Human Trafficking Research Lab @Millikin

Today, I enjoyed hosting a table at Millikin University for new students and parents who were visiting campus to register for classes in the fall. I had several visitors at the table and felt like I was able to strike up some engaging conversations about human trafficking awareness and prevention. The individuals who stopped by were curious and open-minded, taking in the statistics and facts I was able to quickly give them. Several people commented that they had no idea of the information I had given them and thanked me for educating them. A couple individuals even thanked me for my work in combating human trafficking. As someone who is passionate about social justice issues and general kindness among humanity, I often find myself frustrated that the small part I’m doing doesn’t seem to make a difference. My desire is to make a large impact. I am passionate about helping individuals who are overlooked and cast aside. Experiences like today spur me on and encourage me to continue fighti

In my ten years of teaching in the US I have only had one political science student from my region of the world and when the universe gives you a student who speaks one of your research languages you better take advantage of that opportunity! Kocha Changelia was a Global Undergraduate Exchange Program (UGRAD) student from the U.S. Department of State at Millikin University back in 2022 and since he was a gifted student and spoke Russian, I thought we could work on this paper together under the auspices of the Human Trafficking Research Lab. Now two years and many revisions later our article " The Social Construction of Human Trafficking Victims in the Russian Media " was just published in the European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research! Congratulations to Kocha on his first peer-reviewed publication and thanks for all of his hard work.

My Human Trafficking Research Lab research assistant Diana and I went out to the Macon County Law Enforcement Center to train high school students at the Jerry J. Dawson Civic Leadership Institute on human trafficking. Since most recruitment happens at 14-17 in the US it was great to engage young people in our community on this topic and learn more about their approaches to social media (which is a large recruitment tool for youth)! The head of the leadership institute Dr. Juanita Morris heard about the lab and saw us on the news so it was also great to know that our PR is paying off in useful ways in the community. 

As my time in the Human Trafficking Research Lab winds down, I find myself looking back at my time and realizing just how much I really did. I wrote up our lab manual, took minutes in meetings, did a policy brief, got to travel to DC and present at a conference, and a whole lot more. Truly a great experience and I really loved my role as the person who took on what I called the “odd jobs” of working in the lab. I think it was fun to be able to always have something different to do. I also think doing everything else was a lot easier for me than looking at the cases. Because I saw firsthand how much looking at the cases can affect people’s mental health and I am happy to not have subjected myself to that. I don’t know how well I would’ve handled it. Truthfully all I’m feeling as my time with the lab comes is grateful. I earned some money when I really needed it and got to do work that I found important and fulfilling. No complaints, and forever grateful for the opportunity I had to work

Working on a human trafficking research lab has been a challenging yet rewarding experience. As a Millikin university student, I was eager to dive into a project that would allow me to make a meaningful impact. Little did I know, this project would be a journey that would not only educate me but also leave a lasting impression on my heart... When I first started on this project, I had certain expectations and preconceptions about human trafficking. However, as I delved deeper into the research, I was confronted with the harsh realities of this global epidemic. Our team was tasked with delving into the dark world of human trafficking. We spent countless hours researching and analyzing data. I was shocked by the complexity of human trafficking, and the ways in which it affects individuals, communities, and societies worldwide.  The statistics, case studies, and different forms of trafficking revealed a staggering truth that could not be ignored. One of the most significant aspects of thi

Working in the Human Trafficking Research Lab over the last three years has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my undergraduate career. The lab has taught me many invaluable skills such as research, coding, how to run a survey, and much more. Were it not for my time in the lab, I may have never found my passion for research and specifically human trafficking research, which I intend to pursue after graduate school. The lab has also given me many opportunities to not only present the research I worked on for my three years as a research assistant, but to travel to present, as well. I was able to travel not only to Chicago for the MPSA presentation of our research, but I was also able to travel to Washington D.C. for the first time to present our research at the National Pi Sigma Alpha Conference and win honorable mention at the poster symposium at Millikin. Though the work was challenging, I am incredibly grateful for all the things I learned and skills I gained through the l

The Access Georgian Exchange Alumni took time to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Georgia English Language Programs. Former Human Trafficking Research Lab Assistant Kocha Changelia plugged the lab and our research project during his presentation and this is a photo of his presentation. In Fall 2022, Kocha was UGRAD exchange student in Political Science at Millikin University while pursuing his degree in International Relations at the International Black Sea University in Tbilisi, Georgia. It's really great to see how international the lab has become because I was able to include students from the region that I study in my research.

Celebrations of Scholarship at Millikin University was today and two of my political science students gave research a presentation and a poster. One of the research assistants in the Human Trafficking Research Lab got an honorable mention for a poster on their poster on Human Trafficking from Arrest to Plea Deal in Central Illinois at the Judith & G. Richard Locke Poster Symposium! This poster symposium is dominated by much better funded hard sciences at Millikin with students who are Leighty Science Scholars and have years of research and summer research support while my students are funded through the grants and money that I fundraise or do independent studies and to get academic credit. I think this makes our honorable mention so much more notable and I am proud of their work Another student presented their senior thesis on Political Fair Use: The Impact of Political Campaigns and Individuals in Promoting Inconsistent Copyright Case Decisions. The students are going on to the Ha

The Senate passed a $60 billion aid package to Ukraine on Tuesday in a vote of 79-18 after the House  approved the package Saturday after months of stalling.  The initial aid package includes vehicles, Stinger air defense munitions, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems, 155mm artillery ammunition, TOW and Javelin anti-tank munitions and other weapons that can immediately be put to use on the battlefield.  This is the first major package for Ukraine since December 2022 and when I was in Ukraine in March many people asked me about the hold up in Congress and I could see and feel the ramifications of ammunition shortages. President Biden signed the bill on Wednesday and I was interviewed by WAND our local news station that day about what this aid means to Ukraine and my trip there in March. You can watch the segment on the news here . I am thankful for the opportunity to share my experience and they even mentioned my book (which is displayed in the background o

Last week I flew out to San Diego to give a talk on Human Trafficking Recruitment during Russia's War in Ukraine. I was able to give a guest lecture in a Human Trafficking class in the European Studies Department at San Diego State University. It was interesting to talk to a human trafficking class that was very knowledgeable about the topic on the border of the US with some of the students even crossing the border from Mexico to attend class.  Since the students in class has an entire semester's worth of knowledge on human trafficking but there were also other students and faculty from the university it presented a few complexities. You don't want the students in the class to be bored but you also want the people with no knowledge to understand the basic aspects of the talk. So I used this opportunity to have students from the human trafficking class teach other students the basics of human trafficking. Since my talk was focused on recruitment I also did my human trafficki

  As part of our final grant requirements with the Central Illinois Human Trafficking Task Force we are working on our final report documenting task force efforts. The final assessment will examine the performance of the taskforce over the grant period and our impact on Central Illinois in compliance with ECM goals. We will discuss the characteristics of human trafficking in Central Illinois and determine how we can use these data to strengthen and combat these trends through the task force in our region. We will investigate questions about task force needs; key geographic, demographic, and industry-specific vulnerabilities; effective prosecution tactics; and effective organizational strategies. In doing this we would like to assess the performance of the taskforce, identify potential areas of the community where sex and labor trafficking may be occurring, and areas for task force improvements.  Then we will supplement this survey data with the CIHTTF Facebook engagement data, CIHTTF w

After getting back from Ukraine I had about a week break to recuperate before I was out giving talks online in my home state of Minnesota talking to a colleagues class at the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University about my recent trip to Ukraine, human trafficking, and conducting research during war. The students gathered a list of almost 40 questions for me based on an article I wrote on human trafficking and Russia's war in Ukraine. It was a great opportunity to talk about my trip and share my experiences good and bad about conducting research during war. Then on Wednesday one of my students and I went to give a talk about the Millikin Alumni House to our local PEO Chapter. The P.E.O. Sisterhood is a U.S.-based international women's organization with a primary focus on providing educational opportunities for female students. I spoke about human trafficking in Central Illinois and my student learned more about how I give talks about the lab. It was interesti

Recently, there has been a lot of interest in working in the lab as a research assistant which is great but sadly I can't take everyone! Now we have five research assistants working on three different projects (you can read their bios in our team members section here ). So, I decided that it would be good to track the different tasks how I track other tasks on my to do list with post-it notes. So I bought giant ones to go on the chalk board in the lab to help keep track of all the things we are working on and chart our progress during lab meetings. We will see how well it works when we are all gone for the summer but now every student has a giant post-it and we check things off when they complete them! Looking forward to charting so much productivity!

The most gratifying moments in the research process occur when submitting a paper, knowing the tremendous effort it took to accomplish. However, the most nerve-wracking part comes when you receive the reviews back from editors. Comments are typically specific, but occasionally they can be general, necessitating changes in sentence structure or underlying ideas. Personally, the most challenging aspect of working on revise and resubmit was sharing and accepting changes regarding the statements made in the research, as I believe they represent findings encountered through the thought process. After receiving comments from editors, Dr. Dean and I had to revisit the paper to ensure all comments were addressed. We met to map out revisions for our social construction article and created a 34 point revision to do list based on reviewer comments so we can track our progress. However, I find that once you release the initial tension, it becomes easier to work through the comments, and some of th

I spent my spring break in Ukraine this year conducting interviews with anti-trafficking organizations for our NSF funded project. I was really surprised at how often the air raid sirens sounded in every city I was in and the complete deluge of Russian bombs that fell on Ukraine every single day. The only thing that protected me and Ukrainians were air defense systems that are in low supply due to political games in Washington D.C. This is why when I was asked to go on the WSOY radio Now Decatur to talk about my trip and research I jumped at the opportunity. In the interview posted below I discuss my experience traveling to Ukraine and our research project exploring human trafficking recruitment dynamics during Russia's war on Ukraine.   

I spent the last two weeks in Ukraine conducting interviews around Ukraine with anti-trafficking organizations as part of our NSF funded project on human trafficking recruitment during war. I was thankful for the opportunity to go but was astonished at just how frequent the air raid sirens sounded, often disrupting my daily activities and a good nights sleep. I was in Ukraine for 16 days and every day it was a constant deluge of Russian missiles across Ukraine, the extent to which is not covered in the US media. The only thing that protected us were air defense systems that shot down many but not all incoming missiles and civilians still died every day across Ukraine due to Russian bombs. One of the most anxiety producing elements of it was a channel on telegram where you could see what was being fired at you, things like MiGs, shahed drones, iskander missiles etc. When I was in Kyiv we had a massive attack one night with over 30 missiles taken down by Ukrainian air defense including c

The Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) Trafficking Enforcement Bureau of Illinois State Police have been conducting sting operations throughout Central Illinois focused on identifying individuals seeking to engage in commercial sex acts. On February 28th, 2024,  they conducted one in the Danville region and My #HumanTrafficking Research Lab assistants and I  were asked to go on our local WAND News to talk about it and relate it to our research. The segment was called "Researchers at Millikin explain how human trafficking is a local issue" and you can watch it  here. The five people arrested were charged with Indecent Solicitation/Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse of a Child, which is a Class 3 Felony, and Traveling to Meet a Child, alongside Solicitation to Meet a Child, listed as a Class 4 Felony. We have been combing through this type of arrest data to see how human trafficking has been charged in Central Illinois since 2010 and it was really interesting to learn how t

I channeled my inner Emily Gilmore and gave a talk about human trafficking as a result of Russia's war in Ukraine at the Stephan Decatur Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution as part of Women's History Month and International Women's Day! It was interesting to learn more about the local chapter and the process for admission to the chapter and I am always thankful for the opportunity to talk about issues in Ukraine with a captive audience.

In January, I was able to present our research project on human trafficking recruitment during Russia's war in Ukraine to the Оперативнa групa з протидії торгівлі людьми (Operational Group for Anti-Trafficking). I presented in Ukrainian and English and talked with stakeholders working on the ground in Ukraine. Now I get to attend the monthly meetings which is wonderful so I can stay up to date on key issues and anti-trafficking work in Ukraine. Also one thing that is nice about studying countries over many years is that you get to see them grow and change. I have written many things on Ukraine's lack of a human trafficking task force or group but attending their meetings has been a dream come true for me as an anti-trafficking researcher because they have one now!

The Human Trafficking Research Lab at Millikin traveled to Washington D.C. to present our research on human trafficking adjudication in central Illinois at the Pi Sigma Alpha National Student Research Conference. Here are some thoughts from the research assistants in the lab on their experience. Going to Washington D.C. was a great experience, and it felt like as a Political Science student I had been missing out greatly by not visiting our nation's capital. Presenting our research in a room full of people intently listening to what we say was nice as well. All in all, between seeing the landmarks and presenting our human trafficking research, Washington D.C. was certainly an experience I will not forget. My favorite part of DC was visiting the National Gallery of Art. While I don't have a very technical understanding of art, I can appreciate the aesthetically pleasing aspect of it. I could have spent countless hours at that museum had time allowed it.  Rhys Deiter Jadon Cox Vi

  I was invited to speak about human trafficking with Foreign Service Institute officers at the US State Department today that are going to be posted in Latvia and Lithuania. I shared trends in the region and things we are seeing due to Russia's war from the increased vulnerability with labor trafficking of Ukrainian refugees and the influx of migrants on the Belarusian and Russian borders. Some of the students will be working on the Trafficking in Persons Report for Latvia and Lithuania so it was a great opportunity to share my recommendations for improvement with the rankings and report.

The Human Trafficking Research Lab at Millikin traveled to Washington D.C. last week to present our research on human trafficking adjudication in central Illinois at the Pi Sigma Alpha National Student Research Conference. Pi Sigma Alpha is the political science honor and this is the first time I have taken students but we will definitely be back with the support of Millikin's undergraduate conference funding. None of my research assistants have been here before so it was fun to see places again from their perspective! We visited all three branches of government. We stood outside the White House, toured Congress, and sat in for the quickest session of the Supreme Court.

The last student project as part of Human Trafficking Prevention Month was designed as a social media campaign constituting six different graphics and one video that shows different facts about human trafficking. The students wanted it to start on January 11th and last week but I thought it would more impactful if we spread it out over the whole month. They asked me to include this language with the posts:      January 11th is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. As part of human trafficking awareness, Millikin University has decided to take part and #WearBlueDay on the 11th as well as provide              information, and resources about human trafficking. Students have taken part in making an awareness campaign that will be shown all week. This campaign provides information to educate others on        human trafficking. Additional local resources:  Millikin University Human Trafficking Research Lab: https://www.humantraffickingresearchlab.org/ Central Illinois Human Trafficking