Shadi Whitburn

Research Fellow based at UWS Protracted Crisis Research Centre (PCRC) in the School of Business & Creative Industries and Associate Member of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR). Shadi joined the PCRC research team from Edinburgh University, where she completed her ESRC Global Challenges Research Fund Postdoctoral Fellowship. She holds a PhD in Criminology and a MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice Systems, both degrees awarded by Glasgow University. Her doctoral research focused on understanding the links between violence, drug trafficking and corruption around the US-Mexico border communities along with the serious implications of militarised counter narcotic operations for civilians. Her ESRC-GCRF postdoc project explored the novel application of development frameworks used in post-conflict studies to the border context. It aimed at advancing criminological knowledge on ogranised crime networks while broadening the scope of policy discussions on the use of security approaches and joint states militarised operations in dismanteling criminal network organisations around the US-Mexico border communities.

Areas of academic expertise focus on interdisciplinary perspectives in the fields of criminology, international politics and socio-legal studies. Mainly interested on socio-political and criminological concerns caused by transnational organised crime networks, state violence and control policies leading to forced human displacement across borders in Central and North America. Enthongraphic research done on border communities and the phenomenon of illicit economies to understand its links to violence and organised crime networks, in particular drug cartels operating around the US-Mexico border.