Lived experience expertise

Meaningful inclusion of lived experience in research and policymaking is one of the key principles of the PEC’s work. Not only is it the right thing to do, but by centring the expertise of people who have experienced human rights harms, the policies addressing them are so much stronger.

Our consultation exercise in 2020 confirmed a pressing need for research to be more inclusive. It outlined an ambition to move beyond considering those with lived experience as mere participants or ‘subjects’ of research, and instead embracing genuine, equitable, meaningful involvement of their expertise.

Since then, we have dedicated significant resource to embedding lived experience as an essential part of research and policy in this area, within the PEC and across modern slavery research more generally. We have developed our approach as a result of continuous learning, both from the people with lived experience who have advised us, and from others’ work in this area.

"Being non-tokenistic, being trauma-informed and preventing harm are three principles underpinning our work of engaging people with lived experience of modern slavery."

To lead on the PEC’s survivor-centred approach, we employed a Lived Experience Engagement Manager in September 2022 and soon after we employed a Lived Experience Engagement Coordinator. This includes a Lived Experience Advisory Panel (since June 2023) to ensure that lived experience perspectives are embedded in the activities of the PEC. The Panel meets on a fortnightly basis to provide advice on the day-to-day work of the PEC, and they are all paid for their time.

We also created a working group of nine diverse civil society organisations to identify, discuss and consolidate good practice in the inclusion of survivor expertise.

We strive to make sure that people with lived experience of modern slavery are at the centre of PEC’s research, both as researchers and in other shared decision-making positions.

We seek lived experience expertise wherever appropriate and include survivors in different ways, including as peer researchers, as advisory board members and leading engagement with policymakers.

Survivors have also informed the design of research, policy briefings, and methodological tools such as survey questions and interview guides. One project created a curriculum to train and support survivors to become peer researchers.

The PEC has also produced a number of tools to support best practice, including guiding principles on lived experience engagement, a bespoke Safeguarding Policy, a set of meeting rules creating safe spaces for participants, and application guidance materials tailored for survivors.