Three researchers to receive Research Talent funding

The board of the NWO domain Social Sciences and Humanities decided last week which proposals will receive funding under the Research Talent programme. Research Talent offers excellent students in the social and behavioural sciences the opportunity to do PhD research. Three up-and-coming researchers are to conduct PhD research at NSCR with NWO funding, namely Gabriele Chlevickaite, Meintje van Dijk and Renushka Madarie.

Insider witnesses’ credibility and reliability: an empirical legal framework for international criminal justice
Evidence problems often hinder the prosecution of those who commit serious international crimes. This study uses legal and social science methods to investigate how evidence from insiders, who often have key information, can be collected in such a way that it is suitable for use in criminal proceedings.
PhD candidate: Gabriele Chlevickaite (VU Amsterdam)

Organised crime involvement across generations: continuity, resilience and interventions
A previous pilot study showed that children of people who commit serious crimes such as large-scale drug trafficking and human trafficking stand a much greater chance of following in their parents’ footsteps than children of 'ordinary' criminals. This follow-up study plans to investigate what causes this. How strong is the intergenerational transmission of organised crime at a national level? What mechanisms are at play in these families and what are the roles of the various family members? Possible interventions that might prevent children of organised criminals from taking after their parents will also be examined.
PhD candidate: Meintje van Dijk (VU Amsterdam)

Follow the honey. Real-world experiments among cybercrime offenders
Existing theories assume that offenders make rational decisions, but these theories have rarely been tested experimentally. This project uses 'honey accounts', online Google accounts that have deliberately been rendered vulnerable to hacking, to allow an experimental investigation of cybercriminals’ behaviour. The research offers unique opportunities for conducting a stringent test of existing criminology theories on offenders’ decision-making behaviour. This study of offender behaviour will broaden our understanding of cybercrime, as previous research has tended to focus on victims and security.
PhD candidate: Renushka Madarie (Utrecht University)