Juliana Rinaldi-Semione

Rights Lab Visiting Fellow in Slavery-Free Futures and Freedoms 

Email: juliana.semione@nottingham.ac.uk

Juliana Rinaldi-Semione is the Rights Lab Visiting Fellow in Slavery-Free Futures and Freedoms. In 2022, she launched Slavery-Free Mars, which draws on anti-slavery research as well as the values and activities of the space sector to eliminate the possibility of slavery from occurring within space-bound supply chains or in future space colonies. Her vision is to help establish Mars as the first slavery-free planet, creating a precedent for slavery-free space exploration.

Her other major research focus is on definitions of freedom according to survivors of modern slavery and other key anti-slavery stakeholders. She is passionate about engaging survivors meaningfully in research and authored and piloted the Peer Researcher Development Programme Curriculum.

Juliana has previously worked with the Salvation Army UKI’s Anti-Trafficking & Modern Slavery Unit, with whom she co-created and piloted the Sustainable Freedom Support Structure™ to provide community-based support to modern slavery survivors. She has also previously served as a policy researcher with the Partnership for Conflict, Crime & Security Research and the Office of the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner, during which time she authored ‘Preparing for Impact: How we can overcome barriers and cultivate a culture of collaboration, understanding, and respect to achieve impact on survivor support’.

Juliana is currently a research fellow in the University of Nottingham’s Faculty of Engineering, where she lends her impact expertise to the Midlands Innovation TALENT project. Originally from California, Juliana is a member of the Orange County Human Trafficking Task Force. She holds an MA in global ethics and human values from King's College London and a PhD in politics and contemporary history from the University of Nottingham. She is also an Associate of King’s College London.