Biography
Paolo Campana is Professor of Criminology and Director of the Violence Research Centre, Institute of Criminology (University of Cambridge). He is also a Fellow of Darwin College, Cambridge. Prior to moving to Cambridge, he was a Research Fellow at the Extra-Legal Governance Institute, Department of Sociology, University of Oxford and a Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. He was also a member of the Centre for Corporate Reputation at the Said Business School, Oxford. He held Invited Professorships at the Department of Sociology, University of Utrecht (The Netherlands, 2021) and at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHSS, Paris, 2023).
Research
Paolo Campana’s work explores different forms of organised crime and their impact on countries, neighbourhoods, and individuals. He has examined issues related to gangs and organised crime groups, including their emergence and spatial movement – both locally and internationally. He has extensively studied migrant smuggling, human trafficking, and drug trafficking, and has explored the relational mechanisms that drive violence and victimisation among young people and at-risk populations.
A central focus of his work is the application of network analysis to model criminal phenomena, from the internal dynamics of organised crime groups to the workings of illegal markets and violence. His work has appeared in several leading international journals and has been translated into Chinese, French, and Italian.
He has served as principal investigator on numerous grants funded by the UK Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Leverhulme Trust, the Nuffield Foundation, and the Youth Endowment Fund.
He is also the author of the Council of Europe’s official report on Online and Technology-facilitated Trafficking in Human Beings.
His work has received international media coverage, including reports from Reuters, AP, Washington Post, Guardian, Sky News, Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, Focus (Germany), Society (France), Le Scienze, Times of Malta, Vanguard (Nigeria), and Wired. He has contributed as an invited expert to several media outlets, including BBC Radio 4 and BBC News.
Publications
Published in peer-reviewed journals
P. Campana, Meneghini, C., & Knisley, A. (2025). Organized Crime and Violence in Local Communities: A Study of an ‘Ordinary’ Setting in the United Kingdom. The British Journal of Criminology, azaf013, online first
P. Campana, Varese, F. and Meneghini, C. (2025). Criminal governance in a large European city: the case of gangs in London. European Journal of Criminology, online first.
P. Campana and Giovannetti, A. (2025). The structure of cooperation among organized crime groups: A network study of Merseyside, UK. Journal of Criminal Justice, 96, online first
P. Campana and Meneghini, C. (2024). Organised crime movement across local communities: A network approach. Trends in Organized Crime, 27(3), 286-313.
Niezink, N. and Campana, P. (2023). When things turn sour: A network event study of organized crime violence. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 39(3), 655-678
P. Campana and F. Varese (2022). "The Determinants of Group Membership in Organised Crime in the UK: A Network Study", Global Crime, 23(1): 5-22.
P. Campana and F. Varese (2022), “Studying organized crime networks: data sources boundaries and the limits of structural measures”. Social Networks, 69: 149-159.
P. Campana and L. Gelsthorpe (2021), "Choosing a Smuggler: Decision-making Among Migrants Smuggled to Europe", European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 27(1): 5-21.
P. Campana and A. Giovannetti (2020), "Predicting Violence in Merseyside: a Network-Based Approach Using No Demographic Information". Cambridge Journal of Evidence-Based Policing, 4 (3): 89-102
I. Gollini, A. Caimo and P. Campana (2020), "Modelling interactions among offenders: A latent space approach for interdependent ego-networks". Social Networks, 63, 134-149.
P. Campana (2020), “Human Smuggling: Structure and Mechanisms”. Crime&Justice, 49 (1), 471-519.
L. Baika and P. Campana (2020). “Centrality, Mobility and Specialization: A Study of Drug Markets in a Non-metropolitan Area in the United Kingdom”. Journal of Drug Issues, 50:2, 107-216.
P. Campana (2018). “Unravelling child trafficking routes”, N&V, Nature Sustainability, 1(5), 216-217.
P. Campana (2018). “Out of Africa: The Organization of Migrant Smuggling Across the Mediterranean”, European Journal of Criminology, 15(4), 481-582.
P. Campana and F. Varese (2018). “Organized Crime in the United Kingdom: Illegal Governance of Markets and Communities”. British Journal of Criminology, online first, doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azx078.
P. Campana (2017). “The Market for Human Smuggling into Europe: A Macro Perspective". In Policing, 11:4, 448-456.
P. Campana (2016). "Explaining Criminal Networks: Strategies and Potential Pitfalls". Methodological Innovations, 9: 1-10 (full text available Here).
P. Campana (2016). "The structure of human trafficking: Lifting the bonnet on a Nigerian trafficking network". British Journal of Criminology, 56, 68-86.
P. Campana and F. Varese (2016). "Exploitation in Human Trafficking and Smuggling", European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 22, 89-105
P. Campana (2016). "When rationality fails: Making sense of 'the slippery slope' to corporate fraud", Theoretical Criminology, 20:3, 322-339.
P. Campana and F. Varese (2013). "Cooperation in criminal organisations: Kinship and violence as credible commitments". Rationality and Society, 25(3): 263-289 (Italian translation: in M. Santoro, ed. 2015, Prospettive sulla criminalita' organizzata. Bologna: Il Mulino).
P. Campana (2013). "Understanding then responding to Italian organised crime operations across territories". Policing, 7(3): 316-325. For a working paper version please Click Here.
P. Campana and F. Varese (2012) "Listening to the Wire: Criteria and techniques for the quantitative analysis of phone intercepts", Trends in Organized Crime, 15:1, 13-30.
P. Campana (2011). "Eavesdropping on the Mob: the functional diversification of Mafia activities across territories", European Journal of Criminology, 8:3, 213-228. (Chinese translation: 鲍罗·科姆帕纳: 《对暴徒的窃听：黑手党跨境活动功能的多元化》 ，载《犯罪研究》 2013年第1期。).
P. Campana (2011) "Assessing the movement of criminal groups: some analytical remarks", Global Crime, 12:3, 207-217.
P. Campana (2007). "Beyond 9/11: Terrorism and Media in a Mid-term Period View (1998-2005)", Global Crime, 8:4, 381 - 392.
L. Ricolfi and P. Campana (2005). "Suicide Missions in the Palestinian Area: a New Database", Polena, 1, 29 - 51.
Book Chapters
P. Campana (2022). Human Smuggling in North Africa: A Preliminary Exploration of Macro- and Micro-level Displacement Effects". Savona, E.U., Guerette, R.T., Aziani, A. (eds) The Evolution of Illicit Flows. Cham: Springer, 85-101
P. Campana (2019). Human Smuggling. In M. Natarajan (ed), International and Transnational Crime and Justice: An Anthology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
P. Campana (2017). Organised Crime and Protection Rackets. In Bernasco W., Elffers H. and J.-L. Van Gelder (eds), Oxford Handbook of Offender Decision Making. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (For an online version, please click here)
Other Publications
P. Campana (2022). Online and Technology-Facilitated Trafficking in Human Beings. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
P. Campana (2017). “Macro trends in the smuggling of migrants into Europe: An analytical exploration”, European Police Science and Research Bulletin, 16, 57-64
P. Campana and G. Cigalla (2015). Attitudes, motivations and strategies of participants in trafficking operations: Evidence from Italy and the United Kingdom. In S. Maffei and S. Carrillo Calderon (eds), New European crimes and trust-based policies. FP7 Research Project Report, 3, 17-33.
P. Campana and F. Varese (2015). Serious and organised crime in 2015 and beyond: priorities for business and government. Discussion paper prepared for CityForum, available online at: http://www.cityforum.co.uk/publications/7019/pdf/so-crime---paper.pdf
P. Campana, A. Jokinen, M. Viuhko, M. Nikkilä, M. Joutsen and D. Benito (2014). Trafficking in human beings: Report on enforcement statistics. In S. Maffei and L. Markopoulou (eds), New European crimes and trust-based policies. FP7 Research Project Report, Vol. 2, 21-42.
P. Campana (2014). A matter of mistrust. Criminals bond over violent acts. Royal Canadian Mounted Police Gazette, 76:2 (also translated into French).
P. Campana, M. Hough, E. Vaccari and S. Maffei (2013). The intended and unintended consequences of deterrence & inclusive crime control strategies. In S. Maffei and L. Markopoulou (eds), New European crimes and trust-based policies. FP7 Research Project Report, Vol. 1, 49-64.
P. Campana (2013). Governing vs. Trading: The Functional Diversification of Mafia Activities across Territories. In U. Tottel and H. Buchler (eds), Research Conferences on Organised Crime at the Bundeskriminalamt in Germany 2011 - 2013. Koln: Luchterhand - Wolters Kluvers.
P. Campana (2013). The Parmalat scandal: Exploring Europe's biggest bankruptcy. CCR Case Study, Centre for Corporate Reputation, Said Business School, University of Oxford.
P. Campana (2012). The knife and the market: the Camorra before and after Italian unification. Book review, Global Crime, 13:2, 130-134.
R. Younger, R. Olegario, L. David-Barrett, K. Okanamura, T. Yogev, B. Yakis-Douglas and P. Campana (2012). Twenty Five Years of 'Alex'. What can Britain best-loved investment banker teach us about the reputation of the City? Research Paper, Centre for Corporate Reputation, Said Business School, University of Oxford.
P. Campana (2011). Business journalism and corporate reputation in Italy: trust and cooperation among antagonists. Research Paper, Centre for Corporate Reputation, Said Business School, University of Oxford.
P. Campana (2011). Against the concept of 'transnational organized crime': a new taxonomy for assessing Mafia operations across territories. ECPR Standing Group on Organized Crime, Newsletter, 9:3.
P. Campana (2010). The Movement of a Camorra Clan. The functional diversification of Organized Crime groups across territories. Ottawa: Public Safety Canada (also translated into French).
P. Campana (2008). Tra silenzio e omologazione: le mafie sui quotidiani italiani. Lo Straniero, January, 90-91, pp. 12-17. (Between silence and stereotypes: The Mafia on the Italian daily press).
Dataset Publicly Available
LUPA Dataset on Suicide Missions in the Palestinian Area, 1981-2003 (with Luca Ricolfi). Freely available at: http://www.exlegi.ox.ac.uk/resources/Suicide_Missions/login.asp.
Teaching and Supervisions
Paolo Campana teaches a course on “Organised Forms of Crime” for the MPhil in Criminology, and he is the course co-convenor for the third-year course “Further Topics in Criminology” for the Undergraduate Tripos in Human, Social and Political Science (HSPS; Part II, Joint Track Sociology and Criminology). He is also contributing to the statistical training provided to students enrolled in the MPhil in Criminology.
Prospective Ph.D. students
Paolo Campana welcomes proposals from prospective Ph.D. students with an interest in organised forms of criminality. The latter includes organised crime and gangs, human trafficking and smuggling, and drug trafficking.
Other Professional Activities
He is the Editor of the Clarendon Series in Criminology, Oxford University Press. He sits on the Editorial Board for Criminology, the British Journal of Criminology, and Trends in Organised Crime. He also sits on the Research and Ethics Committee of the London Metropolitan Police.
He is a member of the scientific committee of the UNODC International Conference on Governance, Crime and Justice Statistics.
