Meet the Management
Dr. Dana Segev
Founder & Executive Director
Dana Segev is a researcher and Executive Director at Scopium. Her expertise lies in analysing the impact of cultural, socio-economic, and political mechanisms on individuals. She holds a Doctorate in the Social Sciences (Law School) from the University of Sheffield, an MSc from the University of Oxford (Research Methods in Criminology and Criminal Justice), and a BA from Monash University.
She published a book (monograph) with Routledge based on her PhD findings, as well as co-authored an edited book in criminology, along with other journal articles publications. She judges book proposals and journal articles prior to their publications.
Dana taught research methods to both undergraduates and graduates university students and have experience of utilising innovative approaches to data collection and analysis, qualified in both qualitative and quantitative methods. She was a visiting fellow at Sutherland School of Law, University College Dublin and a researcher at Nuffield College, University of Oxford. She is a research consultant and member of the Advisory Committee at AAPUK and hold a sit at the Global advisory council for ISTJ.
Dr. Alex Chung
Partner
Alex Chung is Partner at Scopium. He holds a Doctorate in Law and an MPhil and MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from Oxford University. He is the author of two monographs: Chinese Criminal Entrepreneurs in Canada, Book I and Book II. His work has been featured in the Discovery Channel, Toronto Life, La Presse and Wired, among others.
He is a member of the World Economic Forum Experts Network (in the areas of Future of the Digital Economy and Society, Justice and Illicit Economy); the International Law Association and its Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR); the UK Research Institute for Sociotechnical Cyber Security (RISCS); the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime Network (GI-TOC); and the Strategic Hub for Organised Crime Research (SHOC). He regularly contributes to expert consultations that help shape public policies and develop policy toolkits, including the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the Cullen Commission, and the Global Organized Crime Index.
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Prior to Scopium, he was a Consumer Policy and Law Expert and Research Consultant at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD); an Honorary Lecturer and Research Fellow in the Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (STEaPP) at University College London (UCL); and an Institute Fellow at RISCS.
Meet our Experts
Dr. Marina Aksenova
Dr. Marina Aksenova is Assistant Professor in Comparative and International Criminal Law at IE University in Madrid. She previously held positions at the University of Copenhagen, Central European University, European University Institute, UN International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and White & Case LLC. She holds degrees from Oxford University, University of Amsterdam, and International University in Moscow. Dr. Aksenova’s research focuses on the intersection of art, aesthetics and international justice, as well as the definitional aspects of comparative and international criminal law. Her book Complicity in International Criminal Law (Hart, 2016) won Paul Guggenheim award for contribution in the field of International law. Dr. Aksenova is running the Art and International Justice Initiative.
Dr. Moran Benisty
Dr. Moran Benisty has worked both in the public and the private sector, conducting psycho-social assessments, writing criminological reports, and constructing rehabilitation programs for prisoners' various needs, including judicial processes and parole committees. Dr. Moran Benisty is also a lecturer in several academic institutions in Israel, teaching criminology-related topics in Hebrew and English. She undertook her education at Bar Ilan University and was a visiting scholar at the Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge. Her skills include: high levels of classroom management and lecturing; online content delivery; PowerPoint; supporting materials; exam writing; curriculum development; faculty collaboration; group and individual instruction; academic research and academic writing. Dr. Moran Benisty’s research interests include: positive criminology; "collateral consequences of imprisonment"; prisoners' families; intersectionality; rehabilitation; and more.
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Dr. Ruwani Fernando
Dr. Ruwani Fernando is a lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University, in England. Her doctoral studies were carried out at the University of Sheffield. Her PhD, entitled ‘Comparing Desistance Processes: A Cross-National Analysis of English and French Narratives’ explores experiences, perspectives of change in desisting men, supervised on probation in the two countries. She also holds an MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Edinburgh. Her expertise and interests lie in life after crime, experiences of community sentences, the third sector’s involvement in rehabilitative efforts of the criminal justice system and international perspectives and comparisons of crime and justice. She is particularly interested in topics related to opportunities and barriers to change, including criminal record checks, training, education, employment and self-employment of people with convictions.
Professor Stan Gilmour
Professor Stan Gilmour is a former senior police officer with 30 years’ experience of intelligence, national security, public protection, and community safety, working in policy and practice, he is now an international researcher and change consultant. Based in Oxfordshire, UK, Stan is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA) and is the national Risk Technology Lead in the Office for the Chief Scientific Advisor to the National Police Chief’s Council. He holds a master’s in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Oxford and is a Professor of Practice at the University of Keele where he promotes evidence based policing and public health collaborations for prevention and is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter where he promotes interdisciplinary collaboration to prevent people with neurodisabilities and neurodivergent needs from criminalization and is an International Consultant for a review of how brain sciences can inform UN Member States of ways to prevent the criminalisation of children, a point he discusses with the Global Initiative on Justice with Children at the World Congress on Justice with Children. Stan is also a Senior Research Associate with the Police Foundation (UK) and, working with the Chief Scientific Adviser to the UK’s National Police Chiefs Council, Stan is the UK lead for Risk Technology (technology, data, research and analysis to promote collaboration and prevent harm).
During his time as the Director of the Thames Valley Violence Reduction Unit, Stan established a collaborative data cloud platform and governance structure, including an independent Data Ethics Committee to support a ‘whole of society’ approach to place-based change, this programme is now being rolled-out across the UK (read more about improving the value of data in Stan’s Royal Society for Public health blog). Stan is a long-standing member of the UK’s Police and Health working group and Chairs their Evidence and Evaluation subgroup and is a co-convenor of two of the Global Law Enforcement and Public Health’s Special Interest Groups, on Violence prevention and on neurodisablity. Stan is an International Consultant with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, an International Adviser for the journal to the European Standing Group on Organised Crime, and has recently contributed, as a subject matter expert, to the United Nations’ Toolkit for gender-mainstreaming to tackle Transnational Organized Crime, in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. Stan has made a wide contribution through operational guidance and capacity building advice, book chapters and journal articles (Orcid 0000-0002-6755-6842, Scopus 57206230072) and as an editor of three volumes examining Organized Crime and Politics (Edward Elgar 2019) and Transnational Organized Crime (Routledge 1ed 2012, 2ed 2021). In 2022, he was awarded the Home Secretary’s Commendation for an outstanding contribution in the field of home affairs.
Dr. Kruakae Pothong
Dr Kruakae Pothong is a Visiting fellow at LSE, Department of Media and Communications and a researcher at 5Rights. Her current research focuses on children’s education data and child-centred design of digital services. Her broader research interests span the areas of human-computer interaction, digital ethics, data protection, Internet and other related policies. Dr Pothong specialises in designing social-technical research, using deliberative methods to elicit human values and expectations of technological advances, such as the Internet of Things (IoT) and distributed ledgers. The value of these deliberative methods lies in its use of people’s experience with familiar technologies as a bridge, connecting people with the less familiar or emerging technologies, so that they can meaningfully contribute to and engage in the development of these emerging technologies. She has applied these methods across various application areas, such as agriculture, ambient environment, electricity generation and consumption management, and worked with various user groups, including young people, adults and people with hearing loss.
Gustavo Solorzano
Before joining Scopium, Gustavo held leadership roles in several startups focused on telematics, agribusiness, food, renewable energy, and social enterprise. Early in his career, he held key executive positions overseeing new product and business development, strategy, and marketing at multinational companies such as Alfa.
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Gustavo earned his BSc in Biochemical Engineering from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and an MBA with honours from Harvard Business School. He presently holds the position of President at the Harvard Business School Club.
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As an industry leader in innovation, strategy, and growth, Gustavo leverages his professional career and international experiences to elucidate the essence of innovation. He offers practical tools and frameworks to assist innovators in bringing their ideas to the market. In particular, he provides expertise and guidance on internationalization for small business, strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship, including identifying disruptive trends for competitive advantage through a sustainable lens and coaching skill development and empowerment with an emphasis on a human-centric approach to the use of technology.
Denis Sop, Dr.(c)
Denis Sop is a renowned Transformation Leader with a track record of leading large-scale organizational change across various industries worldwide. He has successfully led financial, operational, and strategic transformations for notable blue-chip and private equity-backed organizations, making significant contributions to the fields of transformation, leadership, and strategy in both the private and public sectors.
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Denis’ professional expertise is equally complemented by several advanced degrees underpinned by a profound interest in the fields of behavioural science and transformational leadership, including an INSEAD/Wharton MBA (as a Scholar) and a Harvard University MPA (as an Andrónico Lukšić Abaroa Fellow & Scholar). His academic journey has equipped him to bridge the gap between the public and private sectors, aiming to drive positive societal transformation.
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Whilst at Harvard, Denis also served as a Research Fellow at Harvard Business School (Doctoral); and received the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Teaching for contributions at the cutting-edge of innovation in his role as a Postgraduate Research & Teaching Fellow, specializing in organizational behaviour, transformation, and leadership. Post-graduation, his association with Harvard continued in various capacities, including currently serving as an Undergraduate College Admissions Interviewer (Harvard Schools & Scholarship Committee), and as a Faculty Research Consultant. In the latter role, his research contributed to a Harvard Centre for Leadership Faculty book (focussed on societal, organisational, and individual transformation) that achieved global recognition as one of the final six shortlisted (out of 600) for the Financial Times and McKinsey Global Business Book of the Year Award (2021). As a Harvard-certified Social & Behavioural Research Investigator, Denis’ doctoral (DBA) research interests span both micro (individual) and macro (firm) organizational behaviour, examining the intricate interactions and complexities between individual-level behaviours and broader organizational structures and processes, with a particular focus on leadership dynamics, assessment, and development.
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Denis is also the co-founder of a UK knowledge advancement organization, where he established the "View from Top" leadership series, hosting and interviewing influential global leaders such as Mark Tucker (Chair of HSBC & The City UK) and Sir John McFarlane (Chair of Barclays) at the LSE and Kings College London – he leads thought-provoking discussions on pressing global issues, from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), global economic progress, corporate social responsibility, emerging markets, to finance, AI, transformation, and governance.
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Outside the corporate world, Denis actively contributes to global community initiatives and has supported various organizations, including Oxfam, upReach UK, DOXA Australia, to rolling up his sleeves in Zimbabwe on several community and conservation initiatives, working with schools, orphan outreach, and engaging first-hand with lions as part of lion rehabilitation projects in partnership with African Lion & Environmental Research Trust.
Dr. Eno Trimçev
Eno Trimçev is a Fellow in Political Theory and History of Ideas at the University of Greifswald. He has previously taught at CODE University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, The New School in New York, and Leuphana University in Germany. Dr. Trimçev holds degrees from Oxford University, London School of Economics & Political Science, and the University of Calgary in political theory, comparative politics & economics. His research focuses on ideology studies, democratic theory, political foundings, and classical political thought.
Eno Trimçev has also directed the Albanian Institute for International Studies (AIIS) with an emphasis on European integration, democratization, and international cooperation in the Western Balkans and he has authored the Albania country report for Freedom House’s Nations in Transit.
Dr. Milena Tripkovic
Milena Tripkovic is a Lecturer at Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh and (from January 2023) Associate Director for Internationalisation of the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR). Previously, she has taught at the University of Birmingham, University of Kent, and University of Novi Sad. She obtained her PhD and MRes degrees in Political and Social Sciences from the European University Institute, MSc in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Oxford, and MPhil and LLB degrees from the University of Novi Sad. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. During her PhD studies, Milena was a Visiting Global Scholar at the New York University and a Visiting Doctoral Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law. In line with her diverse educational background, Milena has researched various issues associated with crime and punishment. Her current research, which examines contemporary restrictions to citizenship rights of criminal offenders, is situated at the intersection of law, criminology and normative political theory and explores the issues of punishment, citizenship, and community. She is currently examining various ways through which modern democracies renounce their citizens and is, in particular, interested in exposing the propensity of such actions to create neo-colonial forms of global penalty.
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Her book Punishment and Citizenship: A Theory of Criminal Disenfranchisement (Oxford University Press, 2019) is an original account of the normative validity of restrictions to electoral rights of criminal offenders, which shifts the debate from penal theory towards more fundamental problems of citizenship and belonging. The book is part of OUP’s most prestigious criminal law series, Studies in Penal Theory and Philosophy. Her more recent publications have appeared in journals such as British Journal of Criminology, Punishment and Society, and Howard Journal of Crime and Justice. Milena has previously researched and published on topics such as prison conditions and prisoner rights, restorative and transitional justice, hate crimes and problems associated with crime and punishment of female offenders.
Dr. Ying Yu
Director of the Digital Trust Cluster
Dr. Ying Yu is the Director of the Digital Trust Cluster at Scopium. She has a PhD in International Law from Wuhan University. She is a Member of the International Protection of Consumer Committee of the International Law Association.
She is an international commercial lawyer by training. Based on the knowledge gained from practicing, researching, and teaching international trade, e-commerce, maritime law, and private international law, she has been extending her research interests to emerging issues in the digital economy and consumer empowerment. Her research focuses on trust building in digital economy, in particular on consumer protection and MSMEs, fintech and financial services, cross-border transactions and ADR and ODR.
She has experience working as an international civil servant at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). She has led the research of the UNCTAD project ‘Digitalized Trading Infrastructure to Improve International Trade and Electronic Commerce’ (DODR). The project centered on the development and implementation of new technologies in dispute resolution to build trust in B2C e-commerce and deliver justice to consumers. At UNCTAD, she has made major substantive contributions to the revision of the United Nations Guideline for Consumer Protection between 2012 and 2015, and the UN Manual on Consumer Protection published in 2017. Her research has also been adopted by OECD recommendations.
As a former Stipendiary Research Fellow at the Faculty of Law, University of Oxford between 2012 and 2020, she was the Founding Director of the Consumer Rights Beyond Boundaries Programme and the Co-Director of the Digital Economy and Society Programme. At Oxford, she coordinated UNCTAD’s Research Partnership Platform Project ‘Best Practices of Consumer Redress’. She also founded the Research Centre for Policy and Law on Global Consumer Protection in Wuhan University in 2013, the first of its kind in China.
