The Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham is celebrating after two of its leading experts have been cited as two of the most influential people in the UK in helping to raise awareness to end modern slavery.
Professor Kevin Bales has been named as the number one influencer in the inaugural UK Top 100 Corporate Modern Slavery Influencers’ Index, and Professor Todd Landman was named in the top 10.
Both are members of the Rights Lab - a University of Nottingham Beacon of Excellence that brings together over 100 scholars to deliver research that helps to end global slavery by 2030.
Two other Rights Lab team members were also named in the top 100, Dr Alison Gardner and Professor Zoe Trodd. This means the Rights Lab represented 33 per cent of all academics named.
The rankings were announced last night (26 September) by Baroness Young of Hornsey OBE, at a dinner held at RIBA in London.
Professor Bales said: “I am honoured to be recognised. While the global crime of slavery and human trafficking is daunting, the truth is that we can bring it to an end. The 40 million slaves in the world today represent the smallest fraction of the world population to ever be in slavery. The $150 billion they generate in criminal proceeds is the smallest proportion in history, by far, of the global economy. Pushed to the dark edges of our global society, slavery is standing on the edge of its own extinction – it just needs a good hard push.”
Professor Landman said: “I am delighted and highly honoured to receive this kind of recognition for my work and the ways in which I have sought to engage with stakeholders outside academia. Nottingham provides the perfect platform to reach a large and international audience, while the Rights Lab Beacon of Excellence is a serious hive and brain trust grappling with the problem of modern slavery.”
The inaugural 2018 Annual UK Top100 Corporate Modern Slavery Influencers’ Index, co-created and co-curated by BRE and Sustain Worldwide, has been conceived to simultaneously raise awareness of modern slavery and labour exploitation while recognising the key influencers who are supporting its eradication. Anti-trafficking charity Hope for Justice is the official charitable partner.
The Index is based on the combination of influence on social media, as measured by Kred scores, and advocacy – policy input, speaking and media engagement – in public life, which is evaluated by desktop research. The two metrics are then aggregated via a proprietary algorithm and evenly weighted to produce the final rankings. An independent panel has verified the Index’s transparency, impartiality and robustness.
Dr Shamir Ghumra, BREEAM Director at BRE, who was the master of ceremonies at the Recognition Dinner, said: “The 2018 Annual UK Top100 Corporate Modern Slavery Influencers’ Index has played a significant role in raising awareness of modern slavery and labour exploitation amongst the business community whose supply chains are at risk, often unwittingly, of exposure to abuse. I congratulate Professor Bales and the entire Top100, whose endeavours continue to make a difference.”
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