Dr Emiline Smith is a Lecturer in Art Crime and Criminology at the School of Social and Political Sciences, and a member of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research at the University of Glasgow. She is a Fellow at the Centre for Criminology at the University of Hong Kong. Emiline is also a member of the Trafficking Culture Research Consortium, a group of researchers that works to produce evidence-based information about the global illicit trade in cultural objects.

Prior to becoming a Lecturer at the University of Glasgow, Emiline worked as a Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Liverpool in Singapore. She has previously worked as a research assistant 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’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, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Singapore. She explores how and why participants take part in illicit transnational trades, and how urban settings, especially so-called ‘global cities’ and freeports, facilitate such trade. She is further interested in plastic waste disposal and its impact on marine environments.