Rachael Attwood

I am a historian of modern British society and culture, specialising in the long 19th century; gender history; the history of sexuality; and the history of Jewish immigration. I joined the University of Westminster as a Lecturer in History in September 2015. I teach on a variety of topics relating to British and Imperial History in the 19th and 20th centuries.

My current research focuses on the history of trafficking and migratory sex work in Britain and its empire, as well as on the history of trafficking and anti-trafficking actions in global Jewish communities. I am passionate about sharing my research outside of academia, particularly with child protection and anti-trafficking NGOs, and I have acted as an advisor on a number of academic projects on the history of women's mobility and trafficking.

I was awarded a DPhil from UCL in 2013, having previously studied at both UCL and the University of Oxford. My doctoral thesis, which was supervised by Professor Catherine Hall, is on the politics of activism against trafficking for sex work in turn-of-the-century Britain and, particularly, the representation of trafficking as 'white slavery'. I have taught at both UCL and the University of Sussex, where I was also a Research Fellow at the Centre for German-Jewish Studies.