MHAT Research Lab

MHAT Research Lab

Advancing the evidence base for mental health, wellbeing, and organisational health across the anti-trafficking and wider human rights sector.

Our Purpose

The MHAT Research Lab exists to generate rigorous, interdisciplinary, and practice-informed research that strengthens prevention, protection, recovery, leadership, and systems change across the anti-trafficking and human rights sector.

We believe the sector requires more than evidence alone, it requires evidence that is relevant, ethically grounded, and capable of informing real-world decision-making. Every research project undertaken or supported through the Lab includes an applied component, translating findings into practical recommendations for policy, organisational practice, service delivery, and future inquiry.

Prevention

Building upstream knowledge to stop exploitation before it occurs

Protection

Strengthening safeguarding systems and survivor-centred responses

Recovery

Evidence-informed pathways to healing and resilience

Systems Change

Transforming organisational and policy landscapes through research

What We Do

The MHAT Research Lab operates at the intersection of academia, frontline practice, and lived experience; a space where evidence is built with, not just about, the communities it serves. This means our research is not produced in isolation from the communities, it is shaped by the realities of practitioners working in the field, the insights of survivors who have navigated complex systems, and the standards of academic inquiry that ensure findings are credible, replicable, and impactful. What makes this approach distinctive is its refusal to separate knowledge production from knowledge application: every study, partnership, and inquiry is designed with both intellectual rigour and practical consequence in mind.

1

Conduct Original Research

We undertake primary studies addressing the most pressing mental health challenges facing survivors, practitioners, and organisations in the human rights sector.

2

Establish Collaborative Partnerships

We build bridges between academic institutions, frontline organisations, policymakers, and people with lived experience to create a truly interdisciplinary research community.

3

Provide Funding Opportunities

We offer grants and support to researchers, practitioners, and interdisciplinary teams exploring mental health within the context of trafficking, exploitation, violence, and human rights.

Global Vision

A Platform for Collaborative Inquiry

Over time, the MHAT Research Lab aims to become a global platform for collaborative inquiry - connecting academic institutions with frontline practitioners, people with lived experience, and policymakers to address some of the sector's most pressing mental health challenges.

This vision recognises that knowledge does not reside in any single institution or discipline. The most transformative insights emerge when those who study a problem work alongside those who live and respond to it every day.

Mental health needs in this sector are shaped by a complex web of intersecting social determinants. Structural and systemic factors including poverty, displacement, discrimination, gender inequality, immigration status and statelessness, housing instability, and systemic barriers to care, create the conditions in which vulnerability is compounded and care is withheld. Alongside these, certain factors operate bidirectionally: addiction and substance use, for instance, may be weaponised by perpetrators as a mechanism of control, or may develop as a trauma response in the aftermath of exploitation; adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and social isolation similarly function as both risk factors that increase vulnerability and consequences that deepen harm. Intergenerational trauma further shapes these dynamics, particularly for marginalised and indigenous communities whose experiences of systemic violence span generations. Understanding how these forces interact and the directions in which they operate is essential to producing research that is contextually grounded, ethically informed, and capable of driving responses that are both meaningful and effective.

MHAT Research Journal

The MHAT Research Journal is a premier peer-reviewed publication advancing knowledge in mental health and organizational health across the anti-trafficking and human rights sector. We feature rigorous, interdisciplinary research, ensuring findings translate into practical recommendations for policy, practice, and service delivery. Our goal is to bridge academic rigor with real-world impact, fostering evidence-based solutions for global communities.

MHAT Research Journal

A Peer-Reviewed Journal for the Sector

The MHAT Research Lab will publish a dedicated peer-reviewed academic journal advancing scholarship at the intersection of mental health, human trafficking, and human rights. The Journal is designed to bridge the gap between academic excellence and meaningful, ethical representation of the people and issues at its centre.

This pioneering two-stage model recognises that methodological excellence alone does not guarantee ethical or meaningful representation of lived realities. By embedding lived experience review into the scholarly process, the Journal ensures that accepted research meets the highest standards of both academic rigour and human dignity.

The Lived Experience Review

Recognition and Remuneration

Individuals with relevant lived experience alongside practitioners where appropriate will review accepted manuscripts to assess whether findings are represented with dignity, contextual accuracy, and practical relevance.

This is not a symbolic process. Reviewers contributing lived expertise are recognised and remunerated for their professional contribution, affirming that their knowledge holds equal value to academic credentialing.

Accessible Knowledge for Every Audience

To increase accessibility and knowledge translation, authors will be encouraged to publish two complementary versions of their work — ensuring that the insights generated through rigorous research reach every audience that needs them.

Full Scholarly Article

A complete academic manuscript for researchers, peer reviewers, and institutional audiences — meeting the highest standards of methodological transparency and scientific contribution.

Plain-Language Version

A practitioner-friendly summary designed for organisations, policymakers, and communities directly affected by the issues being studied — removing jargon without sacrificing substance.

Research Fellowship

Building the Next Generation of Researchers

The MHAT Research Lab is committed to strengthening research capacity across the human rights sector. Through the Research Fellowship Programme, the Lab will mentor emerging researchers from diverse backgrounds — including practitioners, service providers, clinicians, organisational leaders, and people with lived experience.

We believe that valuable knowledge is generated both within and beyond academic institutions, and that those closest to the issues should have meaningful opportunities to shape the evidence base.

Fellowship Training and Mentorship

Fellows receive comprehensive training designed to equip interdisciplinary researchers with the full range of skills needed to produce rigorous, ethical, and impactful scholarship.

Research Ethics

Trauma-informed and culturally responsive approaches to ethical study design and participant engagement

Study Design & Methodology

Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods approaches grounded in implementation science

Data Analysis

Rigorous analytical frameworks supported by expert mentorship and peer collaboration

Academic Writing & Communication

From scholarly manuscripts to plain-language summaries, knowledge translation for every audience

Our Vision for the Future

The MHAT Research Lab seeks to cultivate a global community of researchers who produce evidence that is not only scientifically robust, but also culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and capable of driving lasting systems change.

By democratising knowledge production while maintaining the highest standards of academic excellence and ethical integrity, we aim to ensure that research on human trafficking and mental health reflects the full humanity of those it seeks to serve.

Scientifically Robust

Rigorous methodology and peer review at every stage

Culturally Responsive

Research grounded in the lived realities of diverse communities

Trauma-Informed

Ethical frameworks that centre dignity, safety, and healing

Systems Change

Evidence designed to transform policy, practice, and institutions