Lieselot in the Spotlight

Gent is my hometown

“I decided to study Criminology, because I am interested in law, psychology and sociology. All these fields come together in the study programme of Criminology. I studied in Gent for five years: bachelor and master Criminology and both the European Criminology and Criminal Justice Systems masters. After graduating, I was offered a research job in Gent. I joined the research project “Leadership and leadership development at the police agency”, commissioned by the Belgian Ministry of Internal Affairs. The research project was a great way to gain experience in the field. I had only just graduated, when I started interviewing mayors, prosecutors, and police chiefs, sometimes even in French!

After conducting research for two years, I had learned a lot and discovered my passion for research. Due to a fellowship by the Special Research Fund from Gent University and the University of Applied Sciences in Gent I was able to conduct doctoral research into the trafficking of electronical waste (e-waste) and hardwood, with a focus on the governance context of this phenomenon in the Port of Antwerp. During this time, I was also able to do fieldwork in Ghana, which has been an incredible experience.”

From New York to Rotterdam

“After my doctoral research, my partner and I moved to the United States. He got a job in New York (Cornell University, Ithaca) and I got to finish the last six months of my appointment at HoGent remotely. Not long after receiving my doctorate, I started working at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice (City University of New York). I taught Theoretical Criminology and Research Methods, but I also learnt a lot about the American educational and judicial system and about American society. However, the job presented quite the challenge on a personal level. Cornell University and John Jay College are five hours apart; so, I stayed in Manhattan three days a week and the rest of the week I went back to Ithaca, a beautiful place located by Cayuga Lake in the wooded hills. The green environment suited me better than the city, even though I enjoyed exploring ‘the Big Apple’.”

“After two and a half years, me and my husband decided to find jobs in closer proximity together. We weighed multiple options, but the offers in Rotterdam seemed like the best fit for both of our ambitions. I started working at Erasmus School of Law and my husband at Rotterdam School of Management. In the meantime, I was granted a postdoc fellowship from the Flanders Research Foundation, which allowed me to start my research about environmental crime at Gent University. This was a parttime appointment which enabled me to also work for the department of Criminology at Erasmus School of Law. At the time, I used to travel to Gent for my research approximately once a week, but I am glad to now have a fulltime appointment here in Rotterdam.”

Inequality in society and economy

“In addition to my work at the Criminology department, I have been a permanent member of the Erasmus Initiative on Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity (DoIP) since 2018. Therefore, I spend some of my time with researchers outside of our faculty. This really excites me as we share an interest and a passion for all cases concerning inequality in society or the economy. I like working with my colleagues from DoIP, because together we take a step outside of our faculties and get to learn about other disciplines and shared interests. It allows me to continue to research environmental crime, from more perspectives than criminology alone. For example, philosopher Yogi Hendlin and I are currently recruiting a postdoctoral researcher for a project on the production, use and regulation of so-called “forever chemicals” (e.g., PFAS).”

From January 2021, I have also been appointed co-chair (with René Repasi) of ‘Public & Private Interests’ within the sector plan of Erasmus School of Law. I look forward to further developing research on public and private interests within legal sciences and criminology, together with René, the postdocs, and PhDs, and with the others that are involved in the sector plan.

Combining research and education

“Because of my appointment at DoIP, I could spend a lot of time on my research. In the past two years, I have spent a lot of time on the research project on drugs crime in the Port of Rotterdam, assigned by the Rotterdam Consultative Body for Safety, consisting of municipality, police, customs, and public prosecution services. My colleagues Richard Staring, Robby Roks, Elisabeth Brein and Henk van de Bunt and I presented our research report in May 2019. But we still like to keep ourselves informed on the latest developments in the port. It is nice to hear that our recommendations are being appreciated and implemented by public and private actors.

Together with criminologists from Maastricht and Rotterdam, Karin van Wingerde and I also conduct action-oriented research for the Dutch Research and Documentation Centre into the so-called reinforcement movement: improving the approach to subversive drug crime. During the research we closely follow 13 (of the 126) projects throughout the country and mainly examine them from a public administration perspective.

Besides my research, I have taught the minor Criminology for several years. However, my focus within education is set on the supervision of students during their thesis and co-teaching two courses in the Masters programme Criminology and the International Research Master (IMARC) in close collaboration with Karin van Wingerde (Corporate & White-Collar Crime) and Robby Roks (Organised Crime). With support of Community for Learning and Innovation (CLI) we have redesigned these courses to the model of case-based learning. This means that students take on real cases of company- and organised crime, for which they develop legal policy advice in small groups. I really enjoy developing and teaching of courses together with others and would therefore really recommend it.”

Friends around the world and nature close to home

“Nature is a great source of inspiration for me. As a kid, I grew up playing in the woods in Hertsberge, a small town near Brugge. During my holidays, I love to spend time in the mountains of for example Austria, Switzerland, Norway, or Canada. At the moment, travelling has been put on the backburner. Even spending a weekend with friends and family in Belgium is very difficult. Especially in this time I consider myself very fortunate to have nature close by. About a kilometre from my home, there is this little creek where we can swim in summer or ice-skate like last winter.

My social life is also very important to me. I have a group of close friends from Belgium, who I talk to or meet up with on a regular basis, no matter where in the world I am. I also like to keep in touch with friends that I have met on foreign adventures and I have a strong family relation.”

Interesting people and fascinating research

“Last January, I was appointed professor and I already got to experience many great things during my doctorate and post doctorate research. I am very happy with my work at DoIP and Erasmus School of Law. I work in a great team and I love how direct the Dutch are, I might even have adapted this directness (or maybe I always had it in me, who knows).

I am also proud of what I achieved with colleagues on a research level. In addition to our research in the port and the waste crime research, I spent some time in Louisiana research local coastal land loss. For this project, I did some fieldwork at a native community on the Island Isle-de-Jean-Charles; I was invited to a first nation community to talk to someone who has lived on the island for 85 years, who told me everything about their community. This resulted in great research material.”

Plenty to learn and discover

“Being a mom of two young daughters and working fulltime, can be quite the challenge, especially during an ‘intelligent lockdown’ or when they are sick. Within the academic world I still see many great challenges on the horizon. I, for example, aspired to take on more responsibilities within Erasmus School of Law, and due to my recent appointment, I have the chance to do just that. I love the combination of research and education. Therefore, I can see myself working in academia for a long time. If my partner and I would ever receive an offer for a position that suits us both and in which we could live in the mountains and the jobs would suit us both, then I might say goodbye to the Netherlands. However, it should be a very good deal, before we would even consider it!”