Humanity Research Consultancy

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Who we are

Humanity Research Consultancy (HRC) is an award-winning social enterprise revolutionising the fight against modern slavery and human trafficking. We recognise the value of engaging and centring the voices of local talent, building bridges between large organisations and local experts. Working with governments, NGOs and the private sector alike, we provide consultancy, training, and investigation services exploring supply chains and emerging forms of human trafficking. Our local, evidence-based insights empower decision-makers in government, private sectors, and NGOs to end forced labour, modern slavery and human trafficking, globally.


Although HRC is not affiliated to any religious group, its origin story is faith-based. This is why a gold cross is included, albeit subtly, in our logo. The colours intend to represent diversity.


While modern slavery is prevalent in developing countries, experts are overwhelmingly from the West, facing barriers of language and cultural nuances. The engagement of local experts is greatly needed in the fight against slavery. HRC is solving the problem for government, business, and NGOs, through prioritising the role of local people. Our vision is of a slave-free world, where everyone is equally valued, respected and able to flourish.

The Team

Mina Chiang

Founder & Director

Specialising in modern slavery, human rights, and poverty, Mina has an interdisciplinary background in engineering, sociology, anthropology and international development. She has consulted in some of the world’s poorest and conflict-affected countries, with research experience in modern slavery, forced labour, and human rights issues across a wide range of UN bodies, governments, and NGOs. Mina’s expertise is increasingly in demand. She is an international speaker and a frequent interviewee in the media. Additionally, Mina is a peer review colleague at the UK Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre

Eric Kasper

Senior Consultant

Eric is a former Research Fellow at the Institute of Development Studies in the Cities and Participation Clusters. He also served as course convenor for the MA in Development Studies, and lectured and supervised PhD research students. Eric combines his expertise in participatory social network analysis, systemic action research, complex adaptive systems and community organising practice to generate crucial insights. In his research he explores the ways in which relational structures and social dynamics of people living in urban poverty impact their ability to act collectively as agents of change.

Sharlene Chen

Head of Programmes

Sharlene’s areas of expertise include migration, social justice, and fostering sustainability at a global level. Her research experience ranges from advancing the rights of migrant labourers and stateless children, to preventing violence against vulnerable migrants and human trafficking. With a dedication to International Politics and Human Rights issues, Sharlene has experience in working with NGOs, advocacy and policy making in refugee and asylum seeker rights. Sharlene has led numerous projects with HRC, contributing greatly to both research and writing.

Valentina Casulli

Head of Operations

Valentina has a bachelor’s degree in Chinese and French from the University of Leeds, as well as a masters in Human Rights from the University of Sussex. Her areas of interest include climate change and its intersection with forced migration and slavery, with her interdisciplinary background harbouring a particular interest in human rights abuses across Asia and the Pacific. Valentina has research and professional experience in human trafficking, modern slavery, labour rights, supply chains, and policy analysis and recommendations.

Abdus Salam

Survivor Empowerment Officer

As a survivor of cyber-scam slavery, Salam dreams of living in a world free from slavery and uses this drive to combat injustice as part of the HRC team. Salam works with other survivors, providing support in both rescue and reintegration; ensuring they feel empowered in their own work fighting against human trafficking and slavery. Salam has also shared his experience at numerous events and conferences, contributing vital knowledge to the counter-trafficking sector in order to enact change. His research experience has also covered participatory action research with survivor-led organisations.

George Tooher Hancock

Project Officer

George has an undergraduate degree in Philosophy and International Relations from the University of St. Andrews. His studies focused on exploitation in Asia and South America, places he has also lived in. George is especially interested in understanding how historical systems of inequality have led to modern slavery. Through prioritising the voices of human trafficking survivors, he believes in the power of effective dialogue and cross-sector collaboration towards stopping this crime.

Simon Stockley

Advisor

Simon is a senior faculty member in management practice at Cambridge Judge Business School, a social entrepreneur, and an advocate for trafficked women. Prior to coming to Cambridge, Simon spent ten years at Imperial College Business School as director of the full-time MBA programme. His MBA course in entrepreneurship was ranked 3rd in the world by the Financial Times. Simon works to help entrepreneurs realise their full potential for both their own benefit and the benefit of society as a whole.

Karen Leigh Anderson

Advisor

Karen works with social entrepreneurs to grow and scale businesses that change the world. An experienced professional consultant, Karen has worked with more than 1,000 social enterprises, community organisations, development trusts, community transport organisations, housing associations, co-operatives and charities. She specialises in developing sustainable organisations through innovative methods of growth, franchising/replication and buying profitable private businesses, as well as investment readiness support. She is a Churchill Enterprise Fellow for 2018.

HRC works with a network of consultants from 20 countries

Algeria

Argentina

Bahrain

Cambodia

China

Ethiopia

India

Indonesia

Kyrgystan

Malaysia

Myanmar

Palestine

Philippines

South Sudan

Syria

Taiwan

USA

Vietnam

Collaboration

No single entity can address the global issue of modern slavery alone. That is why HRC focuses on a collaborative approach, working with small and large entities from across the globe, prioritising the voices of those with local knowledge and lived experience. The collaboration ranges from victim rescues to intelligence exchange, from worker rights support to awareness raising.

FOSPI Donggang Pingtung

FOSPI is an organisation led by Indonesian fishers based in Donggang, Taiwan. With more than 2,000 members, they work to promote migrant fishers rights and unite the migrant fisher communities in Taiwan. HRC began collaborating with FOSPI in 2021, exchanging information regarding fishers rights and labour conditions on Taiwanese vessels. Since then, we have participated in and sponsored FOSPI’s annual events and promoted their work to international partners.

Freedom Collaborative  

The Freedom Collaborative is a platform for and by the global anti-trafficking community to protect partners, provide information and share knowledge. We provide them with essential data to contribute to their Victim Journey Tracker Tool. Our publications are also featured in their newsletters.

Global Anti-Scam Organization (GASO)

GASO was established in 2021 in response to the surge of scams, cybercrime outside China. We collaborate with GASO in exchanging information on the ever-evolving situation of forced labour in the scamming compounds, and connect them to relevant stakeholders countering this crime. We have also worked with GASO to assist in the safe exit of numerous victims from the compounds.

International Anti-Scam and Trafficking Alliance

The International Anti-Scam and Trafficking Alliance is an organisation that investigates scam activity within the scamming compounds, blockchain fraud, human trafficking, and money laundering. We exchange intelligence on victim rescues and work together to counter the crime of cyber slavery.

International Justice Mission (IJM)  

IJM is a global NGO that protects people in poverty from human trafficking, modern slavery, violence and police abuse of power. We regularly exchange intelligence regarding the issue of forced labour in the scamming compounds, working together to counter this crime. We work together to push for systemic change. 

Mekong Club

The Mekong Club works to end modern slavery and human trafficking through working with the private sector. Our collaborative work to counter this crime has included co-hosting webinars to provide recommendations to stakeholders from the financial sector and contributing to a joint publication to share our knowledge on the matter.

Anirban

Anirban is a survivor-led voluntary organisation in Bangladesh, established in 2011 with the goal to give a strong voice to victims of human trafficking. With 8 branches across Bangladesh, they work on preventing human trafficking, safe migration, survivor reintegration, and preventing early child marriage. We collaborate with Anirban to exchange knowledge on counter human trafficking and empower them in their work. We continuously learn from them to understand how survivor-led organisations can successfully make a big impact in the community at the grassroots level.

HRC is Supported By

HRC was selected in the 2019 by the Cambridge Social Venture Incubator. The Incubator has provided a 12-month bespoke, particularly around embedding and protecting the social mission of social enterprises. See HRC’s profile on the Incubator’s page here.

Sussex Innovation Centre has contributed to the creation of Humanity Research Consultancy (HRC) through workshops, trainings, and legal supports.

Social Enterprise UK is the national body for social enterprise. It is the biggest network of social enterprises in the UK and a strategic partner to 6 government departments and have led public policy on social enterprise for 15 years. HRC is a certified social enterprise by Social Enterprise UK.