About the Project
|Re:Structure Lab presents a strong evidence base to address severe labor exploitation through business model innovation and more effective regulation at the local and global level.
Our Origin
Reimagining the New Normal
Re:Structure Lab was born in 2021 amidst the Covid-19 pandemic as a response to seeing massive upheaval in business models and global supply chain disruption. The Lab’s initial phase culminated in a suite of Forced Labour Evidence Briefs that drew upon both the academic literature and our own frontline research experience to rethink key components of how severe labour exploitation continues to thrive in global supply chains. These six Briefs – as well as a summative Blueprint – have gone on to inform public procurement processes, public and private investment strategies, high-impact news stories, labor and human rights organisations’ strategy, as well as general policy strategies among U.S. and European policymakers.
The Next Phase
Rethink. Reform. Revalue.
From 2025, the Lab is focused on further encouraging the uptake of this growing body of academic scholarship in shaping policy change around business models and corporate regulation in support of more fair and equitable labor practices.
Convening Power
Leaning on the convening power of the world-renowned universities represented by the Lab, we are strategically convening key stakeholders from across the globe to ensure our work is informed by and accessible to civil society actors working at the frontlines of these issues. We are also gathering key academic researchers from economics, business, statistics, and other disciplines to integrate advancements in scholarship relevant to supply chains and labor exploitation, and seed opportunities for further quantitative work on these issues.
Media Engagement
As both watchdog and shaper of public opinion, the media has a key role to play in ensuring fair, equitable supply chains. Media attention on the Lab’s work to date has been significant; Lab members have been consulted as key sources on investigative pieces for The New York Times, The Washington Post, ProPublica, ABC News, and more. Through deliberate media engagement, including a series of op-eds, the Lab aims to reframe public awareness of forced labor away from shadowy criminal figures limited to certain geographies and sectors toward a proper recognition of the systemic and systematic nature of exploitation within accepted business models and supply chain structures.
Policy Solutions
We recognize that supply chains are global, and an expansive group of stakeholders has a role in propelling and changing current practices. The Lab is actively engaging civil society and labor rights organizations, policymakers, business representatives, investors, legal practitioners, and academics to this end. We are initially focused on the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and Europe given current efforts to spur corporations headquartered within those regions to adopt stronger policies and practices to prevent and address forced labor and overlapping forms of exploitation within their global supply chains.
Research Expertise
Our deep bench of Lab affiliates brings decades of research experience on forced labor, human trafficking, and related exploitation from a variety of disciplinary lenses, including political science, law, business, and human rights. Combined with significant policy engagement, we are well-poised to translate a growing evidence base on what works (and doesn’t) to combat labor exploitation in global supply chains for a variety of stakeholders.