Emiline Smith

Emiline Smith is a Lecturer in Art Crime and Criminology at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research at the University of Glasgow.

Prior to becoming a Lecturer at the University of Glasgow, she worked as a Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Liverpool in Singapore. She has also previously worked as a research and teaching assistant at the University of Hong Kong, the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and Cambodia’s Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts. Emiline obtained a PhD in Criminology from the University of Glasgow. Her PhD project focused on the illicit cultural property trade in Hong Kong and China, exploring why Hong Kong in its role as global city also fulfils the role of transition portal for this illicit trade.

Emiline’s research concerns the trafficking of ‘special’ commodities, such as antiquities and wildlife. Her research primarily focuses on Asia; she has done fieldwork in Hong Kong, China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Singapore. She explores how and why participants take part in transnational illicit trades, and how urban settings, especially so-called ‘global cities’, facilitate such trade. Emiline’s interests include: transnational crime; the illegal antiquities trade; crimes of the powerful; cultural criminology.

Teaching:

Emiline is the Convenor for the University of Glasgow’s Global Criminal Economy and Antiquities Trafficking & Repatriation courses. She supervises Master-level Criminology students at the University of Glasgow and accepts proposals from potential PhD students.