Zhe Li李哲
Investigating how AI & blockchain can confront modern slavery in global supply chains.
Logistics & Operations Management, Cardiff Business School
Modern Slavery & Social Sustainability Research Group
Technology, supply chains, and the people inside them
I am a PhD student in Logistics and Operations Management at Cardiff University, where the Cardiff Business School Doctoral Scholarship Programme supports my research. My work investigates how technologies such as AI and blockchain can address modern slavery risks in global supply chains and drive social sustainability transformations. I earned my MSc in Sustainable Supply Chain Management with distinction from Cardiff University. Before pursuing my PhD, I provided consulting services to Chinese companies expanding overseas, developing skills in market analysis, strategic planning, and cross-cultural communication.
Four threads
AI Commercial Applications
How AI enables and undermines worker protection across global supply chains
Blockchain for Transparency
Distributed ledger technologies for supply chain due diligence and traceability
Modern Slavery
Detecting and preventing forced labour, child labour, and exploitation in supply networks
Social Sustainability
Power dynamics, governance, and ethical labour practices in global supply chains
The thesis, phase by phase
AI & Social Sustainability in Supply Chains
Interactive summary of 50 articles mapping AI's dual impact on ETI Base Code principles, with an integrated TOE-DOI conceptual framework and six propositions.
Explore Phase 2 · Empirical StudyAI Adoption for Social Sustainability
Testing the TOE-DOI framework through semi-structured practitioner interviews — how AI supports, challenges, or creates risks for labour rights across prevention, monitoring, and remediation.
ExploreOn the road
2025
EurOMA 2025
“Leveraging Blockchain for Social Sustainability in the Supply Chains: A Systematic Literature Review and Framework Development”
Read on ORCA ↗