About me

I am a PhD candidate at UCL's Department of Security and Crime Science and the Director of Empirika.

 

Over the past seven years, I have specialised on transnational organised criminal networks, armed groups, terrorism, migration, and sub-state political dynamics in West and North Africa. My PhD research focusses on migrant smuggling and trafficking networks operating in the Sahel and Libya.

 

I have conducted in-depth fieldwork amongst hard-to-access groups in Nigeria, Niger, Benin and Togo and have created and managed field networks of key informants, including in smuggling, trafficking and rebel groups from across the region including Chad and Libya.

 

I am also trained in quantitative and complex systems methods, which I leverage in my investigations of migration, crime, terrorism and conflict. I have advised the EU on political and security dynamics in West Africa and regularly provide expert opinions to the media (BBC, RFI, Reuters, The Economist, AFP) and senior diplomats from the EU, US and UK on security dynamics in the Sahel/Sahara region.