Noëlle Demole

Her doctoral thesis seeks to set out the central tenets of a potential doctoral study which would explore the methods, techniques and psychological devices that sex traffickers use to recruit, entrap and retain women within the UK’s illegal sex trade. Such a study will aim to explore, compare and contrast the experiences of a disparate set of victims to establish variations and commonalities in the current modes of operation and exploitation at the nexus of organized sex trafficking crime, and make use of grounded theory approach in doing so.

In addition, this research project will make use of critical analysis of the overarching feminist discourse and a lens of “commodification” in order to understand the subject in more depth, and specifically through the lens of victims, rather than that of perpetrators or neutral observers. Finally, this Ph.D. seeks to add to a small but needed body of literature which deepens understanding of the current methods used by traffickers through original micro-level qualitative data at the individual level collected directly from slavery survivors’ personal agendas. A wider objective of this research is to impact and improve transnational security by informing UK policymakers — specifically to build resilience and protect at-risk populations against the specific dangers of female sexual enslavement within the UK. Secondary objectives include giving voice to victims, and creating a body of work which might act as a source of support and give a sense of belonging/shared experience with other existing victims.

Previously, Noëlle gained extensive research experience from doing fieldwork for her master’s thesis at Columbia University as she had been given the unique opportunity to travel to Colombia in order to conduct on-field empirical research within the city of Bogotá. In the light of her work related to the understanding of the reintegration of former FARC soldiers into civil society in post-negotiation Colombia, Noëlle was able to obtain ethical approval and thus gain face-to-face interviews with different stakeholders involved in the conflict. She learned about qualitative data collection and analysis as she used semi-structured interviews with study participants including former FARC combatants (both male and female), former FARC leaders, the FARC commander-in-chief, lawyers, government officials, negotiators, reintegration centre officials, and the former Colombian president. 

Through this, Noëlle was able to gain training as to how to adapt to difficult interpersonal encounters and how best to communicate when dealing with an at-risk population. She had been talking to female ex-FARC combatants who were subjected to significant sexual violence within the FARC camps and learned about the importance of neutrality, adaptability, empathy, ethical consideration and last, but not least, respect.