Summer 2024 King Center Research Project "Community Collaboration toward Improved Mental Health Outcomes for Survivors of Human Trafficking in Brazil" (travel)

The King Center on Global Development's Summer Undergraduate Full-Time Research Assistant Program offers opportunities for fieldwork and research experience to matriculated, Stanford, undergraduates interested in global poverty and development across all academic disciplines.

When Stanford University travel policies allow, selected students spend up to 12 weeks in a low- or middle-income country conducting full-time research for a King Center faculty affiliate. Each research assistant receives a stipend of approximately $7,500 that covers most associated costs including travel, lodging, and incidental expenses. Should travel not be permitted and the research is conducted remotely (from within the US), the base stipend will be approximately $5,500. Financial aid of up to $1,500 is also awarded to students who qualify.

Students are welcome to apply to multiple opportunities but must apply to each faculty research project separately.  Students may only accept one project if they are offered multiple opportunities.

If you have problems submitting your application, please report issues through the SOLO platform with a screenshot that includes the URL and the full page.  Please email kingcenter_programs@stanford.edu to also let us know of your issue(s). 

RESEARCH PROJECT SUMMARY:

Each year, an estimated 50 million people worldwide are in situations of human trafficking, forced, labor, and other forms of modern slavery. Globally, policy makers are eager to find solutions to combat this gross human rights violation, but lack of effective policies grounded in quantitative evidence greatly impede anti-trafficking efforts. As a result, anti-trafficking policy around the world has generally been uncoordinated and unguided by data- informed impact assessment. The Stanford Human Trafficking Data Lab is committed to fighting human trafficking through rigorous multidisciplinary research, close partnerships with frontline stakeholders, and large scale, research-driven policy interventions. Our team of economists, statisticians, computer scientists, and policy experts aim to understand and highlight the most effective policies and actions aimed at combating and preventing human trafficking, devising strategies to reduce potential exploitation, and championing survivor-centered initiatives. For the past four years, the Lab has strategically focused its effort in Brazil, where trafficking prevalence is significant. The country’s robust administrative record-keeping environment and well-established transparency laws make it an ideal environment for this work, which has been made possible through a strong partnership with Brazil’s Federal Labor Prosecution Office (FLPO), a key actor in the country’s anti-trafficking response and policy agenda. We are working alongside partners in the FLPO and a survivor-led NGO, Centro de Defesa da Vida e dos Direitos Humanos Carmen Bascarán (CDVDH/CB), to address critical gaps in post-trafficking care for survivors, including a lack of effective protocols for post-trafficking case management, service referral, and follow up assistance. Our team is in the process of conceiving a peer-counseling dimension to enhance the implementation of a newly improved digital case management and data collection system among CDVDH/CB beneficiaries in the state of Maranhão, a known hot spot of trafficking recruitment.

Research mentor: Professor Grant Miller

Dates: A minimum of ten consecutive weeks during summer quarter 2024.

WHAT YOU WILL DO: 

The research assistant will work closely together and in collaboration with the research team to:

1. Prepare data for monitoring and analysis of existing relevant cases of human trafficking in CDVDH/CB's database.

2. Organize information and data from the state-level Human Trafficking Response Program in Maranhão, based on existing technical guidance, and help streamline the case referral and follow-up process.

3. Assist with CDVDH/CB's upgrade on the Integra VCMS system and any needed trainings, including supporting on data inputing and establishing data access procedures.