Friday, 29 April 2022
Dame Sara Thornton DBE QPM, the UK’s Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, has joined the University of Nottingham’s Rights Lab as Professor of Practice in Modern Slavery Policy.
Dame Sara completed a three-year term as the Anti-Slavery Commissioner in April 2022. As established by the Modern Slavery Act 2015, the role of Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner is in place to spearhead the UK’s fight against human trafficking and modern slavery.
The university’s Rights Lab is home to the world's largest and leading group of modern slavery researchers. As a professor, Dame Sara will collaborate with colleagues in the Rights Lab on research focused on prevention, business responses, supply chains, and the role of the financial sector in tackling modern slavery. Her focus in this new part-time role will also involve a focus on policy-relevant modern slavery research, and achieving impact from research evidence in national and international contexts.
In my role as Commissioner I have become familiar with the genuinely world-leading and very impressive work of the Rights Lab and so am delighted to be joining such an outstanding group of scholars. I have championed the relationship between research and practice throughout my career in public service and this new role as a Professor of Practice is a fantastic opportunity to continue to do this.
As the UK Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner from 2019 to 2022, Dame Sara was responsible for encouraging good practice in the prevention and detection of modern slavery and the identification of victims. As laid out in her three annual reports, her many achievements in this role included targeted and highly effective research, extensive consultation and advice, and the encouragement of better practices and policies. She created a broad and comprehensive platform for further improvements to legal frameworks, better schemes of identification and care for victims, and urgent improvements to protection and support for children and vulnerable young people.
I am very excited to welcome Professor Dame Sara Thornton to our university and to the Rights Lab. She is one of the global anti-slavery movement’s thought-leaders, an outstanding researcher and champion of high-quality evidence, and brings to this role her national policy experience and deep experience in anti-slavery strategy.
Professor Trodd added: "We were honoured to work with Dame Sara on a range of research projects during her former role as the Anti-Slavery Commissioner, and are very excited to build new research and initiatives around our shared commitment to understanding and tackling one of the great human rights issues of our time.”
Dame Sara joined the Metropolitan Police Service in 1986. During her 33-year career within policing she served as Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police from 2007 until 2015. She was the national lead on intelligence; Vice-Chair of ACPO Terrorism and Allied Matters; Director of the Police National Assessment Centre; and ACPO Vice-President. She was the first Chair of the National Police Chiefs’ Council from 2015 to 2019.
She was awarded the Queen’s Police Medal in 2006, made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2011 and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2019. She has been recognised with a Career Achievement Award from the Police Training Authority Trustees and the Sir Robert Peel Medal for Outstanding Leadership in Evidence-Based Policing. She is an honorary Air Commodore in the Royal Air Force supporting the work of the auxiliary police squadron, Chair of the Government Skills and Curriculum Unit Leadership Advisory Board, and a trustee and board member of the Police Foundation.
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More information is available from Professor Zoe Trodd in the Rights Lab at the University of Nottingham at zoe.trodd@nottingham.ac.uk
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About the University of Nottingham
Ranked 32 in Europe and 16th in the UK by the QS World University Rankings: Europe 2024, the University of Nottingham is a founding member of the Russell Group of research-intensive universities. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience, and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our students. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia - part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement.
Nottingham was crowned Sports University of the Year by The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide 2024 – the third time it has been given the honour since 2018 – and by the Daily Mail University Guide 2024.
The university is among the best universities in the UK for the strength of our research, positioned seventh for research power in the UK according to REF 2021. The birthplace of discoveries such as MRI and ibuprofen, our innovations transform lives and tackle global problems such as sustainable food supplies, ending modern slavery, developing greener transport, and reducing reliance on fossil fuels.
The university is a major employer and industry partner - locally and globally - and our graduates are the second most targeted by the UK's top employers, according to The Graduate Market in 2022 report by High Fliers Research.
We lead the Universities for Nottingham initiative, in partnership with Nottingham Trent University, a pioneering collaboration between the city’s two world-class institutions to improve levels of prosperity, opportunity, sustainability, health and wellbeing for residents in the city and region we are proud to call home.
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