27.6 MIL PEOPLE IN FORCED LABOR 2022 GLOBAL ESTIMATES INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION
FACULTY STUDIED HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND OFFERED FREE MASSIVE OPEN ONLINE COURSE
and Resilience at Embry-Riddle Worldwide, helped create a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the topic of human trafficking which, in the first round, ran for three weeks in July 2024. The MOOC, titled “Combating Human Trafficking: Understanding, Prevention and Action,” was globally accessible and free to all. A second MOOC was offered in January 2025. “We wanted to make sure our work could be used by the community — that it was not just ivory tower research that had little impact,” said Dr. Hoban, whose background is in global affairs, focusing on security and conflict studies. Dr. Alexander Siedschlag, dean of the Worldwide Campus College of Arts & Sciences, developed the initial idea and content for the MOOC in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Countering Human Trafficking. He spoke enthusiastically of Embry-Riddle’s involvement with the issue. “I was excited to see the establishment of a focus area on human trafficking studies here at the Worldwide Campus’ College of Arts & Sciences. This further strengthened our human security and resilience focus, where we also offer a unique online graduate program,” Siedschlag said. “I applaud Alex and Iuliia on the successful implementation of the MOOC as a whole. Their concurrent research project on parallel action research during the Worldwide offering of the MOOC was of extreme importance to foster
Dr. Alex Rister’s goal was to help “women be advocates for each other,” which led her to community volunteer work and academic research related to the issue of human trafficking. Dr. Rister is an assistant professor and program chair for the Bachelor of Science in Communication at the College of Arts & Sciences. Her community work, which comprised partnering with local nonprofits, including a safe house for women in Orlando, Florida, coalesced with her research in communication as she explored the question, “How are we messaging in words, and in visuals, this terrible crime?” “When you are tasked with research and community work, it’s even more intense,” Dr. Rister said. “I felt that inner fire to galvanize the people around me to really care about the issue.” According to the International Labour Organization, an estimated 27.6 million people were in forced labor as of 2022. An estimated 33% of trafficking victims are recruited by a family member or caregiver, 28% by an intimate partner and 22% by an employer, according to Polaris, the nonprofit organization that oversees the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline. Dr. Rister and Dr. Iuliia Hoban, assistant professor and program chair for the Master of Science in Human Security
16 | Worldwide College of Arts & Sciences
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