Andrea Nicholson
Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences
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Biography
Andrea Nicholson is an Associate Professor in the School of Politics and International Relations. With a background in law, she previously specialized in international human rights and international humanitarian law. She received her PhD in American & Canadian Studies and History from the University of Nottingham in 2018. Her research interests include human rights, public administration and public policy, migration, 'modern' slavery and human trafficking. She typically undertakes qualitative research with NGOs and survivors of extreme human exploitation, focusing on survivor testimony and working closely with government bodies and other stakeholders to understand issue arising from support and prevention infrastructure.
Teaching Summary
Andrea Nicholson has previously taught at postgraduate and undergraduate level on a range of subjects including public law, jurisprudence, international human rights, international humanitarian law,… read more
Research Summary
Andrea Nicholson's research focuses primarily on survivor voices; their narratives (widely conceived), testimony, and participation. Her current research concerns survivor interactions with State and… read more
Andrea supervises the following research students:
Lucy Austin: A critical evaluation of the efficacy of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 from a victim centered approach.
Holly Jones: Understanding the support needs of the dependents of modern slavery survivors: An embedded case study.
Aline Pereira: Overcoming the invisibility of workers in anti-slavery governance: the case of severely exploited rural workers in Pará, Brazil.
Laura Sawyer: Evaluating the impact of changes to policy and legislation in relation to modern slavery and human trafficking.
Andrea Nicholson has previously taught at postgraduate and undergraduate level on a range of subjects including public law, jurisprudence, international human rights, international humanitarian law, public international law, and historic and modern slavery. She currently teaches Understanding Global Politics, and teaches and co-convenes The Politics of Human Rights. Andrea also currently supervises four PhD students and an MRes student.
Current Research
Andrea Nicholson's research focuses primarily on survivor voices; their narratives (widely conceived), testimony, and participation. Her current research concerns survivor interactions with State and NGO services, support mechanisms, and the ethics of research involving survivors. She currently leads several research projects, including: The ESRC funded 'Pathways to Liberation' assessing survivors' support needs outside of the National Referral Mechanism in the UK; the Freedom Fund funded 'Sustained Liberation' projects evaluating survivors' realities of sustaining freedom 1-3 years post NGO support in Northern India and Ethiopia; 'Migrants on the Move' evaluating the support needs of trafficked unaccompanied migrant children and young adults in Greece; and the creation of survivor informed ethical principles for research with survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery.
She has collaborated on research with a number of non-governmental organisations, and provided consultancy to international and governmental organisations. She has co-authored a Cost Benefit Analysis of the Modern Slavery Victim Support Bill 2019-2020 currently progressing through Parliament, and authored a report on child slavery for the UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery.
Past Research
Andrea Nicholson's previous research focused on the legal definition of slavery, historic and contemporary narratives, conceptions of freedom, identity, and survivor activism.
Future Research
Current and planned research focuses on associated violations, sustainable development, displacement, migration and asylum, gendered perceptions of sex trafficking, including distinctions between sex work and sex trafficking, and the impact of policy and central support frameworks for 'hidden' victims.