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Crossing Boundaries: The 2023 Business and Modern Slavery Research conference

Hosted in September 2023, this two-day conference offered an opportunity for researchers of forced labour to come together.
Professor Andrew Crane giving a talk at the Crossing Boundaries conference
The event sought to break down divides between academic disciplines.

The 2023 Business and Modern Slavery Research conference bought together over 80 participants based across 14 different countries.

The conference sessions provided an opportunity for researchers of business and modern slavery to come together to share the progress they have made, to help one another to enhance the quality of their work, and to forge relationships that will enable them to cross boundaries between academic disciplines and between research and practice.

Objective exhibition

Delegate looking at the Objective poster exhibition
The Objective poster exhibition as part of the Crossing Boundaries conference.

The conference also included the launch of Objective, a powerful exhibition combining photography with first-hand testimony from survivors of modern slavery.

The project was co-created by photojournalist Amy Romer, director of After Exploitation Maya Esslemont, and Global Reporting Centre Fellow Emma Barnes-Lewis; with support from Business and Society Professor Andrew Crane, University of Bath.

Our speakers

Speakers engaging with the audience
Panel discussions and keynotes were held throughout the conference.

Keynote 1: Businesses drive forced labour. Can they play a role in solving it?

Professor Genevieve LeBaron, Director, School of Public Policy, Simon Fraser University

Keynote 2: Modern slavery - within and beyond the boundaries of the supply chain

Professor Mark Stevenson, Cross-Faculty Associate Dean Global Engagement & Professor of Operations Management, Lancaster University

Plenary Panel 1: Practitioner perspectives on business and modern slavery

James Sinclair, Director of Human Rights, Verisk Maplecroft
Kate Larsen, Founding Director, SupplyESChange
Lucy Mann, Senior Business Engagement Manager, Unseen UK
Emma Crates, Business and Human Rights Manager, Marshalls Group

Plenary panel 2: Getting funding for research on business and modern slavery

Genevieve LeBaron, Director, School of Public Policy, Simon Fraser University
Owain Johnstone, Partnerships Manager, Modern Slavery PEC
Amy Benstead, Senior Lecturer in Fashion Management, University of Manchester

Plenary panel 3: Researching and publishing in and across disciplines

Alex Hughes, Dean of Research and Innovation, University of Newcastle
Andrew Crane, Professor Marketing Business and Society, School of Management, University of Bath
Mark Stevenson, Cross-Faculty Associate Dean Global Engagement & Professor of Operations Management, Lancaster University

You can read more about the themes, topics and paper authors in the conference programme.

Explore the themes

Following the conference, the School’s Business & Society blog hosted a month-long Crossing Boundaries takeover, further discussing topics from the event:

Photos from the conference

You can view photos from the first day of the conference in the gallery below.
Crossing Boundaries 2023

Conference organisers

Meet the team
Photograph of Andrew Crane

Professor Andrew Crane, Conference Co-Chair
Photograph of Mike Rogerson

Dr Mike Rogerson, Conference Co-Chair

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