Based at the International Development Department, at the University of Birmingham, the Serious Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Evidence (SOC ACE) research programme’s overarching focus is on generating rigorous research that engages directly with policy and practice to uncover more feasible options to tackle serious organised crime (SOC), illicit finance, kleptocracy and corruption. Here’s a round up of their November 2023 publications.

Information Manipulation and Organised Crime: Examining the Nexus, Tena Prelec (Oxford University);

Illuminating the Role of Third-Country Jurisdictions in Sanctions Evasion and Avoidance (SEA), Liam O’Shea (RUSI), Olivia Allison (Independent), Gonzalo Saiz (RUSI), Alexia Anna Hack (RUSI);

Economic Crime and Illicit Finance in Russia’s Occupation Regime in Ukraine, David Lewis, (University of Exeter);

A Framework for Countering Organised Crime: Strategy, Planning and the Lessons of Irregular Warfare, David Ucko and Thomas A Marks (National Defense University);

Under the Radar: How Russia Outmanoeuvres Western Sanctions with Help from its Neighbours, Alexander Kupatadze (KCL) and Erica Marat (National Defense University);

New Dynamics in Illicit Finance and Russian Foreign Policy, David Lewis (University of Exeter) and Tena Prelec (Oxford University);

Organised Crime as Irregular Warfare: Strategic Lessons for Assessment and Response, David Ucko and Thomas A. Marks (National Defense University).

Plus, listen to the SOC ACE podcast on Russian sanctions evasion: In Season 5, Ep.1 of KCL’s ‘WORLD: we got this’ podcast, Dr Alexander Kupatadaze (KCL Russia Institute) shares his new research with Dr Erica Marat (National Defense University) which reveals how Russia is outmanoeuvring Western sanctions thanks to help from neighbouring countries and the “implicit approval” of producers in the West. Listen Now.