Our people

Our team is made up of scholars, research fellows, postgraduate students and affiliates. Together they study both historical and contemporary exploitation, gaining unique insights to help in the fight to eradicate modern slavery in all of its forms

Research community

Professor Trevor Burnard
Professor Trevor Burnard

Director of the Wilberforce Institute for Slavery and Emancipation

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Professor Jean Allain

Professor of International Law

Professor Allain's influential research has been foundational to modern slavery laws.

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Dr Lorena Arocha

Lecturer in Contemporary Slavery (Criminology)

Dr Arocha has been working on questions of policy and practice related to modern slavery, human trafficking and other forms of exploitation.

Beki Bloomfield
Beki Bloomfield

Administrator

Christina Clopot
Cristina Clopot

Postdoctoral Researcher, ECHOES

Dr Clopot is a Postdoctoral Researcher working on the ECHOES project. Her research focuses on heritage diplomacy in relation to Europe’s colonial past.

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Dr Nicholas J Evans

Lecturer in Diaspora History

Dr Evans' research focuses on voluntary and coerced migration to, through and from Britain.

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Dr Alicia Kidd

Postdoctoral Researcher

Dr Kidd is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Wilberforce Institute. She works with the Risk Assessment Service to identify potential risks of labour exploitation in business supply chains whilst continuing to pursue research related to all forms of 'modern slavery' and human trafficking.

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Professor John Oldfield

Professor of Slavery and Emancipation

A former director of the Wilberforce Institute, Professor Oldfield’s passion is in producing pioneering research into historic slavery.

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Piotr Pilarski

Project Manager

Mr Pilarski has managed high-profile, multidisciplinary projects in a variety of sectors.

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Professor David Richardson

Former Director of the Wilberforce Institute

A former director of the Wilberforce Institute, Professor Richardson is a leading expert on slavery.

Judith Spicksley
Dr Judith M Spicksley

Lecturer at the Wilberforce Institute for the Emancipation of Slavery

Dr Spicksley is an economic and social historian whose research currently focuses on the relationship between enslavement and debt.

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Cristina Talens

Director of Modern Slavery Risk Assessments/ Head of Business Risk Assessment Services

Ms Talens advises businesses on how to eradicate slavery from their supply chains.

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Andrew Smith

Co-ordinator of the Humber Modern Slavery Partnership

Andrew brings 10 years’ experience as a practitioner working with at-risk groups to coordinate the Anti-Slavery agenda across Humberside.

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Meghna Singh

Postdoctoral Researcher, ECHOES Project

Dr Meghna Singh is a visual artist and a researcher with a doctoral degree in visual anthropology focusing on the theme of migration from the University of Cape Town, South Africa. Working with mediums of video and installation, blurring boundaries between documentary and fiction, she creates immersive environments highlighting issues of ‘humanism’.

PhD community

James Baker
James Baker

Falling through the net PhD cluster

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Craig Barlow

Circles of Analysis: An Explanatory Theory of Criminal Exploitation of Children

Anta Brachou
Anta Brachou

The little-researched calamity of people trafficking from Albania to the UK

Jasmine Holding
Jasmine Holding Brown

Falling through the net PhD cluster

Saphia Fleury
Saphia Fleury

Falling through the net PhD cluster

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Tom Hammond

Surveillance, migration and identity in Brexit Britain

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Loria-Mae Heywood

Law in Books, Legal Process, Law in Action: Child Protection and Child trafficking in Nigeria

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Nick Kinsella

The importance of training in supporting front line professionals to contribute to the eradication of Human Trafficking and Contemporary Slavery

Adiva Lawrence
Adiva Lawrence

The memorialisation of transatlantic slavery in museums of black heritage and the uses of art

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Rajib Mustofa

Differential characteristics of marginalization and vulnerability of sexual minority groups to exploitation in South Asian countries: The Transgender community in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan

rebecca-nelson
Rebecca Nelson

Legacies on Display: Antislavery in Museums

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Chloe Wilson

Investigating the Specific Experiences of Victims of Human Sex Trafficking in England

Charlotte Russell
Charlotte Russell

Contemporary Slavery and The Refugee Child: Human trafficking risks in European refugee camps

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Sarah Colley

Researching the perpetrators of organised child sexual exploitation across the UK

Supervisors: Professor Iain Brennan and Dr Lorena Arocha

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Isabel Arce Zelada

Living with the consequences of slavery PhD cluster

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Mavuto Kambochola Banda

Living with the consequences of slavery PhD cluster

Jennifer Nghishitende
Jennifer Nghishitende

Living with the consequences of slavery PhD cluster

Associates

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Dr Simon Green

Senior Lecturer in Community Justice and Criminology

Dr Green's research is primarily in the fields of victimology, vulnerabilities and crime control.

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Professor Helen Johnston

Professor of Criminology

Professor Johnston is an expert in the history of crime and punishment from the year 1750 onwards.

Gerry Johnstone
Professor Gerry Johnstone

Professor of Law

Professor Johnstone's interests include punishment, restorative justice and overcriminalisation.

Michael Turner
Professor Michael Turner

Emeritus Professor

Professor Michael Turner is one of the three original founders of WISE, although his expertise lies in land tenure, and in particular the history of copyhold land.

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Dr Mick Wilkinson

Lecturer in Race and Social Justice

Dr Wilkinson’s research interests include 21st century slavery and transnational organised crime.

Honorary fellows and honorary associates

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Professor Manuel Barcia

Chair of Global History, University of Leeds

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Associate Professor Steven Behrendt

Victoria University

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Dr Ally Dunhill
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Dr Kate Hodgson

University College, Cork

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Professor Angela McCarthy

Professor of Scottish and Irish History and Director of the Centre for Global Migrations, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

Professor McCarthy’s research interests cover a range of global migrations including the forced migration of slaves and refugees.

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Professor Joel Quirk

University of the Witwatersrand

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Dr David Wilkins

Teacher of Religious Studies, History and Classics

Research interests focus on the histories and legacies of slavery, lessons for today and education, truth telling and reparations.

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Dr Mary Wills

Formerly Postdoctoral Researcher at the Wilberforce Institute, Dr Wills studies Britain's role in historic slavery and abolition.

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Dr Anthony Rabin

Honorary Research Fellow

Research on History of the Jewish People in the Greco Roman Period and Slavery in the Ancient World

Gifty Burrows
Gifty Burrows

Educator and Project Lead

Freelance - working to broaden historic and contemporary narratives to include people of African descent.

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Dr Sheryllynne Haggerty