The OAASIS Project

Open analysis to address slavery in supply chains

Modern Slavery is big business. It affects around 40 million people. That’s more than ever before. Slaves are cheaper than ever before, yet a slave can make thousands of dollars for whoever controls their labour.

Our aims

Our ultimate aims are to change the mindset and culture of global supply chain operators so that modern slavery becomes unthinkable in the modern world; and to change the mindset of consumers so that producers are no longer rewarded for inaction on modern slavery.

Towards this end we will develop learning experiences to fill two identified producer knowledge gaps:

What is a supply chain and how do I trace it
What is modern slavery and how do I address it?

The aims of stage one and two of the project are to develop metrics on modern slavery in the supply chain and provide a proof of concept data visualisation in a virtual reality (VR) environment.

At stage three we will take that VR data visualisation and develop learning experiences to address the identified producer knowledge gaps.

VR is a medium with the power to change minds. It can promote greater empathy than any other form of pre-recorded experience.

Our research

Darian McBain and Joy Murray standing in front of Yvette Coppersmith's portrait of Emeritus Professor Anne Green, President of Sydney’s Physics Foundation. — Darian McBain and Joy Murray

Our work poses several research challenges: data challenges around suitable and reliable metrics; technical ones around data harmonisation and insertion into the global trade framework; supply chain visualisation driven by global trade and modern slavery data; and integration of supply chain visualisation and on-the-ground materials into a VR environment.

Stage one of the project will develop modern slavery supply chain metrics for insertion into the powerful Eora economic trade database; and a proof of concept visualisation of global supply chain data.

Stage two will combine bottom-up local data and top-down global data on modern slavery to drive a VR environment.

Stage three (outside of this current research project) will draw on the expertise and creativity of educational designers, creatives and learning experts to convert VR material driven by local and global data into a range of learning tools suitable for producers and consumers and use in civil society and school education settings

VR is a medium with the power to change minds. It can promote greater empathy than any other form of pre-recorded experience. A unique aspect of the proposed work will be to look at low-cost VR solutions for use in low-income countries.