Professor of Criminology, University of Essex

Anna Sergi holds a PhD in Sociology (2014), with specialisation in Criminology, from the Department of Sociology at the University of Essex. Her research specialism is in organised crime studies and comparative criminal justice. She has published extensively in renowned peer-review journals in criminology on topics related to Italian mafias both in Italy and abroad as well as on policing strategies against organised crime across states.

Since September 2015 she lectures in criminology at the University of Essex. In Autumn 2015 she has been working as a consultant for the Australian Institute of Criminology, in Canberra and as a Research Fellow at Flinders Law School, in Adelaide. in 2017 she has visited the University of Montreal in Canada as Visiting Scholar and she is an Internaitonal Fellow at the University of Melbourne. In 2019 she was awarded an International Scholar Visiting Fellowship at the University of Turin.

Before joining Essex, she was a lecturer in Policing and Crime Sciences at the University of West London. In early 2014 she has contributed as a Research Assistant, seconded to the National Crime Agency in London, to a project of the University of Cambridge, within the RCUK Global Uncertainties Programme in early 2014. In this position Anna is looking at the requirements of the NCA for social and behaviorual sciences research in the fight against serious and organised crime.

In Autumn 2013, Anna has visited the New York School of Law, Center for Research in Crime and Justice, as Program Affiliate Scholar, to work on a comparative project on criminal law and justice against organised crime groups in the USA and in England and Wales.

Prior to starting her doctorate, Anna has completed her five-years degree in law in Italy, at the University of Bologna in 2009, majoring with honours (cum laude) in International and European Criminal Procedure, followed by a Master of Law (LL.M.) in Criminal Law, Criminology and Criminal Justice with merit at Kings College, in London.

After completing her LL.M, Anna has worked in the private sector for one year, first as an Intern in the Forensics and Anti-Money Laundering Department of Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Milan, Italy and afterwards as Staigiare Paralegal in the Italian Desk and Litigation Department for Withers LLP in London.