Samuel Singler

Samuel is a Lecturer in Criminology at the University of Essex. Situated within the field of Border Criminology, his research focuses on the effects of novel border security technologies on the global criminalization of migration. His empirical research on the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) capacity-building practices in Nigeria illuminates how and why security technologies diffuse across and through borders, how they shape contemporary ‘crimmigration’ policies, and how they are deployed and contested on the ground in postcolonial contexts. He has also made theoretical contributions into the study of technology from a criminological perspective, by combining insights from the tradition of pragmatism with the theory of performativity.

Samuel holds a DPhil in Criminology and MPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford and a BA in International Relations from Queen Mary University of London. Prior to taking up his current position, he worked as a Departmental Lecturer in Criminology at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford. He has also worked as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Law and the University of Roehampton. Samuel has also been employed as an independent border management consultant for the IOM, and has research experience from organizations such as RAND Europe and the Cambridge University Forum on Geopolitics. In 2022–23, he contributed to a report on the use of biometric technologies in the humanitarian sector published by The Engine Room. He co-leads the Border Criminologies "Technology and Digital Futures" thematic group.