Aberystwyth University research uses AI to improve support for modern slavery survivors

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Organisations and policymakers supporting survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery now have a better understanding of their needs, thanks to an innovative research project led by an Aberystwyth law professor.

‘Reporting Experiences of Survivors to Analyse in Real Time’ (RESTART) used artificial intelligence (AI) to gather insights into the support offered to modern slavery survivors.

The project was led by Professor Ryszard Piotrowicz from the Department of Law and Criminology at Aberystwyth University, a specialist in migration law and international humanitarian law. Project collaborators included anti-human trafficking and modern slavery specialist organisations Causeway and FiftyEight, as well as private ethical AI development and research company Trilateral Research.

The project used natural language processing (NLP), a form of AI, to analyse almost 40,000 anonymised case notes which were recorded by Causeway’s caseworkers during interactions with 545 modern slavery survivors.

The analysis focused on survivor support needs in areas such as accommodation, legal support, dependants, education, employment, physical and mental health, finance and social integration.

The project developed a self-journaling smartphone app which allowed survivors of human trafficking and modern slavery to record their thoughts, feelings, problems and goals in real time. 

The app also collected their experiences of the support services that they received, and their opinions on what could be done better to help them.

The text recorded in the app by users was analysed using NLP, enabling the identification of trends and patterns in the evolving needs of survivors.

In addition, the app empowered users to recognise their own needs and propose solutions, to differentiate between immediate needs and long-term goals, and also functioned as a progress tracker and motivational tool.

Professor Ryszard Piotrowicz said:

“Project RESTART has successfully demonstrated the advantages of harnessing the power of AI to analyse these complex datasets, thereby unlocking a vast resource which would otherwise have remained largely untapped due to resource limitations. 

“Whilst invaluable, the technology has its shortcomings and our advisory panel of modern slavery survivors was vital in training the AI models and validating the insights they produced. The process of keeping humans in the loop ensures contextual understanding and sensitivity to the nuances of personal experiences and ethical considerations, which automated systems might overlook.

“The project has revealed that AI technology combined with human input, can provide insight into how to more effectively meet the support needs of survivors, shaped by the service users themselves.”

The RESTART project was funded by the Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre (Modern Slavery PEC), which is funded by the Art and Humanities Research Council on behalf of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

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