New research group and new program leaders

New research group: Situational causes of offline and online crime

What situations and circumstances lead to crime (both offline and online)? How are online and offline crime similar, how are they different, and how do they influence each other?

The new research group ‘Situational causes of offline and online crime’, led by Prof. Wim Bernasco, studies these questions and uses the knowledge gained to develop effective forms of situational crime prevention, both in the digital and physical worlds, in collaboration with partners.

To achieve this goal, the group focuses not only on fundamental research but also on applied research into the effects of crime prevention in online and offline environments. This includes questions such as ‘Does the intervention have the intended effect?’, ‘Through what mechanism is this effect achieved?’, ‘Under what conditions does the intervention work and when does it not?’, and 'How is the intervention implemented and what are the costs?

The research group investigates how existing methods for offline situational prevention can be translated to online environments, and seeks to connect with organizations involved in developing and implementing situational crime prevention in offline and online environments. Bernasco: “Further developing this line of research requires close collaboration with societal partners who set up and implement the interventions.”

In addition to this line of research, the group will develop new research into contextual and situational causes of scientifically questionable behavior, and into the effectiveness of measures to combat it. Scientifically questionable behavior is a collection of both minor and serious violations of scientific integrity rules that undermine the credibility of science, a topic rarely been studied in criminology.

About Prof. Wim Bernasco

Wim Bernasco is program leader of the new research group. He has been working for many years as a senior researcher at the NSCR in the field of geographical criminology and is also a professor by special appointment at the University of Amsterdam.

Dr. Peter Ejbye-Ernst appointed new program leader for ‘Crime in Context’

Starting in November 2025, Dr. Peter Ejbye-Ernst is the new program leader for the research group ‘Crime in Context’. He succeeds Prof. Marie Lindegaard as program leader.

Ejbye-Ernst is from Denmark and has a background in sociology. He has been working at the NSCR for eight years and has more than ten years of research experience in interpersonal conflicts and violence using quantitative and qualitative methods. This has led to studies based on innovative methods such as systematic video analysis, walk-along interviews, and analyses of incident registers.

In addition to his interest in interpersonal conflicts, Ejbye-Ernst has also recently started researching green criminology and environmental crimes. Ejbye-Ernst: “This emerging field within criminology is not only of enormous social importance, but also represents a conceptual expansion of criminology, which until now has mainly focused on human victims.”

Strengthening and renewing the research group

As program leader, Ejbye-Ernst aims to further strengthen studies into interpersonal conflicts and to develop the subject of environmental crime, which has recently been introduced at the NSCR. “The two major topics of this research group are therefore in different areas of development, but offer new and exciting insights for criminology.”