Dr Laura Gutierrez LL.B, MA, MPhil, PhD

Personal Statement

I am interested in green criminology, especially in the study of socio-environmental harm stemming from legitimate industries (mainly extractive), and wildlife crime. My research uses qualitative, multi-disciplinary methods to explore the ways in which global trends materialise in non-Western contexts, paying particular attention to the complex relationship between the Global North and the Global South.

Before joining the Department in 2021, I was a postdoctoral fellow on the ESRC-funded ‘Beastly Business’ project at the University of Sheffield, which explored the political ecologies of green-collar crime in the illegal trade of European wildlife. Prior to this post, I completed my PhD at the University of Cambridge where I conducted an exploratory study on the Colombian police.

In addition, I have undertaken advocacy work on issues of mental health in academia; safety during fieldwork; equality, diversity and inclusion; and resistance to precaritisation in higher education.