
Dr Christopher Pesterfield
PhD, MRES, BA
Current positions
Lecturer in Management
University of Bristol Business School
Contact
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Research interests
My research is concerned with the intersection of labour exploitation, corporate social responsibility, and critical forms of political economy. I have published in journals such as Capital & Class, Science & Society, and the Journal of Business Ethics. I am also a co-editor of the online magazine Futures of Work.
I have researched and published on unfree labour or modern slavery, which represent different aspects of how labour exploitation can be understood. This includes a focus on legislation such as the Modern Slavery Act, and evaluating its efficacy. Beyond this, I am also interested in corporate responses to this legislation, and in particular exploring the structural constraints actors and firms face in attempting to develop an ‘ethical’ set of practices around labour exploitation, and how actors respond to these.
Methodologically I use qualitative approaches to explore the above issues.
I welcome enquiries from potential doctoral researchers interested in any of the themes, methodologies, or perspectives above.
Projects and supervisions
Research projects
Shaping Modern Slavery Survivor-Informed Business Leadership
Principal Investigator
Description
The project's aim is to produce a toolkit for businesses to develop a victim-centred approach to modern slavery remediation.Managing organisational unit
University of Bristol Business SchoolDates
26/01/2026 to 27/04/2026
Transformative Authenticity: Authentic Learning and Assessment for International Students in Business Schools
Principal Investigator
Managing organisational unit
University of Bristol Business SchoolDates
01/07/2024 to 03/03/2025
Publications
Recent publications
12/02/2026The Vertical Governance of Modern Slavery Risks in Supply Chains
Supply Chain Management
How to get started with pedagogic research (and actually publish it)
Reopening the debate on Open Marxism
Science & Society
Institutional Logics in the UK Construction Industry’s Response to Modern Slavery Risk
Journal of Business Ethics
Exploited migrant workers in the UK
Thesis
Reconceptualising responses to the UK’s 2015 Modern Slavery Act
Supervisors
Award date
06/12/2022


