Professor Georgios Antonopoulos

Professor

School: Humanities and Social Sciences

Prof. Georgios A. Antonopoulos is a criminologist working on organised crime and illegal markets. He has taught at the University of Durham and at Teesside University, and has delivered guest lectures at several European universities including Utrecht University, the University of Trento, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, and the University of Zagreb. Previously he was visiting fellow at Sheffield University and at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. A former local government officer, he has worked in partnerships providing strategic direction to community safety partners with the aim of coordinating criminal policy. He has led and managed projects funded by the European Commission, the Economic and Social Research Council, and the British Ministry of Justice.

Prof. Antonopoulos is member of the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, board member of the Cross-Border Crime Colloquium, series editor of the Routledge Studies in Organised Crime, and editor-in-chief of the journal Trends in Organised Crime. From 2010 to 2014 he was Chair of the North-East branch of the British Society of Criminology, and in 2014-2015 he served as executive director of the International Association for the Study of Organised Crime (IASOC). He has acted as expert or consultant to: the strategic analysis sector (e.g. Enterprise & Diplomatie Groupe ADIT, France; Sandstone SA, Luxemburg; Intellegit, Italy; Oxford Analytica, UK), RAND, the Centre for the Study of Democracy (Bulgaria), Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC), the British Police, the UK Cabinet Office, the UK Department of Business, Innovation and Skills, the Brazilian Ministry of Justice, the US Department of Commerce, and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Since 2019 he has been a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. He has commented extensively on illegal markets and organised crime in media outlets including BBC World, The Guardian, The Observer, Deutsche Welle, NBC News, Al Jazeera, France24, Le Figaro, VICE, and The Economist.

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Key Publications

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A multi-component, place-based approach to improving men’s health and well-being in disadvantaged areas: A qualitative study, Visram, S., Lie, M., Haywood, C., Forrest, S., Burrell, S., Antonopoulos, G., Berger, N., Andrew, R., Price, T., Lee, J., Carter, N., Williams, M. 1 Mar 2026, In: Journal of Public Health
Dealing with the trade in counterfeit and unapproved aircraft parts, Kotzé, J., Antonopoulos, G. 11 Feb 2026
‘Definición del discurso de odio y la desinformación en un panorama digital complejo y dinámico’, Diba, P., Antonopoulos, G. 23 Mar 2026
Preventing and combating online and offline hate speech and disinformation through multidisciplinary innovation, education, and awareness in Europe: Deliverable 2.4: Socio-Technical Requirements and Methodology, Diba, P., Antonopoulos, G. 30 Jun 2026
'What can a landlord do?' Criminal landlords and techniques of neutralisation, L’Hoiry, X., Parton, L., Antonopoulos, G., Rugg, J. 1 Aug 2026, In: European Journal of Criminology
Community perspectives of terrorism and the Nigerian government’s counterterrorism strategies: A systematic review, Ike, T., Antonopoulos, G., Singh, D. 1 Apr 2025, In: Criminology and Criminal Justice
Criminal Landlords in the Shadow Private Rented Sector in England, L’Hoiry, X., Page, G., Parton, L., Rugg, J., Antonopoulos, G. Dec 2025
Dealing with organised crime and the financing of terrorism: an introduction to the special issue, D'Souza, N., Robinson, P., Ralph, L., Antonopoulos, G. 1 Mar 2025, In: Trends in Organised Crime
Dealing with Organised Crime and the Financing of Terrorism: Challenges and Solutions, D'Souza, N., Robinson, P., Ralph, L., Antonopoulos, G. 1 Mar 2025, In: Trends in Organised Crime
Football Fan Tokens as a mode of “serious leisure”: unveiling the dual essence of identity and investment, Manoli, A., Dixon, K., Antonopoulos, G. 4 Mar 2025, In: Leisure Studies

Current and Recent Projects

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Preventing and Combating Online and Offline Hate Speech and Disinformation through Multidisciplinary Innovation, Education, and Awareness in Europe, Antonopoulos, G. (Principal Investigator), European Commission, 01/09/25 - 31/08/28, £168,042.00

Professional Activity

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Other: The Observer 2026
Other: Bloomberg, 29 June 2026 – ‘The Shilajit Dilemma’, https://www.bloomberg.com 2026
Other: BBC Radio 4 – ‘File on 4 Investigates’, 24 June 2026 2026
Examination: MRes examiner 2024
Participating in a conference, workshop, ...: UNODC Constructive Dialogues following the Working Groups on Trafficking in Persons [Review Mechanism] 2024
Membership of board: European Society of Criminology Working Group on Organised Crime & Criminal Networks (External organisation) 2022
Invited talk: Human Traffickers and the Economy in Greece 2022
Editorial work: Trends in Organized Crime (Journal) 2018
Examination: External PhD examiner 2012

Further Information

External Roles and Professional Activities

Member of the editorial board:
- Global Crime;
- Crime Prevention and Community Safety;
- Journal of Financial Crime (2013-2025);
- Journal of Money Laundering Control (2013-2025);
- International Journal of Cyber-Criminology;
- International Criminology;
- British Journal of Criminology (2014-2024)
Senior external member, eCrime, University of Trento, Italy (2011- )
Member, Academic Board of the International PhD in Criminology, Catholic University of Milan, Italy (2014- )
Member, UK Research & Innovation Future Leaders Fellowships (UKRI FLF) Peer Review College (2018- )
Member of the management board, ESRC Northern Ireland & North East Doctoral Training Partnership (NINE DTP) (2018-2022)
Member, UN Delta 8.7 (modern slavery) Policy Guides Working Group (2020-2021)
Member, Centre for Science and Policy (CSaP) Policy Fellowship Programme, University of Cambridge (2021- )
Member, World Economic Forum Expert Network (SDG 16 - Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions & Illicit Economy), Geneva (2021- )