She started researching human trafficking in 2007-2008 with a Fulbright research grant to Latvia where she conducted research at the Resource Centre for Women Marta, the leading women’s non-governmental organization and rehabilitation center for trafficking victims in that country. She has a certificate in “Human Trafficking Victim Rehabilitation and Reintegration Institutional Cooperation” from the Latvian Interior Ministry and represented ‘Marta’ at the United Nations General Initiative to Fight Human Trafficking (UN GIFT) Vienna Forum. Laura worked as a Human Trafficking Research Assistant at the Institute for Policy and Social Research, has given numerous guest lectures on this topic around the world, and consulted for the BBC World Service and Dutch Radio on human trafficking and sex tourism in Eastern Europe.