Kevin Bales

Kevin Bales is Professor of Contemporary Slavery in the School of Politics & International Relations and a leading global authority on modern slavery and human trafficking. He co-founded Free the Slaves, the U.S. sister organization of Anti-Slavery International, and has advised governments and international bodies, including the United Nations, on anti-slavery policy.

His landmark book, "Disposable People: New Slavery in the Global Economy" (1999), was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and published in multiple languages, earning international acclaim. He has authored or edited numerous influential works, including Understanding Global Slavery, Ending Slavery—which won the 2011 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Promoting World Order—and The Slave Next Door, a pioneering examination of slavery in the United States. His 2016 book, Blood and Earth, explores the link between slavery and environmental destruction.

Bales co-wrote the Peabody and Emmy Award-winning documentary "Slavery: A Global Investigation" and served as Lead Author of the Global Slavery Index in 2013 and 2015. His work has received major human rights honors and honorary doctorates from Loyola University Chicago and the University of Nottingham. He earned his PhD from the London School of Economics and remains a central figure in the global movement to eradicate modern slavery.