Dr Jacopo Costa joined the Basel Institute on Governance in April 2019 as a Senior Research Fellow.

He holds a PhD in Sociology and Political Studies from the University of Turin. During his doctorate, he held two visiting research posts, one at the Centre International de Criminologie Comparée of the University of Montreal, and the other at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University in Boston. He also holds a master’s degree in International Relations from the University of Florence and a bachelor’s degree in Culture and Human Rights from the University of Bologna. 

His research has focused on a variety of topics, including the nature of informal networks, the corrupt exchange in the public works and football industry, illegal wildlife trade between East Africa and South East Asia, and the nexus between corruption and money laundering. Using social network analysis and ethnographic techniques, Jacopo has studied the structures, functions and norms that make it possible to achieve illegal and criminal goals. His research has been published in renowned academic journals in the field of criminology and political science, such as Governance, Global Crime, Trends in Organized Crime, and Crime, Law, and Social Change. 

See Jacopo's research profiles on Google Scholar and ResearchGate.