Modern Slavery in Australia: Lessons from the Frontline of Law, Policy, and Public Engagement
24th September 2025 (2pm)
The Arthur West Room, The University of Liverpool
Speaker: Kyla Raby, an antislavery specialist with experience as a researcher, educator, and practitioner.
Australia’s modern slavery landscape is shaped by a complex legacy, from the forced labour of penal colonies and the exploitation of First Nations peoples to today’s challenges of human trafficking, forced labour, and forced marriage. Drawing on case studies from the co-authored book Modern Slavery in Australia, her applied research and experience as an anti-trafficking practitioner, Kyla discussed key gaps and challenges within this contemporary landscape. She examined Australia’s survivor support framework, including barriers to accommodating survivors and the unique challenges faced by survivors who are parents. Given the transparency approach of the Modern Slavery Act 2018 (Cth), which relies heavily on consumer pressure to drive change, the talk will also explore how public engagement initiatives such as the Everyday Slavery project aim to bridge the gap between research, policy, and community action. Lessons from the Australian experience will be considered in an international context, with reflections on how these insights can inform antislavery efforts in the UK and beyond.
The African Diaspora: Intellectual and Artistic Responses to Slavery and Its Legacies
1st October 2025 (5pm)
Online
Speakers:
Dr Alexander Scott, Project Curator of History and Archaeology at the International Slavery Museum (ISM), Liverpool
Rachel Stephens, Professor of Art History at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa
Brandon R. Byrd, a scholar of Black intellectual and social history
The second webinar of Legacies of Enslavement: Transatlantic Dialogues on History and Justice.
The African Diaspora: Intellectual and Artistic Responses to Slavery and its Legacies seminar will facilitate conversation between three leading experts in the field from the both the UK and US. Drawing upon their own research, they will examine and discuss how the impact of the Transatlantic slave trade has been, and is still being, interpreted and understood intellectually and artistically by contemporary and modern figures alike.