Dr Alys McAlpine

Dr Alys McAlpine is a Senior Research Fellow and Wellcome Trust Fellow in the Department of Social Policy and Intervention. Her research examines the causes and consequences of violence, with particular expertise in human trafficking, labour exploitation and violence prevention. She uses interdisciplinary and systems-based approaches to understand the complex social, structural and institutional factors shaping vulnerability to violence and exploitation, and to inform more effective prevention strategies.

Her research spans international settings, including Myanmar–Thailand, Nepal–India, and Kenya. She has also led a participatory academic collaboration developing a series of papers on human trafficking and health for The Lancet with funding from the Freedom Fund to support equitable and inclusive production of academic outputs. Her research has been supported by the Economic and Social Research Council, including doctoral and postdoctoral funding and a methods innovation grant.

Alys currently holds a Wellcome Trust fellowship focused on preventing child criminal exploitation in the UK. Working in partnership with Catch22, her research explores systems-based approaches and innovative social simulation methods to inform prevention strategies that reduce exploitation and promote young people’s health, wellbeing, access to good employment and opportunities for safe and fulfilling futures.

Alongside this work, Alys collaborates with London’s Violence Reduction Unit on research examining the intersections between extra-familial harm and housing insecurity among young people, including a policy briefing and forthcoming systematic review.