Friday, 17 July 2020
The University of Nottingham has secured its first ever British Academy Global Professorship and will be welcoming a leading expert in modern slavery.
Siddharth Kara, from Harvard University, will begin the four year fellowship with the Rights Lab and the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University in October, as part of the innovative BA Global Professorships Programme, announced this week.
Professor Kara is one of only 10 academics globally to receive the prestigious Professorship this year.
Supported by the UK Government’s National Productivity Investment Fund, the Global Professorships programme is a flagship initiative within the Academy’s international research portfolio, offering awards worth up to £900,000 to scholars from around the world.
The aim of the programme is to enable world-class and internationally-recognised scholars to further their individual research goals while strengthening the UK research base and advancing the research goals and strategies of their UK host institutions.
Professor Kara is an author and expert on modern slavery and human trafficking, Director of the Program on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, and a Visiting Scientist on Forced Labour at Harvard School of Public Health.
As part of the Rights Lab, Professor Kara will work with the team to provide the first comprehensive academic study of conditions in cobalt mining in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), including prevalence estimates of forced labour and child labour, supply chain tracing to the Western consumer, and public health and environmental impacts.
Cobalt is used in the manufacture of every lithium-ion rechargeable battery in the world, including those used in smartphones, tablets, laptops, and electric vehicles. More than two thirds of the world’s supply of cobalt is mined in the DRC, often in extremely hazardous conditions.
Siddharth Kara and members of the Rights Lab during a recent visit to the University of Nottingham to discuss his new work on forced labour in mining in the DRC.
Professor Kara’s initial research on this topic, reported in the Guardian, led to his estimation that there are more than 255,000 people mining cobalt in DRC, at least 35,000 of whom are children, some as young as six. “In mine after mine, I witnessed heartrending suffering at the bottom of global cobalt supply chains,” he told the Guardian.
The new project at the University of Nottingham will deliver detailed analysis in a new book, a comprehensive research and policy report detailing the findings, and a companion documentary film. This all will provide powerful evidence of the need to address the immense harms at the bottom of global technology supply chains. Once established, the research model can be adapted to analyse other commodities across the global economy.
Different parts of Professor Kara’s projects connect to research already taking place across the Rights Lab, including work mapping mines in the DRC from space using satellite imagery the environmental impacts of slavery, the presence of modern slavery in supply chains, and community-based approaches to tackling modern slavery, among other collaborations.
Professor Siddharth Kara
Professor Kara said: “I am honoured to be one of this year’s recipients of the British Academy’s Global Professorship award. This generous, four-year grant will allow me to join the remarkable team at the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab, the world’s leading academic centre on modern slavery. I look forward to working with my colleagues on a ground-breaking study of cobalt mining in the DR Congo.”
On making the announcement of the Professorships, Professor Simon Goldhill, British Academy Foreign Secretary, said: “We are delighted to announce the latest cohort of British Academy Global Professors.
“This year’s award-holders bring a wealth of expertise to the UK across a broad range of disciplines.
“The Global Professors will be based in the UK for four years to conduct innovative research, build networks and collaborations, and share their extensive insights and experience with the UK research landscape…. we are pleased to welcome ten exciting new award-holders.”
Professor Zoe Trodd, Director of the Rights Lab, said: “I am thrilled to welcome Siddharth to the Rights Lab as a British Academy Global Professor. It is particularly exciting to be welcoming this high-profile and collaborative academic to Nottingham at a time when the University’s research strategy—and the UK government—has a direct focus on combating modern slavery. One goal of the Rights Lab is to assemble the best scholars in the world to tackle this problem—something that Prime Minister Theresa May called 'the greatest human rights issue of our time.'
I know that our joint work with Siddharth over the coming years, and the precision and persistence of his approach, will push the boundaries of the modern slavery research field.”
Story credits
More information is available from Professor Zoe Trodd from the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham, at rightslab@nottingham.ac.uk
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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