The Walk Free Foundation, which was founded in 2012 by Australian philanthropists Andrew and Nicola Forrest, developed the index, which is now in its third edition.  The index has quantified data across three dimensions: size of the problem, vulnerability and government response.

Global findings are provided, ranking 167 countries. The index uses data from over 42,000 surveys conducted in 53 languages and, according to the data, about 45.8 million people around the world trapped in modern slavery.

As part of her research with Pentland, Amy is looking into how the index can influence the development of an anti-modern slavery toolkit which will involve country risk assessment. This will help Pentland to understand and respond to modern slavery.