Tom Vander Beken is a lawyer and a criminologist with a PhD in law. Currently, he is a full professor in Criminology and Criminal Law and director of the Institute for International Research on Criminal Policy (IRCP) within the Department of Criminology, Criminal Law and Social Law of the Faculty of Law and Criminology at Ghent University. He is spokesman and promoter of the Ghent University Interdisciplinary Research Consortium Crime, Criminology and Criminal Policy (IDC CCCP). He developed several research lines in criminology and criminal justice focusing on organized crime, prison systems, and criminal justice issues in an international and comparative perspective. Many of his studies take a special focus on vulnerable persons (mentally ill offenders, asylum seekers, victims,…)

Tom Vander Beken and his team have developed a growing interest and expertise in interdisciplinary research on (mental) health, geographical criminology, and sexual abuse. The research designs applied consist of both state of the art quantitative and qualitative methodologies.