I am a human rights and policy expert, dedicated to building and sharing a robust evidence base that exposes forced labor abuses in critical supply chains and using my platforms to elevate the voices of workers and survivors. My research and collaborations are focused on eliminating the negative human, supply chain, and environmental impacts of rights violations globally and fighting the systems that make these abuses so pervasive.

During the Biden administration, I served as Senior Policy Advisor to the Under Secretary for Policy at the US Department of Homeland Security. At DHS, I was engaged in all work related to the UFLPA, supporting the Forced Labor Enforcement Task Force and other agencies on policy, research, and international stakeholder engagement. I was primarily tasked with expanding the UFLPA Entity List, and in one year, the list more than quadrupled.

Since 2019, I have been Professor of Human Rights and Contemporary Slavery at the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice at Sheffield Hallam University (UK). My academic research focuses on forced labor globally, with a particular interest in forced labor in supply chains and survivor/worker voice. In addition to my work on China, I have conducted in-depth research in India, Nigeria, Ghana, the United States, and Canada.

My research team published a high-profile series of reports about forced labor in China. The reports investigate international supply chains connected to Uyghur forced labor, including in the green energy, critical minerals, automotive, apparel, agriculture, and chemicals sectors. Our reports have influenced trade policy, as well as human rights and environmental due diligence practice world wide.

I have conducted significant consulting projects for the World Health Organization, the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Dept of Justice’s Office of Victims of Crime, among others. I regularly provide subject matter expertise to government agencies, advocacy groups, law firms, investment firms, and others interested in forced labor and its supply chain, environmental, and social impacts. I only collaborate with people and organizations that are deeply committed to combatting forced labor and that are eager to have a broad impact.

I am the author several books on forced labor, including Freedomville: The Story of a 21st Century Slave Revolt (2021), The New Slave Narrative: The Battle over Representations of Contemporary Slavery (2019), Survivors of Slavery: Modern-Day Slave Narratives (2014), and other books and academic articles about contemporary forced labor and the historic transatlantic slave trade.

My work has been funded by the Laudes Foundation, Freedom Fund, USAID, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Humanities Center, and many others.