Deciphering and disrupting the social, spatial and temporal systems behind transnational human trafficking: a data science approach

Lead Research Organisation: University College London
Department Name: Security and Crime Science

Abstract

Human trafficking is widely described as one of the world's biggest, fastest growing and most lucrative organised crimes. For all the bold rhetoric, there is woefully little scientific evidence on human trafficking's scale, nature, distribution, organisation and evolution. The number of victims officially identified in the UK grows year-on-year but these cases are just the tip of the iceberg as many victims go unreported or undetected. A recent estimate suggested the UK had around 7,000 to 10,000 trafficking victims in one year. Human trafficking is not only a complex social issue but also a very emotive one: it often involves the sale of vulnerable people and extreme exploitation of their bodies and labour. It causes serious harms, undermining the safety, security and welfare of individual victims, communities and nations. Many millions of pounds are spent each year trying to combat trafficking. Without a strong evidence base, there is a very real risk that myths, stereotypes, assumptions and hidden agendas step in to fill the gaps. Ill-informed measures can be very costly, ineffective and even actively detrimental. It is therefore vital to invest in high-quality research to improve understanding and inform policy and practice.

Our ultimate vision is to improve how data are used to analyse and intervene in transnational human trafficking. Our research will support a far more targeted and nuanced approach to counter-trafficking. It focuses on three key dimensions to the complex systems involved in trafficking: social structures, geographical space and time. We will systematically examine the structure of the social networks in which traffickers and victims are embedded, identifying key roles and vulnerabilities. We will determine where major steps in the trafficking process occur, mapping hotspots (places where crime concentrates), profiling key locations and examining supply and demand, risk and resilience and geographical flows. We will analyse patterns and trends in trafficking and their evolution over time. Throughout the research, we will explore the implications of our results for better detecting, deterring and disrupting trafficking, increasing resilience and reducing harms.

Our project will be the largest and most comprehensive assessment of transnational human trafficking affecting the UK. It will include adult and child victims trafficked for diverse purposes, including exploitation in the sex trade, the home and numerous other licit and illicit labour markets. Data access is a notorious barrier to trafficking research but we have remarkable access to important national datasets: the UK's central system for victim identification; the Modern Slavery Helpline; and a unique research dataset on trafficking networks. We will also draw widely on publicly available datasets (e.g. Census data) to inform our analyses. We will use methods that vastly advance understanding of human trafficking but have rarely been possible in this field due to shortages of data and skills. Our work is truly interdisciplinary, drawing on geography, crime science, criminology, data science, epidemiology, sociology, computer science and mathematics.

Our research will generate vital insights into transnational human trafficking on an unprecedented scale. We have an outstanding team that combines leading academics, non-governmental organisations, law enforcement and government. Our collaborative approach positions us well to translate excellent scientific research into genuine change. As well traditional academic outputs, we will run interactive workshops in the UK and abroad, develop a software solution, training and toolkits, produce policy briefings and deliver an innovative and tightly targeted campaign to counter trafficking. We will also run events and produce outputs designed to stimulate more high-quality research and research-informed interventions not just around human trafficking but other transnational organised crimes.

Planned Impact

Our research will bring significant direct and indirect benefits to various non-academic stakeholders, including the following groups:

1. Government: As emphasised by the Home Office (see 'Letter of support'), our research will generate vital evidence on human trafficking, its victims and offenders. It will be well-placed to inform policy, decision-making and other government activity, potentially leading to cost savings and more effective governance. Besides the Home Office, our research will likely interest the Department of Health and Social Care, Ministry of Justice, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, Foreign and Commonwealth Office and Department for International Development, among others.
2. Law enforcement: As highlighted by the National Crime Agency (see 'Letter of support'), our research will increase law enforcement's skills, capacity and understanding of transnational human trafficking, providing much-needed insights into the structure and vulnerabilities of trafficking networks and the distribution of trafficking activity. The research will offer a solid empirical basis for more data-driven strategy, tactics and deployment of resources. The work will assist law enforcement agencies at local, national and transnational levels (e.g. EUROPOL and INTERPOL).
3. Third sector organisations: In providing robust insights into the complex systems behind transnational human trafficking, our research will assist diverse third sector organisations engaged in advocacy, awareness-raising and the provision of support services in the UK and abroad. As emphasised by Unseen and Stop the Traffik (see 'Letters of support'), our research will help advance such organisations' long-term goals of combatting human trafficking and exploitation.
4. Independent advisors and commissioners: In the UK and internationally various independent offices have legally enshrined remits requiring them to report on human trafficking and exploitation. Examples include the Independent Antislavery Commissioner and the Director of Labour Market Enforcement in the UK and the National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence Against Children in the Netherlands. Our innovative, large-scale research will help inform their analyses, reports and strategies for action and research.
5. Transnational organisations: Based on our past experiences around labour trafficking, this new project will likely attract the attention of major transnational organisations like the United Nations (in particular the Office on Drugs and Crime), International Labour Organization and International Organization for Migration. It will prove valuable as a model of how collaboration and innovation can help build a stronger knowledge base on trafficking and will likely inform future international research projects, policy and interventions.
6. Diverse practitioners, policy-makers and analysts in economically under-developed countries: Our overseas workshops will engage with individuals and organisations in key source countries (many in the Global South). By collaborating on ideas for interventions to tackle trafficking in their communities, we will seek to build interest and links, empower these local actors and lay the foundations for further collaborations.
7. Affected communities and businesses in the UK and society as a whole: In contributing to a stronger knowledge base on transnational trafficking as it affects the UK and informing more data-driven interventions, our research stands to benefit UK communities, businesses and society as a whole.
8. Victims, their families and communities: Other key longer-term beneficiaries of our research are targets and victims, their families and communities. Anything our work can do to improve targeted prevention and early intervention to recognise and respond to victims is likely to play a small but important part in mitigating the potentially devastating social, economic and health impacts of trafficking.
 
Description As mentioned elsewhere, this grant was adversely affected by delays related to the covid-19 pandemic (affecting our team and external partners), very late data provision from the Home Office (committed to in 2018 but finally provided only in December 2023) and personal circumstances of the PI (major surgery and a maternity leave that took her out of action for 2020 and most of 2021). As such, we have numerous papers not yet published but in the publication pipeline.

Overall, the key discoveries of this grant coalesce around a central theme of demonstrating the complexity of human trafficking and exploitation, showing the importance of disaggregating data for analysis and intervention (as otherwise importance differences are obscured) and highlighting the need for more nuanced and ethical responses. Our work tends to capitalise on hard-to-access datasets and uses rigorous empirical analysis to investigate under-researched areas, situating analyses within a nuanced understanding of the systems and structures that can produce exploitation and impede effective responses.

In terms of academic outputs thus far, key findings so far include:

Identifying and explaining major methodological challenges in analysing the geographies of human trafficking (published in leading geography journal Applied Geography (Cockbain et al., 2022). This work has already been cited 13 times and was one of the ten most downloaded articles for Applied Geography for over a year after publication. The methodological issues identified here have substantial implications for attempts to support more (and higher quality) quantitative geospatial analysis of trafficking (a very underdeveloped part of the research literature). Some of these challenges are inherent to the nature of trafficking as an issue (e.g. a complex, distributed phenomenon with multiple linked locations, events and actors), but others are a result of the stark limitations in the scale and nature of data currently collected and issues in its recording (eg lack of fixed format reporting results in a wide range of different spatial specificity, which is challenging from an analytical perspective).

In 2022, we conducted a rapid evidence-gathering exercise in relation to the war in Ukraine and associated risks of human trafficking and exploitation, in which over 100 national and international experts participated. That resulted in a report published by the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and a peer reviewed journal article (Cockbain and Sidebottom, 2022a, 2022b). The results underlined five key themes in terms of risks and responses: 1) conflict drives human trafficking and exploitation; 2) The UK's visa-based responses contains considerable risks and needs more clarity, resourcing, and accountability; 3) information gaps and overloads may exacerbate risks of trafficking and exploitation; 4) Insecurity, fear and the broader political climate around immigration and asylum create difficult conditions in which to respond; and 5) Longer-term strategic planning is vital but seems to be lacking to date. This research attracted considerable national and international media coverage, as well as substantial attention from policy-makers and practitioners. So far, the journal article has been cited 16 times (in under a year and a half), which indicates considerable interest in this work.

That foundational research then informed a new collaboration with leading workers' rights NGO Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX) and a visiting scholar funded by the Spanish Ministry of Universities (Olaya García-Vázquez), that is due to be published as a report in March 2024. The new report is based on an interview-based study looking back locally on the implementation of the UK's Ukrainian humanitarian visas from the perspective of trafficking and exploitation risks, issues and mitigations. It shows four main issues identified as concerns by local authorities and civil society: housing insecurity, work insecurity, immigration insecurity and challenges identifying and responding to trafficking and exploitation.

A new journal article (published as a pre-print in 2023 and currently in late stage peer-review following an accept with minors decision) focuses on analysis of referrals to the UK's Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline. This study (Cockbain and Tompson, 2023) shows that despite their increased deployment internationally, there are major research gaps around the use and impacts of anti-trafficking helplines. This study seeks to address these gaps, through in depth exploratory analysis of referrals to the UK's Helpline. We found that although people self-reporting exploitation are the core target audience, only around 1 in 10 cases derived from self-reports. We show how third-party reporters vary in their proximity to the people about whom they raise concerns - who themselves may or may not self-identify as victims and/or welcome intervention. Findings around onward action both show a whole-systems response to addressing complex needs and raise difficult tensions around risks of police involvement (these findings are particularly important in the context of the increasingly hostile environment around irregular migration in the UK and the dangers that law enforcement involvement can pose). Our key contributions include showing what can (and cannot) presently be assessed from such helpline data, proposing a future research agenda, and providing a tangible illustration of what it means to theorise helplines as a part of a complex system of anti-trafficking activity. We highlight how their central goal of victim support can be enabled and constrained by wider policies, funding decisions and other structures. We expect this work to become a foundational paper for those interested in helplines in this space and it has already attracted interest from diverse non-academic audiences internationally.

Another new journal article (Cockbain, Ashby, Bowers and Zhang, forthcoming 2024) is currently in press, having been accepted for publication in Criminology & Criminal Justice. Here we focus on analysis of ten years worth of referrals to the UK's National Referral Mechanism system for identifying and providing (limited) support to people identified as suspected victims of trafficking and exploitation. In this paper, we show how conflating different issues under the trafficking/'modern slavery' umbrella risks obscuring important variation. This work adds to the very limited quantitative literature on the geographies of trafficking (thus building on previous grant output Cockbain et al 2022). Informed by opportunity theories, we examined geospatial and demographic concentrations in trafficking and related exploitation formally identified in the UK over the decade 2009-2019 (using individual level data for 26,503 people officially identified as suspected or confirmed victims). Our results reveal a highly complex landscape that likely reflects multiple and intersecting contributing factors, including both systemic drivers and more immediate opportunity structures. Alongside considerable variation overall, we found heavy geographic and demographic concentrations - and notable interactions between variables (eg gender, nationality, exploitation type). Our study emphasises the importance of disaggregation and underlines the complex systems involved.

Other papers currently in preparation relate to innovative comparative social network analysis of the social structures underpinning trafficking offending and victimisation (most studies in this space tend to focus on single network case studies but our results show considerable variation between individual cases, and also show that many trafficking offenders did not meet even a low bar to be considered 'organised crime groups'), further analysis of Helpline data (this time with a focus on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on contacts to the Helpline), and temporal analysis of trafficking identifications in the UK over a 14 year period (showing trends and disruptions over time).

We also have a book manuscript in preparation (editors Cockbain, Sidebottom and Zhang) with an outstanding line up of international contributors. It is contracted for publication with UCL Press and provisionally titled 'Evaluations for anti-trafficking interventions'. The evaluations literature on anti-trafficking is notoriously underdeveloped, despite sustained public policy interest in this domain and extensive investment. With this book, we seek to encourage and inform more nuanced, ethical and rigorous approaches to evaluation.

We also have a journal special issue in preparation (editors Cockbain, Allum and Estevez-Soto) that we successfully pitched to Criminology & Criminal Justice. The special issue is entitled Understanding the new geographies of organised crime. In it, we showcase cutting-edge empirical research into this under-developed area of organised crime research, with contributions from across different crime types, regions of the world and disciplines. We focused in particular here on encouraging and supporting contributions from early career researchers. This special issue helps situate the grant-funded research within a broader body of exciting empirical work, build links and increase visibility.
Exploitation Route The findings are important in terms of informing methodological decisions around researching trafficking and exploitation, highlighting the importance of disaggregation and arguing for more nuanced and ethical policy and practice. They underline the importance of thinking in terms of complex systems and understanding interactions at individual, situational and structural level that can produce exploitation and make it harder to respond effectively. The approaches we have taken demonstrate what can be achieved through rigorous, context-sensitive analysis of existing datasets, as well as highlighting the limits to these datasets and the need to invest also in primary data collection. The work we have done is already informing similar approaches to other national datasets internationally (eg in Romania).

Outside of academia, we have had considerable interest in our work from governmental and non-governmental agencies alike, as well as from other areas of civil society. We have been told that having this level of granular analysis is extremely helpful in confronting stereotypes and showing the importance of disaggregation rather than assuming a one size fits all approach will work.
Sectors Communities and Social Services/Policy

Healthcare

Government

Democracy and Justice

Security and Diplomacy
 
Description The grant's normal timescales were heavily disrupted by a combination of the covid 19 pandemic (affecting both the research team and our external partners), delayed data provision from the Home Office and delays related to Dr Cockbain's maternity leave and extended sick leave through 2020-21 (including major surgery). As such, we expect the project impacts to increase over the coming years as they have yet to be fully realised. Despite these disruptions and delays, the research has continued to attract considerable interest and attention from policy-makers, practitioners and civil society, nationally and internationally. Examples include being asked to meet with and present to the UK Government, the Scottish Government, the US Department for Homeland Security and the Dutch Ministry of Justice, as well as numerous civil society organisations (including grassroots projects). Here, we have been consistently able to show how our research challenges stereotypes around trafficking and underlines the importance of more disaggregated approaches to analysis and intervention. We have also been a able to flag considerable concerns around misinformation in the anti-trafficking space, the use of ideology over evidence, growing evidence of backfire effects of interventions and the need for more evidence-informed, nuanced responses that engage meaningfully with affected populations (not only trafficking victims/survivors but intersecting marginalised populations). Our forthcoming edited book on evaluations for anti-trafficking interventions will help consolidate much of that and is expected to become a go-to resource for those interested in more nuanced, rigorous and ethical approaches to interventions and their evaluation. In terms of contribution to high-level strategy, our PI continues to be part of a key national working group on the prevention of 'modern slavery' (previously known as the Modern Slavery Strategy and Implementation Group, now the Modern Slavery Engagement Forum), where we work with a wide range of stakeholders to call for more ethical, inclusive and evidence-based responses to complex and often misunderstood social issues. We have also been asked to advise, for example, HMICFRS (she was invited onto the external reference group in their national inspection of policing responses to 'group-based child sexual exploitation') and the Office of the Statistics Regulator, feeding in from experiences on this current grant and previous related projects. We have several major publications in the pipeline (articles, a journal special issue, an edited book etc). Key publications from the grant thus far include a high-impact journal article on the geographies of trafficking (one of the ten most downloaded articles the journal Applied Geography for over a year after its release), and a report for the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner and associated journal article have attracted considerable interest from practitioners and policy-makers, as well as academics. Our research from this grant (particularly the rapid response work around Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine) received substantial media coverage, nationally and internationally. Our research (both published and ongoing) continues to inform local, national and international responses to trafficking, including influencing strategy, data collection and research priorities (e.g. invited consultations with national government, policing agencies, and international authorities). The impact of our work around human trafficking and exploitation (including but not limited to that under this grant) is evidenced in the fact that our REF 2021 impact case study was assessed as 'world leading'. Another important aspect of the work has been our success in securing further funding that builds upon the work and expertise through this grant, that includes a major ESRC and Department for Business and Trade co-funded grant on labour market non-compliance (co-PIs Dr Ella Cockbain and Dr Chris Pósch, value £826,000) and the award of a Philip Leverhulme Prize to our PI Dr Cockbain in 2023 in the category Social Work and Social Policy. Finally, and showing how this research has directly informed education, since 2024 UCL has been running a new postgraduate module on Human trafficking, smuggling and exploitation, designed and led our by our PI Dr Ella Cockbain. From 2024/25 this module will also be available to undergraduate students. Since our graduates tend to go on to work in crime and justice related fields, having this module is a really important way of informing future generations of practitioners and policy-makers, challenging stereotypical and reductive portrayals of these topics and encouraging more nuanced, evidence-informed approaches to thinking about and responding to these complex issues.
First Year Of Impact 2018
Sector Communities and Social Services/Policy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Security and Diplomacy
Impact Types Societal

Policy & public services
 
Description Appointed as member of External Reference Group for the HMICFRS inspection of policing responses to 'group-based child sexual exploitation'
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Expert interview on the future sustainability of the AHRC-funded Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
 
Description Invitation to present to the national Safeguarding Adults Board network
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
Impact Was thanked for sharing information that increased participants' understanding of risks and challenges in responses to supporting refugees from Ukraine.
 
Description Invited to become a core editor for Open Democracy Beyond Trafficking and Slavery platform
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to new or improved professional practice
URL https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/
 
Description Invited to become a member of the Research Advisory Board for the Work Rights Centre
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
 
Description Membership of the UK Government-led national multi-agency working group on 'modern slavery' policy
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Impact Regular contributor to this key national advisory group. In the REF 2021 impact case study, Cockbain's contributions to this group were described as follows: Dr Cockbain was described as helping to "build understanding in government and statutory agencies about how modern slavery occurs and the wider factors that drive it" whilst helping to "amplify calls for change by NGOs who may lack academic rigour". Dr Cockbain was also described as "taking an evidence-based stand to ensure sex workers are invited into policy making spaces" such the MSSIG, challenging the deployment of anti-trafficking interventions that harm marginalised groups and contributing to a greater appreciation of the need for rigorous empirical research and proper evaluation evidence.
 
Description REF 2021 case study assessed as 'world leading'
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to new or improved professional practice
Impact Our impacts included helping improve how trafficking data are collected and used in UK, and influencing what issues were identified as national strategic priorities for research (both around trafficking/'modern slavery' specifically, and organised crime more generally). There was also significant knowledge transfer to various stakeholders across government, policing and NGOs. Full copy of impact case study available on request. Further information on the case study available at: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/impact/case-studies/2022/apr/towards-more-evidence-informed-approach-tackling-human-trafficking-and
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/impact/case-studies/2022/apr/towards-more-evidence-informed-approach-tackling-...
 
Description Philip Leverhulme Prize 2023
Amount £100,000 (GBP)
Organisation The Leverhulme Trust 
Sector Charity/Non Profit
Country United Kingdom
Start 11/2024 
End 11/2027
 
Description The nature of policing responses in London in relation to sex work
Amount £50,000 (GBP)
Organisation Metropolitan Police Service 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 02/2023 
End 02/2024
 
Description UCL-Wits Bilateral Partnership Development Seed Fund 2023 award (with co-lead Prof Joel Quirk)
Amount £5,000 (GBP)
Organisation University of the Witwatersrand 
Sector Academic/University
Country South Africa
Start 12/2023 
End 12/2024
 
Description Academic advisory role from Professor Aili Malm, of California State University, Long Beach 
Organisation California State University, Long Beach
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Professor Malm is one of the world's foremost experts on social network analysis (SNA) of crime and security related issues. She was keen to be involved in this project part because she felt the datasets and ideas for the research were genuinely exciting and novel and had the potential to advance understanding on both trafficking and SNA more generally.
Collaborator Contribution Professor Malm contributed to the bid development and formally supported our application for funding via the Transnational Organised Crime call and committed to supporting the project with an in-kind contribution. The in-kind contribution was based on providing a certain amount of input across the project's lifetime. She has assisted us already by sharing ideas and advice on the project design, methods and techniques, including via the advisory group in which she participates and in additional communications.
Impact Professor Malm attended the launch advisory group for this project in London in 2019. She continues to contribute through the advisory group, as well as providing advice as and when needed on specific aspects of the grant. Invited submission to the United Nations Delta 8.7 platform (a space for knowledge sharing around the Sustainable Development Goals). Co-authored by Dr Ella Cockbain and Unseen's CEO Andrew Wallis, this article introduces the new ESRC funded project, its partnerships, aims and context.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Academic advisory role from Professor Sheldon Zhang, University of Massachusetts, Lowell 
Organisation University of Massachusetts Lowell
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Professor Zhang is one of the world's leading researchers on the topics of human trafficking and human smuggling and has published prolifically on these topics. He has conducted innovative research in the United States, China, Mexico and numerous other contexts. We wanted to involve him as a project advisor given his domain expertise and the potential to boost the international reach and impact of the project. Prof Zhang was very happy to support the project as he thought it was exciting and innovative in design and offered real opportunities to advance the empirical knowledge base on human trafficking, which remains underdeveloped (particularly in respect of high-quality quantitative work).
Collaborator Contribution Professor Zhang contributed to the bid development and formally supported our application for funding via the Transnational Organised Crime call and committed to supporting the project with an in-kind contribution. The in-kind contribution was based on a certain number of days worth of input across the project's lifetime. He has assisted us already by sharing ideas and advice on the project design and impact-related activities, including but not limited to through his involvement in the formal project advisory group.
Impact Professor Zhang attended the launch advisory group for this project in London in 2019. She continues to contribute through the advisory group, as well as providing advice as and when needed on specific aspects of the grant. We also co-organised a panel session for the European Society of Criminology Conference in Malaga, 2022 and are currently working on a proposed book project. Invited submission to the United Nations Delta 8.7 platform (a space for knowledge sharing around the Sustainable Development Goals). Co-authored by Dr Ella Cockbain and Unseen's CEO Andrew Wallis, this article introduces the new ESRC funded project, its partnerships, aims and context.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Academic advisory role from Professor Wim Bernasco of the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement (NSCR) 
Organisation Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement
Country Netherlands 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Prof Bernasco is one of the world's leading authorities on the spatial (and spatio-temporal) analysis of crime data. Since spatial and temporal analysis were key elements of the research design, we were keen to involve him in an advisory role. Prof Bernasco felt the project offered a valuable opportunity to extend the use of spatial analytical techniques to human trafficking, a domain in which they had rarely been applied.
Collaborator Contribution Professor Bernasco contributed to the bid development and formally supported our application for funding via the Transnational Organised Crime call and committed to supporting the project with an in-kind contribution. The in-kind contribution was based on a certain number of days worth of work across the project's lifetime. He has assisted us already by sharing ideas and advice on the project design, methods and techniques, including via the advisory group in which he participates and in additional communications.
Impact Professor Bernasco attended the launch advisory group for this project in London in 2019. He continues to contribute through the advisory group, as well as providing advice as and when needed on specific aspects of the grant. Invited submission to the United Nations Delta 8.7 platform (a space for knowledge sharing around the Sustainable Development Goals). Co-authored by Dr Ella Cockbain and Unseen's CEO Andrew Wallis, this article introduces the new ESRC funded project, its partnerships, aims and context.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Advisory role of the Office of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner 
Organisation Independent Anti Slavery Commissioner
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Office of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner (IASC) came on board as a key member of the external advisory group for this project
Collaborator Contribution Ongoing consultation about this research grant and how to maximise policy impact. Also, targeted collaboration on a piece of rapid research around the war in Ukraine and associated risks of trafficking and exploitation (Cockbain and Sidebottom, 2022a, 2022b). IASC helped organise and host the event, which brought together over 100 key national and international stakeholders (including people from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Organisation for Migration, UK Government, and more) to assess the risks in terms of trafficking, issues already being identified, recommendations and words of caution for responses.
Impact Report published by IASC and authored by Cockbain and Sidebottom of UCL: https://www.antislaverycommissioner.co.uk/media/1801/ucl-iasc-2022-roundtable-report-the-war-in-ukraine-human-trafficking-and-exploitation.pdf Also available in Ukrainian and Russian translations. Journal article by Cockbain and Sidebottom: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10157362/1/Cockbain%20and%20Sidebottom%202022%20War%20Displacement%20and%20Human%20Trafficking%20and%20Exploitation.pdf
Start Year 2019
 
Description Collaboration with Prof Felia Allum (University of Bath) and Dr Patricio Estévez-Soto (UCL) and numerous international contributors on a special issue for Criminology & Criminal Justice 
Organisation University of Bath
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution As PI, I approached two cutting-edge organised crime researchers - one senior (Prof Allum) and one early career (Dr Estevez-Soto) - to collaborate on guest editing a special issue entitled 'New geographies of organised crime'. Together, we designed a call for papers (that had 60 abstract submissions from researchers all over the world) and successfully pitched the proposal to Criminology & Criminal Justice. As lead editor, I led on the drafting and process. With my co-editors' support, I also then led on organising and hosting an academic symposium in London where contributors presented their draft papers for peer feedback and discussion. The special issue is now in preparation, with several papers already accepted and in press, and others still under review. Together with Allum, I have been leading on the guest editing (managing submissions, reviews, responses etc). This special issue is an important part of this grant as it helps showcase our ESRC funded research on human trafficking alongside other cutting edge research on various forms of organised crime (drugs, economic crime, environmental crime, mafias etc) from across different geographical regions and disciplines (geography, economics, criminal justice, political science etc). We have a strong line up of international contributors, including a deliberate mix of ECR, mid career and established academics based at leading institutes in Hong Kong, US, Mexico, South Africa, Italy and the UK.
Collaborator Contribution Co-conceptualisation of the special issue, co-design of proposal, call for abstracts etc, co-promotion of the special issue, review of abstracts and final papers, co-managing of the editing process, and co-authorship of editorial (forthcoming).
Impact Special issue forthcoming (expected late 2024) in Criminology and Criminal Justice. Series of conference presentations at the International Crime Science Conference 2023 in London, the 24 hour Conference on Global Organized Crime 2023 (https://oc24.heysummit.com/talks/1A/), and the European Society of Criminology Conference 2023 in Florence.
Start Year 2023
 
Description Collaboration with Professor Sheldon X Zhang and numerous international contributors on a new edited book 
Organisation University of Massachusetts Lowell
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Our team (myself and co-investigator Dr Aiden Sidebottom) led on conceptualisation of a new book to address a gap in the market around evaluations for anti-trafficking. We brought on board our international project advisor Prof Sheldon Zhang (who is a trafficking specialist and does a lot of work on evaluations too) and together developed a full proposal for the book, which we successfully pitched to UCL Press (a fully open access university publisher). As lead editor, I led on the development of the materials for the proposal etc, and on organising the book symposium in London. We together assembled an outstanding line up of international contributors from across public health, crime science/criminology, social work etc.
Collaborator Contribution Co-design of project, co-development of materials (proposal, invitations to authors etc), review of submissions, contributions to the symposium, sole authorship of a chapter and co-authorship of the introduction.
Impact Book symposium in London in November 2023. Chapters now undergoing revisions and full manuscript in preparation (for submission to publisher later this year).
Start Year 2023
 
Description Collaboration with leading workers' rights NGO Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX) 
Organisation Focus on Labour Exploitation (FLEX)
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution As part of this grant, we did some rapid response research into trafficking and exploitation risks for displaced Ukrainians in the UK following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 (published as a report by the Office of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner in 2022, and as a journal article in the Journal of Human Trafficking in 2022). Following on from that foundational work, we did further follow-up research into local responses in the UK to emergent issues and mitigations. That was a collaboration with Focus on Labour Exploitation and a visiting researcher from the Universidad Pontificia Comillas (her role funded by a Spanish Government scholarship). This is now being published by FLEX as a joint report (March 2024)
Collaborator Contribution Co-designing the research, co-authoring the report, co-editing the final outputs.
Impact Due to be published next week (but after the Research Fish deadline for this year).
Start Year 2022
 
Description Collaboration with visiting researcher from Spain, funded by a scholarship from the Spanish Ministry of Universities 
Organisation Comillas Pontifical University
Country Spain 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution As part of this grant, we did some rapid response research into trafficking and exploitation risks for displaced Ukrainians in the UK following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 (published as a report by the Office of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner in 2022, and as a journal article in the Journal of Human Trafficking in 2022). Following on from that foundational work, we did further follow-up research into local responses in the UK to emergent issues and mitigations. That was a collaboration with Focus on Labour Exploitation and a visiting researcher (Olaya García-Vázquez) from the Universidad Pontificia Comillas (her role funded by a Spanish Government scholarship - from the Spanish Ministry of Universities, grant reference: EST22/00473). This work is now being published by FLEX as a joint report (March 2024). I was the lead host for the visiting researcher , supported her in successfully applying for the scholarship to come to the UK for three months, acted as the main host and advisor and collaborated closely on the research (re design, ethics, analysis, write up etc), as part of this ESRC funded project.
Collaborator Contribution Olaya was the lead researcher on the project, supported by myself and colleagues at FLEX. She lead on design, conducted and transcribed the interviews, led on analysis and writing up findings. She secured funding from the Spanish Ministry of Universities, grant reference: EST22/00473
Impact Report forthcoming March 2024 (listed in publications)
Start Year 2022
 
Description Support, collaboration and data provision from the Home Office 
Organisation Home Office
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution The Home Office agreed to come on board as they felt the project would address crucial knowledge gaps around 'modern slavery' and is likely to have important implications for policy and practice. The Home Office also agreed to provide data for this project, although we have been unable to progress that further.
Collaborator Contribution The Home Office formally supported our application for funding via the Transnational Organised Crime call and committed to supporting the project with an in-kind contribution. The in-kind contribution covered access to individual-level (but anonymous) case data on people referred to the UK authorities for suspected trafficking/modern slavery victimisation from 2019 onwards, the point at which management of this system (the NRM) moved from the NCA to the Home Office, sanitising this data, answering questions around it, participation in project advisory groups, reviewing outputs and contributing ideas around dissemination and implementation. Since 2019, the Home Office has supported the project by participating in regular advisory groups and inviting us to present findings to key stakeholders. We have had considerable challenges, however, around the actual data sharing from the Home Office and have yet to be able to secure access to the data the Home Office had agreed to provide.
Impact Invitation to join and to co-chair the Home Office-led, national multi-agency working group on the prevention of modern slavery (the Modern Agency Strategy and Implementation Group on prevent). Dr Ella Cockbain co-chaired this group throughout 2019, until her maternity leave at which point it was necessary to pass on the co-chair position. She remains a member and contributor to this group. Invited submission to the United Nations Delta 8.7 platform (a space for knowledge sharing around the Sustainable Development Goals). Co-authored by Dr Ella Cockbain and Unseen's CEO Andrew Wallis, this article introduces the new ESRC funded project, its partnerships, aims and context. Presentation of a seminar on the geographies of human trafficking in January 2022 to over 100 participants from the Home Office, including senior policy makers and analysts. Done on invitation via the Home Office Analysis and Insight Seminar Series. The presentation was very well-received and we were told that our suggestions for necessary changes to national data collection on trafficking (some of which have already been implemented following prior consultation) would be carefully considered in any future round of changes to the system.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Support, collaboration and data provision from the National Crime Agency 
Organisation National Crime Agency
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Public 
PI Contribution Our team, particularly PI Cockbain and Co-I Bowers secured the agreement from the National Crime Agency (NCA) to support this project, including through input at the design phase, provision of extensive data and participation in the ongoing advisory group throughout the project. Due to the NCA's high workload and the sensitivities of its operations and data, it is rarely able to support applications for research collaborations. Our ability to secure their support built on an extensive history of collaboration (particularly via Dr Cockbain's ESRC Future Research Leaders Fellowship, on which the NCA was also a partner) and a demonstrable track record of high-quality research outputs and engagement to support policy-makers and practitioners. As mentioned, we sought the NCA's input and support when designing the current funding proposal. Our work was seen to be well-designed, timely and to respond to a clear and pressing gap in the evidence base.
Collaborator Contribution The NCA formally supported our application for funding via the Transnational Organised Crime call and committed to supporting the project with an in-kind contribution. The in-kind contribution covered access to individual-level (but anonymous) case data on approximately 22,000 people referred to the UK authorities for suspected trafficking/modern slavery from 2009-2019, sanitising this data prior to sharing it, answering questions around it, participation in project advisory groups, reviewing outputs to ensure compliance with the terms of the legal agreements and contributing ideas around dissemination and implementation. Since 2019, the NCA has supported the project by co-developing and signing formal data sharing legal agreements, sanitising and providing full access to the data agreed, participating in regular advisory groups, answering questions as needed, and reviewing outputs governed by our data sharing agreement (e.g. Cockbain, Bowers and Hutt, 2022 - the first paper from this grant).
Impact Cockbain, E., Bowers, K. and Hutt, O. (2022) Examining the geographies of human trafficking: methodological challenges in mapping trafficking's complexities and connectivities, Applied Geography. Article published in a high-impact geography journal in 2022, which is important as geography is a key focus of the current project. The article is multidisciplinary, involving specialist input around geography, crime science and social science more broadly. Within days of the article appearing, we were contacted with requests for copies from various practitioners in the UK and internationally, including analysts working on the Belgian response to human trafficking. Presentation of a seminar on the geographies of human trafficking in January 2022 to over 100 participants from the Home Office, including senior policy makers and analysts. Done on invitation via the Home Office Analysis and Insight Seminar Series. The presentation was very well-received and we were told that our suggestions for changes to the NRM (some of which have already been implemented following prior consultation) when the system is next revisited for revisions. Podcast on Professor Jerry Ratcliffe's popular practitioner-oriented podcast series Reducing Crime in 2019. Podcast episode featured Dr Ella Cockbain in conversation with Prof Ratcliffe about trafficking. Podcast on mainstream (non-academic) publisher Pluto Press' podcast Radicals in Conversation in 2021. Podcast episode featured Dr Ella Cockbain alongside Emily Kenway and Molly Smith. Invited participation in panel at the 24 hour conference on Global Organised Crime in 2021, featuring Dr Ella Cockbain. Invited talk at the ESRC PaCCS Virtual Conference on Serious Organised Crime in 2021, featuring Prof Kate Bowers Invited submission to the United Nations Delta 8.7 platform (a space for knowledge sharing around the Sustainable Development Goals). Co-authored by Dr Ella Cockbain and Unseen's CEO Andrew Wallis, this article introduces the new ESRC funded project, its partnerships, aims and context.
Start Year 2019
 
Description Article for United Nations Delta 8.7 portal 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Dr Cockbain co-authored a commentary, together with Andrew Wallis, CEO of Unseen (which is a key project partner), on our new research into the social, spatial and temporal systems behind human trafficking. The commentary was published on the United Nations Delta 8.7 website, which is dedicated towards the sustainable development goals.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://delta87.org/authors/ella-cockbain/
 
Description Co-organised the International Crime Science Conference 2023, which was called 'Organised crime: the present and the future' 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact I was one of the academic leads on the 14th International Crime Science Conference, which was co-sponsored by this grant (and by the Dawes Foundation). I pitched the focus on organised crime, co-organised the agenda, with leading international guest speakers, chaired one of the opening panels, organised and chaired another panel (based on papers from this research project) and presented a paper in another panel. We arranged it to dovetail with the academic symposium for the special issue I am co-editing on the new geographies of organised crime (with Prof Allum and Dr Estévez-Soto). Showing high levels of interest from policy-makers, practitioners and industry, the event sold out very quickly.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/security-crime-science/events/2023/jun/14th-international-crime-science-confer...
 
Description Conference presentation on temporal patterns in modern slavery helpline data 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Presented in a thematic panel on human trafficking at the American Society of Criminology Conference in San Francisco. Questions thereafter came from an audience consisting of academics, students, practitioners and policymakers. Several people provided contact details to keep them appraised of the research as it develops.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
 
Description Developed and delivered a new research-led postgraduate module called 'Human trafficking, smuggling and exploitation' 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Over the last year, I developed the entire module from scratch and from January 2024 I have been delivering this module to postgraduate students. This is a clear example of cutting-edge research-led teaching, and the syllabus draws substantially on ESRC-funded research. Indicative of the amount of interest in the module, 20 students enrolled this year (the first year) - which I am told is much higher than usual for new optional modules in our department. The student feedback so far has been very positive. We have a large cohort of international students on the module too and it also includes guest lecturers with academic, professional and/or lived expertise of the domains under study.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2024
URL https://www.ucl.ac.uk/module-catalogue/modules/human-trafficking-smuggling-and-exploitation-SECU0070
 
Description Expert panel on the war in Ukraine and trafficking risks, organised by the Human Trafficking Foundation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Asked to come and present our research findings around the war in Ukraine and associated risks of trafficking to an online, public event organised by the Human Trafficking Foundation and attended by around 400 people. Was told presentation was really useful in presenting a nuanced picture of risks and challenges.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Extensive media coverage in international, national and local news 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Extensive coverage in international, national and local media, including one TV interview with a US network, 2 radio interviews on national radio, and extensive print coverage. Examples and links included below.

Media coverage:
• Times Radio interview re Ukraine report - May 2022
• LBC radio interview re Ukraine report - May 2022
• TV interview with US network Newsy re Ukraine report - May 2022
• Independent April 2022: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/ucl-ngo-homes-roma-afghans-b2068059.html
• The Mirror April 2022: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/british-troops-deployed-exercises-russias-26827134
• LBC April 2022: https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/britain-to-send-8-000-troops-to-eastern-europe/
• The Telegraph April 2022: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/04/29/ukraine-news-russia-war-latest-putin-nuclear-donbas-nato/
• Local gov.uk April 2022: https://www.localgov.co.uk/Councils-need-support-to-protect-refugees-from-exploitation-experts-say-/54115
• The National (UAE) April 2022: https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/uk-news/2022/04/28/ukrainian-refugees-in-uk-at-risk-of-human-trafficking-and-exploitation/
• ABC action news (USA) April 2022: https://www.abcactionnews.com/news/national/u-k-ukrainian-refugee-program-raises-trafficking-safety-concerns
• Express and Star April 2022: https://www.expressandstar.com/news/uk-news/2022/04/29/uks-visa-schemes-creating-and-heightening-trafficking-and-exploitation-risks/
• The National (Scotland) April 2022: https://www.thenational.scot/news/20102283.uks-visa-schemes-creating-heightening-trafficking-exploitation-risks/
• Wales Online April 2022: https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/welsh-morning-headlines-latest-news-23818869
• Belfast Telegraph April 2022: https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/uk/uks-visa-schemes-creating-and-heightening-trafficking-and-exploitation-risks-41598628.html
• Lancs Live April 2022: https://www.lancs.live/news/uk-world-news/ukraine-daily-briefing-april-29-23818803
• Misc other, eg Phys.org (https://phys.org/news/2022-04-uk-response-ukraine-refugee-crisis.html)
• Impakter May 2022: https://impakter.com/uks-ukrainian-refugee-schemes-actively-exacerbate-human-trafficking-risks-new-research-shows/
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Invited (filmed) presentation for the International Forum for Understanding event on human trafficking 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Invited to present research on war in Ukraine and associated trafficking risks at this filmed event, which is due to be turned into a documentary.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Invited blog for the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited to write a short blog for the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre about our research around the war in Ukraine and associated risks of trafficking and exploitation
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
URL https://modernslaverypec.org/latest/lessons-ukraine-human-trafficking
 
Description Invited keynote at the Unseen annual Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline report launch 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited to be a key speaker at the launch of the annual Modern Slavery and Exploitation Helpline report. Also cited in the report. The talk drew on our research into the helpline data (Cockbain & Tompson, 2023).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Invited panel at the 24 Conference on Global Organized Crime 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Based on the special issue on the new geographies of organised crime that we are editing as part of this project, was invited to put together a panel for this leading international conference on organised crime. Made deliberate choice to showcase exciting early career research in it.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://oc24.heysummit.com/talks/1A/
 
Description Invited presentation to St Mary's University Bakhita Centre Conference on Modern Slavery: Research, Creative Practices and Innovative Interventions 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Invited plenary talk on our research into concentrations of human trafficking victimisation. Attended by approx 100-120 participants, sparked conversations and new connections in the field.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.stmarys.ac.uk/research/centres/bakhita/docs/bakhita-centre-conference-programme-2023.pdf
 
Description Invited presentation to inform ongoing research and partnership with local authorities in relation to war in Ukraine, chaired by University of Oxford COMPAS (Centre on Migration, Policy and Society) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Invited to share findings of our ESRC-funded research into the war in Ukraine and the associated trafficking risks. Our research was subsequently cited in a report from the University of Oxford. https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/2022/building-an-infrastructure-for-community-led-welcome-in-the-uk/
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Invited presentation to public event on war in Ukraine and associated risks of trafficking, organised by the NGO Love146 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Asked to come and present our research findings around the war in Ukraine and associated risks of trafficking to an online, public event organised by the NGO Love 146. Told presentation of our findings from a rapid evidence gathering exercise was very helpful in terms of nuance and rigour.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Invited presentation to the Helen Bamber Foundation 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited presentation on the work we did on the war in Ukraine, and our other research around human trafficking.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Invited to present findings to the Dutch Ministry of Justice 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Invited to present findings from our ESRC-funded research to policy makers from the Dutch Ministry of Justice
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Invited to present findings to the US Government 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Invited to present findings from our research to the US Government (Department for Homeland Security).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Invited to present to Scottish leads on anti-trafficking 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Invited to present findings from our ongoing research to the Scottish government.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
 
Description Panel at the European Society of Criminology conference 2023 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Panel at the European Society of Criminology comprised of various papers from this research project (including social network analysis, spatial analysis etc).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2023
URL https://www.eucpn.org/events/eurocrim-2023
 
Description Panel discussion at 'A Decriminalised Future: Sex Workers' Festival of Resistance' 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact Dr Cockbain was invited to take part in a panel on human trafficking responses and their impacts on sex workers, at this major sex worker-led event in 2019 in London. Her participation in the event drew on various ESRC funded research on trafficking and exploitation. The event was organised by SWARM (Sex Workers Advocacy and Resistance Movement) and was a really dynamic and well-attended event. The organisers then sought permission to share the audio files via soundcloud and they went on to develop a major exhibition at the ICA that launched in Feb 2022 (https://www.ica.art/decriminalised-futures).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.swarmcollective.org/sex-workers-festival-of-resistance-a-decriminalised-future
 
Description Presented to Home Office on the geographies of trafficking 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact Invited to present our research into the geographies of human trafficking as a seminar in the Home Office Analysis and Insight seminar series. It was very well-attended (over 115 people) and, according to the organisers, very well-received by participants. The presented included a research-based discussion of major methodological challenges in mapping the complex and interconnected geographies of trafficking and recommendations for short- and longer-term fixes, based on two ESRC funded research projects and drawing on our recent publication (Cockbain, Bowers and Hutt, 2022).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2022
 
Description Radicals in Conversation Podcast 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Public/other audiences
Results and Impact Invited to be part of a podcast in the popular press Pluto Press series 'Radicals in Conversation' in an episode focused on 'modern slavery' to coincide with the publication of Emily Kenway's book 'The Truth about Modern Slavery'. Dr Cockbain's involvement drew on her ESRC funded research in this space. The podcast engaged with myths and misconceptions around 'modern slavery' and the harmful consequences of some anti-trafficking/anti-slavery interventions.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2021
URL https://www.plutobooks.com/blog/podcast-the-truth-about-modern-slavery/
 
Description Reducing Crime podcast 
Form Of Engagement Activity A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press)
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Invited by Professor Jerry Ratcliffe of Temple University, USA, to be a guest on his popular crime-focused podcast, Reducing Crime. The episode focused on human trafficking and involved various debunking of myths, drawing on Dr Cockbain's ESRC-funded research in this space. Apparently it has been one of the most popular episodes in the series.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.reducingcrime.com/podcast-1-20