Modern Slavery and Social Sustainability Research Group at Cardiff University Hosts Business and Modern Slavery Conference 2025

The Modern Slavery and Social Sustainability Research Group (MSSS RG) at Cardiff University successfully hosted the fourth Business and Modern Slavery Conference on 9–10 September 2025 at Cardiff Business School. The event was co-chaired by Dr Maryam Lotfi, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Supply Chain Management, and Dr Anna Skeels, Research Fellow at Cardiff University’s Social Science Research Park (SPARK), who serve together as Co-chairs of the MSSS Research Group.

In their welcome address, Dr Lotfi and Dr Skeels highlighted the group’s mission to better integrate the study of supply chain risk management with survivor-centred research.  The conference theme – ‘Humanising the Supply Chain’ – set the scene for the exploration of ethical, humane, and socially sustainable practices in business operations and reaffirmed the urgency of tackling modern slavery in global supply chains.

‘Hosting the 2025 Business and Modern Slavery Conference has demonstrated the Modern Slavery and Social Sustainability Research Group’s commitment to the development of this field and to this community.’ [Dr Maryam Lotfi, Co-Chair of the MSSS Research Group and the 4th Business and Modern Slavery Conference]

‘Our Research Group was established to bring research on Supply Chain Management and survivors of Modern Slavery closer together.  This Conference has shown that this is an important gap in the research landscape for further collaboration.’ [Dr Anna Skeels, Co-Chair of the MSSS Research Group and 4^th Business and Modern Slavery Conference]

The conference convened around 80 participants from across the world, including academics, policymakers, NGOs, and business leaders. The programme also featured a dedicated PhD workshop on the second day, where 15 doctoral students engaged in paper development and mentoring sessions.

The keynote lecture was delivered by Professor Mohan Sodhi, Professor of Operations Management at Bayes Business School, City St George's, University of London

who offered an innovative and thought-provoking perspective on the ‘business model’ of Modern Slavery and key considerations for the evolution of the research field:

‘The topic is whether we need to rethink the way we have been doing research on modern slavery in the supply chain and…do we need to come up with a new research agenda? ...What is modern slavery and what is not modern slavery? I think we need to understand and clarify that…Do we need new theoretical approaches?... and can we reduce modern slavery in practice?’ [Professor Mohan Sodhi]

Day One also featured a high-level plenary panel including non-academic partners from the Research Group:

• Joshua Vuglar, Head of Modern Slavery and Workers’ Rights, Welsh Government
• Andrew Wallis OBE, CEO and Founder of Unseen
• Eleanor Harry, CEO of HACE

Their discussion included reflection on addressing modern slavery and the challenges involved, as well as the importance of cross-sector collaboration, with insights from civil society, industry and government.

‘…it's been 10 years now since the Modern Slavery Act was first passed into law in 2015 and I think there's quite wide recognition within the modern slavery sector that while that legislation was groundbreaking at its time, there is a need to go further. Certainly, internationally, there's a strong move towards mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence…. from our perspective…we certainly do hope that the legislation in this area is strengthened going forwards.’ [Joshua Vuglar]

Industry Panel Day 1: Joshua Vuglar, Head of Modern Slavery and Workers’ Rights, Welsh Government, Andrew Wallis OBE, CEO and Founder of Unseen, Eleanor Harry, CEO of HACE

In addition to plenary panels, parallel sessions showcased cutting-edge research from scholars across Africa, Asia, Europe, Australia, and the US. Presentations highlighted both the global scope of modern slavery and the diversity of approaches being developed. Participants praised the richness of academic exchange and the opportunities for building new collaborations.

A Parallel Paper Presentations session, Day 1

On Day Two, a second panel brought together leading journal editors and senior academics:

• Professor Joanne Meehan, Professor of Responsible Procurement, University of Liverpool and Associate Editor, Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management.
• Professor Alexander Trautrims, Professor of Supply Chain Management, University of Nottingham, co-chair of the British Standards Committee on Organisational Responses to Modern Slavery (BS25700);
• Professor Reza Zanjirani Farahani, Professor of Supply Chain Management, Paris School of Business; Co-Editor-in-Chief, Transportation Research Part E; Senior Editor, Production and Operations Management and Decision Sciences; Editorial Board member across multiple leading journals.
• Professor Andrew Crane, Professor of Management, Marketing, Business & Society, University of Bath, a widely cited researcher in responsible business, modern slavery, and CSR.

The panel provided detailed guidance on navigating the publication process and advancing research impact in this critical field.

Publishing Panel, Day 2: Dr Maryam Lotfi, Professor Reza Zanjirani Farahani, Professor Andrew Crane, Professor Alexander Trautrims, Professor Joanne Meehan, Professor Helen Walker

‘I think one of the biggest barriers for early career researchers is actually getting that first publication because you've not done it before. You don't know how to play this game, you don't know what it should look like.’ [Professor Joanne Meehan]

The afternoon was dedicated to the PhD workshop led by Professor Helen Walker from Cardiff Business School, where doctoral students presented their projects, received constructive feedback from academic mentors and other students and then came together as one group for a discussion on key challenges faced during the journey of doing a PhD.  Students asked academics about the most responsible and productive uses of AI as part of the research process as well as about how to manage sensitivities and relationships with industry partners when writing up critical elements of research.

PhD Workshop Key Challenges Q&A session, Day 2

Feedback from delegates during the conference described the event as ‘engaging’, ‘insightful’, ‘exciting’, a ‘rewarding experience’ and ‘truly fruitful and inspiring’.

The conference was the culmination of a year’s planning and teamwork by the MSSS RG co-chairs, Dr Lotfi and Dr Skeels, alongside Professor Helen Walker and the group’s PhD researchers — Amir Salimi Babamiri, Amy Boote, and Zhe Li — as well as Beverly Francis, from the Executive Suite at Cardiff Business School. Their collective efforts made the event possible.