(Click to enlarge)

In June 2012, Microsoft Research and the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit announced the winning applications for research to “advance deeper understanding of the role of technology in human trafficking,” particularly as it relates to the child sex trade. A grant of US$185,000 will be distributed among the six winning proposals.

To date, there is little empirical research into the role that technology plays in human trafficking. As a result, new interventions and policies are being driven by intuition, speculation, and extrapolation from highly publicized incidents. The goal of this award is to help fund scholarly inquiry that generates important public knowledge that can help ground public policy discussions and drive the development of new interventions.