Yazan Alzoubi

Profile

I am a PhD student at the School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom. I earned my bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at the University of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Bahrain, and my Master’s in International Construction Management and Engineering at the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. My main research toward my PhD is about modern slavery in construction projects. I am also interested in the dark side of projects, unethical or illegal practices taking place in projects, and the social sustainability of projects.

Research interests

Modern slavery is a criminal activity that can be defined as ‘the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised’ (Slavery Convention, 1926, p. 16). It encompasses keeping individuals as slaves or in servitude, forcing them to work, or helping them to travel to later exploit them (Alzoubi et al., 2023). It includes, amongst other forms, forced labor, human trafficking, debt bondage, and domestic servitude (Such et al., 2018). Modern slavery adversely influences its victims' economic, physical, and social welfare and damage how industries, communities, and even countries function (Crane, 2013; Cockbain & Brayley-Morris, 2018).

Modern slavery is one of the “dark side” topics of projects, which concerns unethical and illegal practices available in projects (Locatelli et al.,2022). Historically, the dark side of projects receives limited consideration in project studies (Locatelli et al., 2020). Modern slavery is known to be widespread in the construction sector (CIOB, 2018) in multiple countries, including the UK (Trautrims et al., 2020), Nepal (Daly et al., 2020), and Qatar (Amnesty International, 2016; Millward, 2017). Moreover, modern slavery is widespread along with the construction supply chains, encompassing construction activities and material supplies, such as child exploitation for brick production in low-income countries (Larmar et al., 2017; Alzoubi et al., 2023).

Modern slavery adversely influences its victims’ economic, physical, and social welfare and damages how organizations, communities, and even countries function (Crane, 2013; Cockbain & Brayley-Morris, 2018). There is a gap in knowledge about studying modern slavery in projects, even though this phenomenon is widespread in projects and specifically in the construction sector. Modern slavery is, therefore, a relevant and important phenomenon in general and for construction projects in particular, which should be investigated and studied.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering, University of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bahrain
• Master's degree in International Construction Management and Engineering, University of Leeds, UK