Samantha is an Associate Professor at Monash Law, having joined the Faculty in August 2023. Previously she was a Reader in Law at the University of Liverpool, UK.

Samantha is a socio-legal scholar with expertise in migration, modern slavery and access to justice, and with a track record of producing high-quality, empirically-informed research. Her current research focuses on engagement of survivors of trafficking and modern slavery with law and policy processes, with a particular focus on the nexus between migration and modern slavery.

Samantha held a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship from 2021-22 to carry out a socio-legal investigation into the role of lawyers who represent victims of trafficking and modern slavery. She is currently writing a monograph, Lawyering in the Anti-trafficking Space, to be published by Hart in 2024.

Samantha has published widely in leading international academic journals, including the Industrial Law Journal, European Law Review and Common Market Law Review. Her first monograph Migration, Work and Citizenship in the Enlarged European Union (Ashgate), was pioneering as the first in-depth empirical examination of Polish migrants’ experiences in the UK labour market post-EU enlargement.

In addition to her individual scholarship, Samantha is a frequent collaborator with academic, practitioner and third sector partners. She led a Modern Slavery and Human Rights Policy and Evidence Centre project funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council on access to legal advice and representation for survivors of modern slavery (2020-21) which highlighted particular challenges in access to legal aid. She also collaborated on a British Academy-funded project on transparency in supply chains in the food and garment industries (2019).

Across all of her research Samantha has a sustained record of engagement and impact activity. Her work was cited by the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in human beings in its third evaluation report of the UK, focussing on access to justice and effective remedies for victims of trafficking. She was also invited to give oral evidence to the House of Lords Select Committee on the European Union.

Samantha is a member of the UK's Arts and Humanities Research Council Peer Review College and was also appointed to the Council’s COVID-19 expert peer review group.

• Law and policy on trafficking and modern slavery.
• The relationship between immigration policy and anti-trafficking measures.
• Access to justice for victims and survivors of trafficking and modern slavery.
• The role of lawyers representing victims of trafficking and modern slavery.
• Migration and its impact on family life.
• EU law on free movement of persons and Union citizenship.
• Socio legal theory and approaches.
• Empirical legal methods and qualitative methodology.

Funded research

Samantha’s research has been funded by the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council, the British Academy, the Nuffield Foundation and the European Parliament. Through such interdisciplinary and collaborative work Samantha has developed longstanding connections with key stakeholders and global scholars.

Samantha welcomes potential students interested in researching any area of modern slavery or migration law and policy. She especially welcomes students interested in adopting a socio-legal methodology.