Clarissa Meerts

Clarissa Meerts is an Assistant Professor of Criminology at the Faculty of Law of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, affiliated with A-LAB and the Empirical and Normative Studies research group. She holds a PhD from Erasmus University Rotterdam (2018) and teaches courses like 'Introduction to Sociology' and 'Theoretical Criminology'. Her research focuses on corporate investigations, public-private cooperation in financial crime, fraud, and organisational crime, employing qualitative methodologies.

• Educations: PhD in Criminology (Erasmus University, 2018), Master in International and Comparative Criminology (Erasmus, 2009), Bachelor in Criminology (Erasmus, 2007).

Her research interests bridge criminology, law, and organisational studies. Key projects include the Dutch Organised Crime Monitor, a WODC study on corporate self-investigation, and a Politie & Wetenschap-funded project on public-private relations in financial crime. She chairs the Division for Organisational Crime at the Dutch Society of Criminology (NVC) and participates in the European Working Group on Organisational Crime (EUROC).

Clarissa has received the NWO Research Talent Grant (2012) and contributed to media discussions on private policing and fraud prevention. She supervises master’s theses and coordinates the Criminology Bachelor programme at VU Amsterdam.

Her work explores how private actors like corporations engage in crime prevention, the dynamics of public-private partnerships, and the evolving role of corporate security in addressing economic crimes.