Alex Balch is a Professor of Politics at the University of Liverpool and Director of Research at the Policy and Evidence Centre on Modern Slavery and Human Rights. He has led several multi-country projects examining efforts to address exploitation with a focus on approaches from the arts and humanities. He was Principal Investigator for the Anti-Slavery Knowledge Network (AKN) 2017-2022, funded through the UK’s Global Challenges Research Fund by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The AKN funded a number of sub-awards across different African countries featuring research into creative, community-based methods, safeguarding practices, and equitable partnerships.