Tuesday, 24 February 2026
The University of Nottingham has been presented with a prestigious Queen Elizabeth Prize for Higher and Further Education by Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla, in recognition of its pioneering research to tackle modern slavery.
The university is one of 19 institutions across the UK to receive the national honour this year. The Queen Elizabeth Prize for Higher and Further Education (formerly known as the Queen's Anniversary Prizes) — the UK’s highest national honour for universities — recognises the outstanding global impact of the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab in transforming understanding and accelerating action to combat modern slavery and forced labour.
The prizes were awarded at a ceremony at St James’s Palace and will be celebrated at a dinner at the Guildhall later today. The guests attending the formal honours ceremony at the Palace and the celebration at the Guildhall included Rights Lab leaders and Early Career Researchers, and key Rights Lab partners from International Justice Mission and Moody’s.
Professor Zoe Trodd, Director of the Rights Lab, said: “This Prize recognises what can happen when rigorous research is driven by moral urgency. Modern slavery is often hidden in plain sight — in supply chains, informal economies, and places where accountability is weakest. Our work brings evidence to those blind spots. By combining deep social science with technological innovation and strong partnerships, we are helping governments, businesses and civil society act faster and more effectively.
But this award is not a culmination — it is a call to accelerate. Modern slavery is a complex and evolving global crime, and confronting it requires collaboration across disciplines, sectors and borders."
The honour belongs to our researchers, our partners, and to the survivors whose leadership shapes everything we do, as we continue working toward measurable progress in ending modern slavery.
Global leadership in tackling modern slavery
Founded a decade ago, the Rights Lab has rapidly grown into the world’s leading, largest group of modern slavery researchers. Its multidisciplinary team brings together expertise in geography, political science, law, business and social policy to generate new knowledge and translate it into real-world action.
At the heart of this achievement is a pioneering programme using satellite data to map and measure modern slavery from space. By combining satellite remote sensing, machine learning, citizen science and other geospatial approaches, the programme identifies industries and locations at high risk of forced labour — from farms and factories to mines and brick kilns.
The research has accelerated interventions in multiple countries, shaped strategies and operations for governments, businesses and NGOs, and contributed to the liberation of thousands of people from slavery — demonstrating the transformative power of university research in action.
Professor Doreen Boyd, Associate Director of the Rights Lab, said: “Our Earth Observation programme was built on a simple question: can we make the invisible visible? Remote sensing now allows us to scale our understanding of risk in ways that were impossible a decade ago.
"By analysing satellite imagery alongside ground-truth data and partner intelligence, and applying machine learning and spatial analysis, we can identify patterns and sites that show characteristics associated with forced labour across entire landscapes and supply chains. This technology does not replace frontline work — it strengthens it. Our aim is not simply mapping, but action. The real impact comes when this evidence supports faster, more targeted enforcement, prevention and liberation efforts on the ground.”
Real-world impact and partnerships
The Rights Lab’s work has supported large-scale civil society responses, including developing robust prevalence estimates in collaboration with International Justice Mission. Its sector-leading forced labour risk tool, developed in partnership with Moody’s, is helping transform business responses across global supply chains. And survivor-led organisations such as Volunteers for Social Justice have used the Lab’s mapping data to free thousands of people from exploitation.
A proud milestone in Nottingham’s history
The 2025 award completes a hat-trick of royal recognition for the University of Nottingham, which previously received Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for its research and development of MRI technology in 2000 and for its Global Food Security research in 2011.
In November 2025, when the winners were announced, Professor Jane Norman, President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Nottingham, said: “We are immensely proud to receive the Queen Elizabeth Prize for Education. To have our work recognised in this way is a tremendous honour for our university and a powerful endorsement of the dedication, innovation and collaboration that define our community.
“Our Rights Lab colleagues, partners and supporters have worked tirelessly to address one of the world’s most urgent human rights challenges. This Prize reflects their extraordinary commitment to improving lives — locally, nationally and globally.”
The Prize stands as both a celebration of achievement and a renewed commitment: to continue leading world-class research, strengthening partnerships, and working tirelessly to help bring modern slavery to an end.
A Research and Knowledge Exchange blog on the Prize The brick and the medal: what the Queen Elizabeth Prize means for the Rights Lab can be viewed here.
Notes to editors:
About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 97 in the world and 17th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of 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 third most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2024 report by High Fliers Research. Alongside Nottingham Trent University, we lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, 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. More news…