Maria Thomas
Rights Lab PhD Student in Politics and International Relations
Email: Maria.Thomas@nottingham.ac.uk
Maria Thomas is a PhD candidate in Politics and International Relations, supervised by Professor Todd Landman and Dr Katarina Schwarz. Her research examines the experiences of foreign national victims of forced criminality and the state’s obligations towards them. She focuses on individuals who have spent their formative years in the UK without acquiring citizenship and who face deportation as a result of convictions arising from criminal exploitation. The PhD seeks to identify gaps in existing protection frameworks and to contribute to the development of more effective responses for individuals with dual offender/victim status. It aims to examine how the state’s interest in immigration control can be reconciled with its obligations towards victims of modern slavery. The research is funded by the ESRC Midlands Graduate School Doctoral Training Partnership.
Alongside her doctoral studies, Maria is a practising solicitor specialising in human rights and public law, with a particular focus on modern slavery cases. Her professional experience enables a close integration of research and practice in the modern slavery field.