Dr Daan van Uhm

Utrecht University

Expertise

Dr. Daan van Uhm is an Associate Professor of Criminology, specialising in Green Criminology. He has conducted research on various forms of environmental crime, including illegal mining in Latin America, wildlife trafficking in Southeast Asia, deforestation in Central Africa, and the criminalization of ecocide. Dr van Uhm obtained his PhD in Criminology at Utrecht University in 2016 (The Illegal Wildlife Trade: Inside the World of Poachers, Smugglers and Traders, Springer). In 2018 he received the Veni grant of the Dutch Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) for his research project 'The Diversification of Organized Crime into the Illegal Trade in Natural Resources' and in 2022 the ERC Starting Grant (European Research Council) for the research project 'Green Crimes and Joint Crime Ventures: Laundering Natural Resources'. Dr van Uhm primarily focuses on research in the context of green crimes and harms. 

Collaborative research project

Environmental crime, including deliberate destruction of natural environments and trade in wildlife, is increasing globally and poses a threat to Australia’s diversity of threatened and endemic species, natural ecosystems, and agricultural industries that are critical for regional food security.

Environmental crimes are complex and uncertain, and existing laws fail to effectively deter and punish environmental crimes in Australia and globally. Relevant laws, like the crimes they seek to regulate, are interconnected across scales and actors, ranging from international conventions to local planning schemes, and across laws for conservation, animal welfare, wildlife and land management, regional management and biosecurity.

This research project is focused on building a united criminology and criminal law research agenda to equip Australian laws to combat future environmental crimes. The research team will build research track record and develop a collaborative research plan, articulating intersections and unique contributions from criminology and criminal law research with a view to securing funding from the Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) to expand this research.

University of Adelaide hosts

Dr Kellie Toole
Adelaide Law School
Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics

Associate Professor Phill Cassey
School of Biological Sciences
Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology

Dr Phillipa McCormack
Environment Institute

More information about Dr van Uhm.