Contact
Biography
I am a Nottingham Research Fellow (NRF) in the School of Geography (2024-2027) assessing the intersections between decent work and climate change in the UK food supply. My research builds upon several years of research which has focused on climate change, environmental degradation and working conditions - from decent work to the most extreme forms of exploitation such as forced labour.
I completed a BSc in Geography (2013-2016), and a PhD in Geography (funded by the Rights Lab, as part of the 'Data and Measurement Programme' supervised by Professors' Doreen Boyd and Kevin Bales) (2016-2020) both at the University of Nottingham.
My research has focused on multiple sector including brick kilns, fish-processing, and fishing, and geographies (such as India, Bangladesh, the United States). My NRF, entitled "decent work and climate change risks in the UK food supply" focuses on understanding the social, environmental, economic and political conditions that hinder the achievement of decent work in ther context of a changing climate. The focus is on the agricultural and processing (land-based) food supply in the UK context - centring the risks to workers and factors to improve conditions. This research builds upon a series of collaborative activities with colleagues at Tufts University (Boston MA, US) where we have assessed risks of forced labour on the US food supply; and expands these risks into a new geography and assesses environmental concerns.
Expertise Summary
Environmental Degradation, Climate Change, Decent Work, Forced Labour, Food Systems
Research Summary
My NRF, entitled "decent work and climate change risks in the UK food supply" focuses on understanding the social, environmental, economic and political conditions that hinder the achievement of… read more
Recent Publications
NICOLE TICHENOR BLACKSTONE, EDGAR RODRIGUEZ-HUERTA, KYRA BATTAGLIA, BETHANY JACKSON, ERIN JACKSON, CATHERINE BENOIT NORRIS and JESSICA L. DECKER SPARKS, 2023. Forced labour risk is pervasive in the US land-based food supply Nature Food. 4(7), 596-606 DOREEN BOYD, BERTRAND PERRAT, XIAODONG LI, BETHANY JACKSON, TODD LANDMAN, FENG LING, KEVIN BALES, AUSTIN CHOI-FITZPATRICK, JAMES GOULDING, STUART MARSH and GILES FOODY, 2021. Informing action for United Nations SDG target 8.7 and interdependent SDGs: Examining modern slavery from space Humanities & Social Sciences Communications. 8, 111 NICOLE TICHENOR BLACKSTONE, CATHERINE BENOIT NORRIS, TALI ROBBINS, BETHANY JACKSON and DECKER SPARKS, JESSICA L., 2021. Risk of forced labour embedded in the US fruit and vegetable supply NATURE FOOD. 2(9), 692-699 JESSICA L. DECKER SPARKS, DOREEN S. BOYD, BETHANY JACKSON, CHRISTOPHER D. IVES and KEVIN BALES, 2021. Growing evidence of the interconnections between modern slavery, environmental degradation, and climate change One Earth. 4(2), 181-191
Current Research
My NRF, entitled "decent work and climate change risks in the UK food supply" focuses on understanding the social, environmental, economic and political conditions that hinder the achievement of decent work in ther context of a changing climate. The focus is on the agricultural and processing (land-based) food supply in the UK context - centering the risks to workers and factors to improve conditions. This research builds upon a series of collaborative activities with colleagues at Tufts University (Boston MA, US) where we have assessed risks of forced labour on the US food supply; and expands these risks into a new geography and assesses environmental concerns.
Past Research
My PhD focused on the intersection of modern slavery and environmental degradation on three sectors and three varying scales: fish-processing (local scale), brick kilns (regional scale), and tree loss/forestry (global scale). The thesis primarily assessed this impact via the application of remote sensing and was a case study example of the connections that can be made to investigate the impacts of modern slavery.
I have undertaken a series research projects throughout my post-doctoral roles, selected research includes:
- Realigning climate change and modern slavery governance for positive action in the UK context. I led a project to provide recommendations to the UK Government around how to address climate change and modern slavery in an intersectional manner moving forward. This included undertaking a series of stakeholder interviews with national and devolved governance actors, as well as assessing the literature and reviewing policy in other contexts.
- Assessing the brick kiln industry in India, including the development of a survey for kiln owners and workers to support understanding of working conditions in the Indian brick kiln industry. This built upon satellite imagery to map the kilns for the first time. We are now working to develop supply chain and working condition analyses, and a training module for civil society and government organisations to support improvements to working conditions in an industry facing poor working outcomes and being impacts by climate change.
- Alongside in-country partners, I co-designed and coordinated one of the largest surveys of households in the Bangladesh and Indian Sundarbans which assessed the connections between migration, human trafficking and climate change risks for communities in the region. The findings were used by the partner organisations to design and implement a series of new programming to support communities facing dual risks in previously under-served risks (human trafficking and migration support).
I also have undertaken research on the ethical considerations for modern slavery research with colleagues at the University of Liverpool.
I have regularly worked with survivors of extreme forms of exploitation both as peer-researchers and with research advisory boards/groups across several research projects.