2025 At-large Board member: candidate Alina Deana Machande

Criminal and deviant behavior is increasingly taking place online, with Europe experiencing a rise in such offenses, while traditional crimes remain steady or decline. However, research on online deviance and crime has largely been dominated by disciplines such as information systems and management studies. As a scholar with a background in both Psychology and Security Studies, specializing in deviant online behavior, I aim to bring these issues back into the domain of Criminology and the social sciences. A criminological perspective is not only valuable but essential in understanding and addressing these emerging forms of crime, and my research contributes to bridging this gap by examining digital offending patterns and their societal implications.

I am currently working as a Lecturer in Psychology and will soon join Macromedia University of Applied Sciences as a professor of Psychology. With collaborative research projects in the UK and Finland, and a PhD from the University of Bath, I feel embedded within the wider European criminological research community. My doctoral research was funded by the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats (CREST) in the UK, focusing on online deviance and security-related threats.

Beyond research, I am deeply committed to fostering scholarly exchange and collaboration. Having studied and taught at multiple universities across Europe, I strongly identify as a European researcher and advocate for interdisciplinary and cross-border cooperation. As a board member of the ESC, I would actively promote criminological engagement with online deviance by organizing dedicated panels, facilitating research networks, and supporting emerging scholars in this field.

I would be honored to contribute to the organisation’s mission and help shape the future of European Criminology in a digital age.