My research examines the political economies of transnational illicit commodities in Latin America. My work intervenes in debates around the causes of drug violence in Latin America, the development of the state in post-colonial contexts, political transition and the dynamics of socio-environmental conflict. I have conducted extensive fieldwork in Bolivia and Colombia, using oral history interviews, archival sources and participatory methods to map illicit economies and their effects. 

My research engages with policy failures of the 'war on drugs' in Latin America and the search for more humane and effective alternatives. I have collaborated on knowledge exchange activities with Christian Aid and the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) on pathways to integrating the Sustainable Development Goals into policy responses.

• The political economy of illicit commodities
• State development and political transition
• Socio-environmental conflict
• US-Latin American relations
• International development

List by: Type | Date

• Principal investigator – Democratising Data: Community-led Socio-Environmental Monitoring in Chocó, Colombia, ESRC Impact Accelaration Account Fund (September 2024).
• Co-applicant – Responding to COVID-19 in Chocó, Colombia, Scottish Funding Council – Global Challenges Research Fund, COVID-19 Rapid Response (April 2020).
• Co-applicant – Developing Community Arts-Based Methods for Socio-Environmental Advocacy in Chocó, Colombia, ESRC Impact Acceleration Award (November 2019).
• Co-applicant – Water Stories: indirect impacts of socio-environmental conflict on community health in Chocó, Colombia, Scottish Funding Council – Global Challenges Research Fund (April 2019).
• Co-applicant – Colombia River Stories: supporting socio-environmental advocacy, Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund (January 2019).
• Principal investigator – Addressing the Development Implications of Illicit Economies in the Global South, grant agreement with the Global Partnership on Drug Policy and Development (GPDPD) at GIZ (December 2017).
• Principal investigator – Illicit Drug Economies, Governance and the Security-Development Nexus in the Global South, ESRC Global Challenges Research Fund Fellowship (January 2017).

Please get in touch if you are interested in doing a PhD that relates to my research interests.

• Karvinen, Susanna
  Indigenous Resistance to Extractivism – the Intersections of Gender and Settler Colonialism
• Moroch, Dylan
  Vivan los Barbudos: The Strategy, Ideology, and Exceptionalism of the Cuban Revolutionary Armed Forces
• Piedrahita Arcila, Irene
  Beyond the use of violence

Globalisation: Critical Perspectives from the Global South (MSc) - POLITIC5099

Latin American Politics (Hons) - POLITIC4031

Research associate at the Global Drug Policy Observatory, the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, and the Andean Information Network.