social sustainability.

The research group aims to inform evidence-based policy and practice on modern slavery and social sustainability, making a positive impact on communities in Wales, the UK, and internationally.

Aligning with the sub-groups of Welsh Government’s Anti-Slavery Forum for Wales (ASFW), research will be organised around the following themes:

• training and awareness
• victims and survivors
• prevention
• supply chains and international

Kickstarter funding from the university’s Security, Crime, and Intelligence Innovation Institute (SCIII) was given to the group to support a multi-agency, multi-disciplinary event, as well as to fund research trips and knowledge exchange visits.

The group hosted a kick-off event on 27 July. During the well-received event, researchers and partners came together to learn about the group and discuss research on supply chain modern slavery risk management and people with lived experience of modern slavery. Attendees included representatives from across Cardiff University, other universities in the UK, and partners such as Welsh Government, Unseen UK, Barnardo’s, and many others.

Find out more about the Modern Slavery and Social Sustainability Research Group.