Bridging the Gap: Economic Criminology Collaboration Toolkit Workshop

By Marina Murlian and Branislav Hock

A structural gap between academic research and real-world practice remains one of the greatest challenges in economic criminology. Addressing this collaboration deficit is essential to effectively combating financial wrongdoing. To tackle this issue directly, a working meeting took place at the University of Portsmouth on 16 June 2026, focused on introducing a new toolkit designed to foster meaningful partnerships between academics and practitioners.

Why Collaboration inb Economic Crimninology Matters

A major highlight of the programme was the presentation of the Economic Crime Collaboration working paper and a practices focused Economic Criminology Collaboration Toolkit, which clearly illustrate the current deficit in economic crime research and how it can be tackled by targeted collaboration instruments. Branislav Hock from University of Portsmouth presented the theoretical framework based on boundary objects theory. Bing Han detailed the structure and practical components of the new toolkit. Samantha Mapston shared crucial practitioner perspectives and reflected on the Bristol ECED Conference to show what good collaboration looks like.

The interest in these solutions is broad and diverse. The meeting brought together representatives from the Home Office, NCA, Cabinet Office, NHS, Essex Police, the Estonian Tax and Customs Board, banking, and football regulation. This wide array of participants demonstrates the critical need for unified approaches across all sectors.

Testing the Economic Criminology Toolkit

The strategic role of ISEC took centre stage during the second half of the day. Mark Button, the President of ISEC presented the long-term vision of the organisation, highlighting the importance of integrating the new toolkit into the broader strategy of ISEC. Participants explored available funding mechanisms as Samantha Mapston discussed grants from different organisations, opening up realistic pathways for future projects.

An interactive session allowed attendees to test the proposed solutions on real problems. Mixed groups of academics and practitioners successfully built pilot proposals. Each group developed a comprehensive plan covering the problem, evidence gap, proposed partners, methodology, timeline, and expected impact.

What's Next

The discussions have now turned into concrete action plans for sustained partnerships in the fight against economic crime. The project team, Branislav Hock, Sam Mapston and Bing Han, is actively seeking to expand this network and put these tools into practice.

If you are a practitioner interested in collaboration or piloting the Toolkit, we highly encourage you to get in touch via the following link through which you can also provide feedback on the documents.