Maya Lahav

Maya Lahav is a DPhil researcher at the University of Oxford's Centre for Criminology (affiliated with New College), specializing in human exploitation within online ecosystems. She is also a 2025 International Strategy Forum Fellow (Schmidt Futures) and a 2025 CICJ Visiting Fellow at the University of Sydney Law School.

Research Interests: Her work examines how digital platforms enable human trafficking, focusing on traffickers' use of platform features to groom victims, manipulate personas, and evade detection. Key areas include coercion, platform-enabled harm, and online criminal economies.

Recent Engagements: She has consulted for the UK Home Office, European Commission, and Swedish Police Authority; delivered talks at the International Stockholm Criminology Symposium (2025) and British Society of Criminology Conference (2025); and contributed to a Guardian journalistic investigation (2025). She is a lecturer at DIS (2023–2025) and co-chairs panels on digital crime.

• Scientific Awards:
  • International Strategy Forum Fellow (Schmidt Futures), 2025
  • Hoover Institution Alumna, Stanford University, 2024
  • Oxford Trygfonden Scholar, 2021
  • Yale Santander Scholar, 2017

Education: Maya holds an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Oxford and an MSc in International Relations from the University of Edinburgh.