Dr Ella Cockbain is a lecturer at University College London (UCL) in the Department of Security and Crime Science. Her research focuses on serious and organised crime and its prevention, in particular human trafficking, sexual exploitation and labour exploitation. She publishes, teaches and advises widely on these topics. Her publications include the recent book Offender and Victim Networks in Human Trafficking (Routledge, 2018), several edited collections and numerous peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters. Ella is regularly invited to contribute at national and international level to policy, strategy and practical interventions to combat trafficking and exploitation (‘modern slavery’). Recent examples include consulting on reforms to the UK’s National Referral Mechanism system, the government’s new Serious and Organised Crime Research Strategy and its Modern Slavery Research Agenda.

Ella is an invited member of the national Modern Slavery Strategy and Implementation Prevent Group, the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Modern Slavery Expert Panel and the Tech Against Trafficking advisory group. She is interested in research with real-world impact and has collaborated extensively with key organisations across the public, private and third sectors, including the National Crime Agency, numerous police forces and leading non-governmental organisations such as Unseen, Barnardo’s, Stop the Traffik and the National Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children. She has delivered briefings, presentations and training for groups including the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, EUROPOL, CEPOL, the National Crime Agency, government ministers, children’s services and the police.

Ella has held leadership role in studies funded by UK research councils, the Nuffield Foundation and the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. Her total grant income to date exceeds £1.3 million, including over £650,000 as principal investigator. She previously held a prestigious ‘Future Research Leaders Fellowship’ from the Economic and Social Research Council. Ella belongs to the editorial board of two scientific journals and reviews for many others, as well as providing independent expert reviews for the Home Office, the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse and others. She was recently named one of the Top 100 Corporate Modern Slavery Influencers in the UK. Ella is an advocate for building a stronger, more scientific and more nuanced evidence base on these complex crimes and ways to tackle them.