CATRiS – the Consortium of Anti-Trafficking Research in Scotland

• Critical focus

  CATRiS fills a gap in this area using many perspectives. The following three are in the forefront of our attention:

  1. It offers the Scottish perspective. Scotland is a unique country with over a hundred unmanned ports, vast areas of rural and remote landscape, its own political system, its own police system, its own legal system. And yet we must overlap our rich knowledge constantly with the reality of trafficking being a global challenge. Bringing our evidence to the table in external liaison with the rest of the UK and the world is crucial.
  2. CATRiS is among the first that aim to establish a centre that focuses on trafficking as a subject and its implications on all aspects of life crossing the interface between different formats of trafficking. Increasingly we are realising that the organisers, the traffickers, the planning, and the routes of this activity are shared whether there are people, arms, drugs, or wildlife involved. Yet the interface has been largely ignored in the silos of research focus. Sharing the academic evidence in an inter-disciplinary form can reveal crucial new evidence of critical importance. 
  3. CATRiS has a combination of academics, action researchers and grassroots workers – a closeknit community which is, in part, the lucky outcome of Scotland being such a small country. This offers a unique value.

• CATRiS database

  CATRiS is administratively held in the University of St Andrews. Here a unique and confidential database has been created, holding basic information on researchers in Scotland and elsewhere who volunteer to go on the register. If a request for expert advice comes forward from a practitioner, a legal body, a charity organisation or a police agency, those on the database with knowledge in this field will be approached by the CATRiS administrator and asked if they can help before any contact is facilitated.

  If you wish to have your name entered on the database please contact:

  Dr Chris Lusk

  Email: clusk@st-andrews.ac.uk  

  Tel: 07736 212599

• Aims

  CATRiS works towards offering whatever evidence we find to help develop a flexible, constantly evolving research-based public policy approach on trafficking which is based on what's actively happening on the frontlines on a real-time basis.

  The consortium is founded on substantive targeted partnerships between Scottish Universities (St Andrews, Dundee, Stirling and Edinburgh) practitioners, legal counsel, and law enforcement agencies (Police Scotland and the National Crime agency). These are high-quality arrangements with leadership contact points identified. Working effectively across diverse groups with different agendas can be extremely difficult however, and so the CATRiS steering group members have the experience and expertise to nurture these partnerships.

  A model of interest to the consortium is that of the ‘Programme Challenger’ model of partnership working, a credible starting point for effective management when working across key organisations and agencies. CATRiS aims to align our key objectives with the: Prepare, Prevent, Pursue, Protect and Partnership agenda and use this working model to ensure future research liaison effectively gathers inputs from a range of stakeholders, shares information appropriately, improves our understanding about the key drivers of trafficking, identifies ways to disrupt the supply network, increases public awareness, and improves how to support the survivors of these wicked crimes.

• Key objectives

  1. To develop and evolve a multi-disciplinary, multi-stakeholder and multi-agency task force to tackle illegal trafficking in all its forms through a partnership framework which is trusted, accountable and works collaboratively to generate an evidence-based comprehensive understanding and potential implementable solutions about the nature and extent of the trafficking problem in Scotland. These efforts will work towards building a research programme which transforms our understanding and narrative of the global problem by bringing out constructive, implementable changes in both law and practice in Scotland with an aim towards a multiplier long term societal impact across Scotland, the United Kingdom and across the world.
  2. To create a practitioner-led knowledge and evidence based approach to anti-trafficking research in Scotland so that frontline specialists and stakeholders can take a lead role in identifying constantly evolving gaps which motivate the research and to maximise social and public policy impact opportunities which bring rapid and sustained on-the-ground change. This approach will generate new data and insights and advance social science frameworks, while developing and applying new methods.
  3. To create a Scottish research centre which acts as a distributed home for vibrant, relevant, inter and multi-disciplinary researchers, practitioners and all relevant stakeholders in solving the problem through anti-trafficking project-linked research programmes which are co-located in partner institutions across Scotland, with advanced expertise.
  4. To create an inter-institutional collaborative research network of those with shared and mutual research interests which is broader than the centre, which facilitates partnerships opportunities between all stakeholders with a range of interests in tackling the complexities of a global trafficking problem. This collaborative partnership network is necessary to ensure research outputs reflect a comprehensive treatment of the issue across sectors.
  5. To act as a good steward by developing a central, confidential, repository of cutting edge knowledge of anti-trafficking research, practitioner good practices and comprehensive solutions being implemented across the world, and the generators of this knowledge, which is maintained and available for access (appropriately and necessarily monitored) by vetted researchers, policy developers and the frontline government and civil society stakeholders. 
  6. To build the capacity to combat all forms of trafficking by developing appropriate teaching materials, courses and digital outputs for HEIs and the third sector which incorporate the comprehensive pathway approaches to the tackling the entire spectrum of trafficking through a combination of academic, civil society, government, survivors, community and grassroots practitioner experiences. This content will be generated in workshop-style learning chunks to enable learners to access these as micro-credentials or as part of a larger programme.
  7. To develop a pioneering research hub to develop comprehensive solutions to tackle illegal trafficking and linked exploitation of all types and reasons with a goal towards becoming a leading research, solution oriented public policy centre on the subject. Our focus and work will lead to a new, transformative and overwhelming societal impact across Scotland, the United Kingdom and the world based on: the outputs of leading practitioner-led research programmes underpinned by trusted and accountable partnerships, by gathering, holding and sharing relevant anti-trafficking information, data and evidence, which will also inform Policy Development and implementation in the Scottish Government, United Kingdom Government and other national and global agencies, by training a new workforce and by raising public awareness about trafficking in all its forms as part of collaborations between centre partners and communities.

   

• Steering Group

  Professor Brad Mackay - Steering Group Chain, Vice-Principal (International Strategy and External Relations) and Senior Vice-Principal, University of St Andrews

  Professor Monique L Mackenzie, Managing Director CATRiS, Provost, University of St Andrews

  Professor Mackenzie is an academic statistician who develops methods for tracking data and works on wildlife crime projects – one of which has been recently funded by a prestigious Leonardo Di Caprio -Microsoft AI for Earth grant. She works on detection of unusual activity and events (in various settings) and Mackenzie has been the recipient of Global Challenges Research Funds for this work and has successfully delivered large Scottish Government grants.

  Dr Chris Lusk, Executive Director (Operations) CATRiS

  Dr Lusk heads up Special Projects at the University of St Andrews and is the lead on the Coronavirus Rapid Response Team. Previously Director of Student Services for many years, her personal portfolio for over two decades has focused on abuse survivor support. In 2021 she was awarded an MBE for services to accessibility and young people.

  Professor Liz Grant, Assistant Principal (Global Health) and Director of the Global Health Academy, University of Edinburgh

   Professor Grant oversees global health initiatives across the University of Edinburgh, and for supporting programmes and communities of practice who work in partnership with the Academy. She leads the planetary health theme for the University and as co-director of the Global Compassion Initiative, she develops work on the value base of the Sustainable Development Goals and the science of compassion. She sits on the Scottish Government NHS Global Citizenship Board and the board of the global organisation for Health Information for All (HIFA.org). 

  Dr Paul Rigby, Lecturer, Social Work, University of Stirling

  Dr Rigby has worked for over twenty years in front line practice, management, policy development and research in youth and criminal justice and child protection social work in Scotland. He has been involved in child trafficking and sexual exploitation research, policy and practice development in Glasgow’s social work child protection team. Rigby sits on the National Child Trafficking Strategy Group, Action Area 3 Human Trafficking Strategy Group and sits on the advisory group for the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.

  Dr Stavroula Pipyrou, Senior Lecturer Social Anthropology, University of St Andrews

  Dr Pipyrou specialises in Minorities, Child Displacement, Violence and Governance. She is the Founding Director of the Centre for Minorities Research (CMR) an interdisciplinary platform that connects expertise from 7 schools at St Andrews.

  Dr Kasey McCall-Smith, Senior Lecturer, Public International Law, Director of the Global Justice Academic, University of Edinburgh

  Dr McCall-Smith specialises in human rights and the law of treaties. She is the director of the LLM in Human Rights at Edinburgh Law School. Her work focuses on the implementation of international human rights law in national settings. For the past three years she has been working closely with civil society toward incorporation of human rights into Scots law and served as a member of the Academic Advisory Panel to the Human Rights Task Force. She is currently co-leading a project focused on implementation of the recently adopted UNCRC Incorporation (Scotland) Bill. Her research aims to reinforce how human rights law can be used in the fight against modern slavery and to support for victims of this international crime.

  Dr Jaremey McMullin, Senior Lecturer, International Relations, University of St Andrews

  Dr McMullin researches internal conflict and processes of post-conflict transition and reintegration, particularly as they relate to African states and studies disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) of ex-combatants and the politics of veterans' return from war.

  Mr Ashley Varghese, Legal Counsel/Strategic Advisor

   Mr Varghese is an academic, a lawyer and grassroots professional who, over 20 years, has pioneered and implemented several successful strategies and systemic change solutions for countries to deal with the growth of human trafficking, child abuse networks and vulnerability-based violence. He currently serves as legal counsel and Strategic Advisor to the Impulse Group and Rescue Foundation that between have saved and reintegrated over 80,000 children and women affected by illegal trafficking, employ over 7000 women artisans in areas vulnerable to trafficking and run South Asia largest safe housing program for children and women who are survivors of organised crime, violence and exploitation.

  Professor Ali Watson, Professor, International relations, University of St Andrews

  Professor Watson focuses on the place of children in the international community, and the politics of childhood using a collaborative and community-led methodology.   She is the Managing Director of the Third Generation Project.  In 2019 she was awarded an OBE for her services to education. The CATRiS project was co-founded by Chris Lusk jointly with Ali Watson and Bennett Collins.  Although Ali remains on the Steering Group, she has now returned with Bennett to their core work as Directors of the Third Generation Project.

  Professor Kurt Mills, Professor in International Relations and Human Rights, University of Dundee    

   

• Resources

  Resources to be added shortly.