PhD Studentship

About this ESRC White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership and Collaborative Award project:

This project is a collaboration between the University of Hull and The Salvation Army Anti-Trafficking and Modern Slavery Department and is funded through the prestigious ESRC White Rose DTP. Both organisations have worked together to develop a shared research and policy collaboration around the long-term needs of those who have experienced human trafficking and modern slavery. A co-hosted Spring Forum is planned for May 2024 where the explicit aim is to bring policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and people with lived experience together to discuss new knowledge and practice in the field of human trafficking and modern slavery. The PhD researcher will benefit from this emerging collaboration and the extensive research, policy and practice networks both organisations are involved with.

The Salvation Army holds the UK Modern Slavery Victim Care Contract, co-ordinating support for those who have experienced human trafficking and modern slavery in the immediate aftermath of their identification. The University of Hull hosts the Wilberforce Institute, a group of multi-disciplinary researchers from across the social sciences (e.g. Criminology, History, Law, Business Studies, Social Policy) with an international reputation for delivering real world benefit via its research and is a key partner in AHRC's Modern Slavery Policy and Evidence Centre (MSPEC), and hosts one of their research fellows (Dr Heys – one of the supervisors on this project).

The international response to human trafficking and modern slavery is often presented as 'rescue, rehabilitation and reintegration'. This project will focus on the third theme of 'reintegration' because the least is known about people's long-term experiences of reintegration – or if this is even a desirable outcome for everyone. Research questions the PhD researcher will develop are:

• What are the most important factors to ensure the positive reintegration of people who have experienced human trafficking and modern slavery back into their communities?
• What is the role of family in the supporting the reintegration of people who have experienced human trafficking and modern slavery?
• What are the gaps and limitations in current support for those who have experienced human trafficking and modern slavery?

The PhD researcher will have scope to develop the project through a combination of their own research interests and what is revealed through the refinement of research questions, research sites and academic / professional experience in year 1 of the project. Drawing on the victimological and modern slavery expertise of the academic supervisors attached to the Wilberforce Institute, and the technical supervisor at The Salvation Army the PhD research will benefit from the established expertise in research, policy and practice with the survivors of serious crime, gender-based abuse and modern slavery. The PhD researcher will be supported to develop an ethically robust methodology that can be deployed via the international reach of The Salvation Army's anti-trafficking and survivor voice networks around the globe.

For informal enquires please contact:

Professor Simon Green () or Dr Alicia Heys ()

Please see the link below to the main University of Hull advert which includes eligibility and entry requirements, research training, funding and how to apply:-

Link to University of Hull PhD Scholarship