NSF grant supports planning for center to disrupt human trafficking

January 21, 2025

HART Research Team

HART research team (photo credit: Clemson University)

Associate Professor Lauren Martin, PhD, received a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant to lead the planning of a research center aimed at disrupting human trafficking. The grant will fund the development of a 10-year research agenda for the Human-Centered Action Research to Disrupt Trafficking (HART) team.

The HART team uses a novel scientific approach by converging social sciences, health sciences, and computational modeling with lived expertise from survivors of trafficking and other key stakeholders.

“What the field needs is large-scale and nuanced research on the interconnections between individuals, trafficking operations, the wide range of commercial sex market segments and labor markets, community contexts, and root causes,” says Martin, whose been conducting community engaged and participatory action research on sex trading, human trafficking, and community wellbeing to illuminate real-world implications, policy, prevention, and community health since 2005.

The planning includes a series of interactive remote meetings culminating in an in-person meeting in May. The results of the planning process will be the development of shared values and research philosophy for the HART center, identification of key human trafficking research thrusts, and building a team and project plan to address those thrusts that focus on the complex social, legal, economic, and human rights challenges of human trafficking.

“The transdisciplinary team has a national scope with expertise to capture the realities and nuances of a broad range of trafficking contexts ethically and accurately and to translate that research to practice,” says Martin.

The one-year planning grant positions the HART team to apply for NSF center funding through the Centers for Research and Innovation in Science, the Environment and Society (CRISES) program.

The objective of CRISES is to “support interdisciplinary research to create evidence-based solutions that strengthen human resilience, security and quality of life by addressing seemingly intractable challenges that confront society,” which aligns with the HART research team’s focus.

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Steve Rudolph
School of Nursing
https://nursing.umn.edu/news-events/nsf-grant-supports-planning-center-disrupt-human-trafficking