Research

Aside from the research that underpins both of my published books, I also perform discrete research on social issues, rooted in an ethic of amplifying under-heard voices and stories. By doing this, I hope my work informs policy-making that responds to how lives are really lived, matching policies to needs. This page offers information on a selection of my research projects.

CURRENTLY UNDERWAY

On unpaid care, completion in 2024/5

(funded by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust)

The unpredictability of responsibilities and the time needed for ‘project management’ activities are two overlooked aspects of the carer experience. This project is working with unpaid carers in England and Wales and uses weekly diaries and in-depth interviews to capture quantitative and qualitative information on these issues. This will be used to encourage policy-making which aligns with the complex nature of carers’ lives.

On exploitation among people experiencing homelessness, completion in 2024/5

(funded by the University of Edinburgh)

The links between homelessness and exploitation (or ‘modern slavery’) are under-explored. This project (which is my PhD) uses in-depth interviews with people who are currently/recently homeless and support workers of those people to understand what makes people who are homeless more or less likely to experience exploitation. It uses a Bourdieusian theoretical framework to draw out issues of both structure and agency, and makes several contributions regarding overlooked elements of vulnerability and risk.

COMPLETED

On sex work and anti-exploitation strategies within the sector, 2023

(funded by Amsterdam University Press)

What role do sex worker-founded/led groups have in tackling trafficking and exploitation in the sex industry? In the context of anti-trafficking activities deemed oppressive and harmful by sex worker groups, and knowing from prior research that many sex worker-founded/led groups are doing harm reduction work, I ran a short-term research project to answer this question, conducting interviews with people in multiple European countries who arworking for these groups. This new primary data shows that these groups are a vital force in tackling exploitation, actively preventing trafficking from occurring as well as identifying and supporting people post-victimisation. Their positionality as sex worker-founded/led is found to be a key component in their efficacy.

Output: “You feel that you could have done so much more” - The practices and potentials of sex worker founded/led groups in tackling sex sector exploitation - chapter in forthcoming academic book from Amsterdam University Press

On sex work, ‘modern slavery’ and policing, 2021

(unfunded)

In 2021, a co-researcher, Frankie Miren, and I undertook a large-scale FOI-based project to ascertain whether raids on brothels that were reported in the media as tackling exploitation (e.g. ‘anti-slavery’ raids) were resulting in victims of modern slavery being identified. Over the period of a year, we trawled through media reports and carried out a painstaking process of submitting and chasing FOIs to police forces cited in those articles. This resulted in crucial new data which showed a worryingly low number of victims being identified via these raids. This suggested that either the raids were mis-targeted and there were not victims present, and/or that raids are not a tool which enables victims to identify when police perform these raids/visits.

Output: Exclusive media coverage in the Independent newspaper, available here