The Bakhita Centre for Research on Slavery, Exploitation and Abuse at St Mary’s University, Twickenham (SMU), as part of a successful application from the Independent Modern Slavery Advocate® (IMSA®) Project Board which it sits on, is delighted to announce that is has been successful in its application for National Lottery funding. The IMSA® Project Board represents Hope for Justice, British Red Cross, The Snowdrop Project, SOHTIS and the Bakhita Centre.
This National Lottery Community Fund will enable:
- The development of accredited IMSA® Training that is to be delivered by the Bakhita Centre for Research on Slavery, Exploitation and Abuse at St. Mary’s University. Standardisation of the IMSA® role is a critical step in ensuring survivors can feel confident in the level of advocacy they receive, regardless of where they are in the UK.
- Testing of the IMSA® model in a range of settings and locations across England to further strengthen the model. This will begin with IMSA Project Partners recruiting and training new IMSAs in September 2025.
- The creation of the IMSA® Model Hub, which is an essential component of the model’s infrastructure and is critical to achieving best practice. This Hub will be hosted by Hope for Justice and it will coordinate and support the work of all IMSAs and the organisations employing IMSAs. The Hub will provide monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning, and have oversight of the IMSA Model to ensure the project’s values are upheld.
The Bakhita Centre , which is celebrating its tenth anniversary in 2025, is a leading centre for research on slavery, exploitation, and abuse based at St Mary’s University. The Centre’s mission is to produce high quality applied research that makes a difference, advances knowledge, and that informs practice and policy. It is committed to the development of professional training for practitioners in the modern slavery sector and has developed training standards for working with adult and child survivors of modern slavery.
Speaking on this funding, Director of the Bakhita Centre Carole Murphy said, “We’re delighted to have been part of the IMSA® Project Board and to celebrate this funding award. The funding will enable us to develop and deliver a Postgraduate Certificate - Independent Modern Slavery Advocate®, to support our commitment to ensure survivors of modern slavery have access to a trained independent advocate on their recovery journey. We’re looking forward to working on this new IMSA® training which will be delivered by the Bakhita Centre at St Mary’s.”
Find out more about the grant.