Alexandra Hall is Associate Professor in Criminology at Northumbria University’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences. With an academic background in Politics, International Political Economy and Sociology (BA, MA, PhD), her research sits at the intersection of crime, harm and the economy, drawing on cross-sector and interdisciplinary approaches.

Alex's current work focuses on the criminogenic and political dimensions of freeports and special economic zones (SEZs). This includes her ISRF-funded project The Freeport Paradox, and recent research with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime exploring global SEZs and environmental crime. She is currently writing a monograph based on this work.

Previously, Alex has contributed to several international and UK-funded research projects on wide-ranging themes such as: the online trade in counterfeit and falsified medicines (European Commission); the financial strategies of illicit drug and tobacco traffickers (European Commission); UK-China flows in the counterfeit goods trade (AHRC/ESRC); and the changing nature of the British Pakistani honour/shame complex (PhD research).

Her research has been published widely in leading peer-reviewed journals, edited collections and books (Fake Meds Online, Palgrave Macmillan; Fake Goods, Real Money, Policy Press), and featured in mainstream media including the BBC, The Guardian, Vice and The Economist.

She also contributes to the academic community as a member of several editorial boards, research networks and peer review colleges. At Northumbria, she currently serves as Director of the Centre for Crime and Policing and Lead for the ESRC NINE DTP Criminology, Prisons and Policing pathway

Her evolving research interests include new criminogenic spaces, drug markets, elite crime, and emerging concerns around life in a cashless society. 

Substantive areas of expertise include:

• Crime and the global political economy 
• 'Organised crime' and illicit markets (drugs, counterfeit goods)
• Drug markets and drug dealing (pharmaceuticals, IPEDs, cocaine)
• Special Economic Zones
• Social and environmental harm
• Digital criminology
• Consumer culture
• Contemporary criminological theory
• Anthropological and ethnographic studies of honour and shame (particularly in the Pakistani diaspora)
• International political economy
• Qualitative and online research methods (particularly ethnography)

I welcome enquiries from potential PhD candidates in any of the areas above.