I am an Associate Professor in Criminology at the Department of Sociology, University of Warwick. I research on policing, law enforcement and criminal justice, and teach on core criminology modules. After completing my Bachelors of Law (LLB) from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), I obtained an MA in Terrorism, Security and Society from King’s College London. I then obtained my PhD in Security Studies from King’s College London and worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Institute for Global City Policing, University College London (UCL). I have taught at SOAS, UCL, and the University of Warwick.

My research draws upon critical perspectives and debates in Criminology, Law, Socio-Legal Studies, and Politics. This interdisciplinarity allows me to conduct research on urgent and emerging global challenges, such law enforcement, digitalisation, cybercrime, surveillance, urban (in)security, counterinsurgency, informality, legal uncertainty, migration, and human rights. While I am especially interested in authoritarian contexts in the global South, with a focus on South Asia, I am also interested in law enforcement and human rights in the UK.

My peer-reviewed articles have featured in World Development, Security Dialogue, Journal of Urban Affairs, Policing and Society, International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, and the Journal of Commonwealth and Comparative Politics. My book, Insecure Guardians, based on my doctoral research, has been published by Oxford University Press (US) and Hurst & Co. (UK) (2022). I am also co-editor of Southern and Postcolonial Perspectives on Policing, Security, and Social Order (Bristol University Press, 2023).

I am co-coordinator of the Urban Violence Research Network, an international platform connecting academics and researchers working in areas of urban insecurity, conflict in cities, and associated global challenges. I am also a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

I frequently contribute to media outlets, policy analysis, commentary, and research. I am open to public engagement and outreach. You may contact me on zoha.waseem@gmail.com.