Peter Stiernstedt
My name is Peter Stiernstedt, I was born on Sri Lanka, raised in Sweden and educated in the United Kingdom. As a person I am very much the embodiment of a stereotypical Swede. I am always on time (or a few minutes early), quite meticulous and have good attention to detail. These personal traits have certainly facilitated my work as a management consultant where I have successfully managed several multinational projects. I also have previous board experience having served two years as a board member for ASIS Sweden (the second largest ASIS chapter in Europe). My educational background spans from physics to security management, and most recently criminology. I started my doctoral studies in 2015 and was awarded my PhD by the University of Portsmouth in May this year. Before and parallel to my academic journey I have also worked as a Management Consultant for little over a decade; focusing on Risk, Security and Crisis Solutions for both corporate and private clients worldwide. Both my work and education has provided me with extensive experience, knowledge and insight into areas such as Risk Management, Anti-Fraud and Corruption strategies, Business Continuity and Crisis Management. I have been responsible for budgets and to deliver, explain and justify ROI and KPI making me highly Business Oriented with a keen sense of using my skills to create an Organisational Competitive Advantage. Thus, I have a business acumen that Could be put to good use as a member of the Executive board of the ESC.
I joined the ESC in 2016 and have with great pleasure attended the yearly conferences since. I believe that partly this is because I in a sense have many of the classical traits of a scholar, an inquisitive mind coupled with a sharp intellect capable of creative and lateral thinking. My PhD research was aimed at developing an underlying theory of the perception of corruption in the Member States of the EU, titled “The SUM of ALL corruption – a Grounded Theory of corruption perceptions”. The thematic interest in corruption still remains and I am currently doing research into fraud and corruption in the Healthcare sector. Another large academic interest is that of private security and policing. Co-written with Mark Button under the auspices of the ICJS at the University of Portsmouth the two articles “Comparing private security regulation in the European Union” and “The evolution of security industry regulation in the European Union” was both published in 2016 in the top criminological journals; Policing and Society, and International Journal of Comparative and Applied Criminal Justice, respectively. My approach to research is highly structured (perhaps as a result of my background I physics). This has served me well in a research environment with ever-increasing complexity – to maintain focus while multitasking students, meetings and the challenges of everyday life. These organisational skills will help me contribute to the ESC Executive board, being able to properly prioritise and manage time to significantly contribute to the work of the board.
Moreover, as most academics, I also teach. The taught modules that I deliver range from introduction to criminology for undergraduates all the way to advanced criminological theory at masters level. I have also developed an optional module available to both students of criminology and law called “Understanding and Preventing Corruption”. On top of doing research and teaching I am also frequently participating in other scholarly activities, such as attending and presenting at conference. In October 2018 I was invited keynote speaker at the International Industrial Security Conference in Seoul, South Korea, and in June this year I presented at the 9th Counter Fraud and Forensic Accounting Conference. I consider networking to be a crucial part of Academia, which is one of the reasons that I want to join the board of the ESC, to contribute to this end. Also, in my experience working in the private sector, engaging with corporations, NGO’s and other organisations – networking has always been fundamental. Networking requires communication and I speak three languages (almost) fluently and enjoy collaborating with people from all over the world. As a result, I am a highly social person and love to interact with other people, colleagues, friends and family. Coming from a multicultural background and having lived in several European countries I have a profound understanding and respect for diversity and inclusivity. It is for these reasons (and probably some more) that I am convinced that the ESC Executive board would be value added with me as part of the team.
Yours sincerely,
Peter Stiernstedt