Trafficking Transformations (2020–2024)

In January 2020, MACCH-affiliated researcher Donna Yates joined the Maastricht University Faculty of Law as PI of the ERC Starting Grant-funded project Trafficking Transformations: Objects as Agents in Transnational Criminal Networks. 

Current policies attempting to reduce international trafficking of high-value objects often fail due to a lack of understanding of the objects themselves. High-value collectable objects such as antiquities, collectable wildlife, and fossils often inspire passion and hold great power over people influencing the nature of the crimes. By focusing on the agency of these objects and understanding the relationships they are embedded in, this project aims to better understand crime. 

This project draws upon the multidisciplinary collaboration of MACCH and combines methodologies from criminology and arts research to understand the trafficking networks related to the movement of illicit antiquities, fossils, and collectable wildlife. This project brings formal partnerships with criminology researchers at the University of Cape Town and Victoria University at Wellington.  and has a total budget of € 1.5000.000.