Hi there!
I’m Margit Averdijk, a social scientist with a PhD in criminology. People often wonder what a criminologist does, thinking that it must have something to do with CSI. It doesn’t, but it’s just as interesting… My work mainly involves doing research, mostly on victims of crime, crime prevention, youth violence, and the development of violent behavior across the life course, but I’m generally interested in anything criminology-related.
I created this website to share the latest research findings on criminology and crime prevention. You’ll find videos / podcasts, online courses, and links to criminology resources here. My goal is to make criminological findings more accessible, also to those without criminological backgrounds.
More details about me: I started learning about criminology and crime prevention about 20 years ago in college. I did my Masters in public policy at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, then briefly worked as a crime analyst at a police department. After this, I completed my PhD at the VU University in Amsterdam (NSCR institute), and currently work at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. I am also an affiliate of the Violence Research Centre at the University of Cambridge. I’ve also completed research stays at the University of Missouri – St. Louis, the University of Pittsburgh, and the University of Cambridge. I’ve written reports for or been part of advisory committees for the World Health Organization (WHO), the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, the German Ministry of Education and Research, and the Swiss Ministry of Social Insurances. My work has been published in top ranked journals such as Criminology, Child Development, the Journal of Quantitative Criminology, and the Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency.
If you’re interested in learning more about my research, please find links to my profiles below:
If there’s a specific topic you’d like to see me cover on this website, please feel free to shoot me a message via the “contact” page or e-mail (margit [at] criminologyweb.com) anytime.
Thanks for visiting this website!