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Members
![miembros](https://crimina.umh.es/files/2023/10/miembros.jpg)
DIRECTOR
DEPUTY DIRECTOR
SECRETARY
MANAGEMENT AND ADMINISTRATION
Laura Gónzalez Gras. Graduated in Law and Master in Crime Analysis and Prevention. She is currently the administrative manager of all the centre’s own degrees at CRÍMINA.
María del Mar Ruíz Oliver. Graduated in Chemistry and Statistics. She is currently the administrative manager of all official master’s degrees and the doctoral programme at CRÍMINA.
Mº Victoria Fernandez Ruiz. Higher Technician in Administration and Finance and student of the Degree in Business Statistics. She currently assists with administrative tasks at the CRÍMINA Centre.
RESEARCHERS
Rebeca Bautista Ortuño. Professor in the Department of Health Psychology at Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH), Vice-Dean of Outreach for the Degree in Psychology. Her primary line of research is the analysis of compliance behaviour in different contexts within physical space and cyberspace, applying the scientific method and learning principles to address issues in other social science disciplines, such as Criminology.
Raquel Botía López. Predoctoral student at the CRÍMINA Centre at UMH. Graduated in Criminology and holds a Master’s in Crime Analysis and Prevention, and is the academic coordinator of this same master’s programme. Her research interests focus on social perceptions of crime, social networks and the internet, as well as criminal policy and cybercrime.
Jesús Carreras Aguerri. Doctor in Sociology and Master in Sociology of Public and Social Policies. Professor of Sociology at the University of Burgos and professor of the Degree in Public and Private Security and the Master’s in Crime Analysis and Prevention at Miguel Hernández University of Elche. His research interests focus on urban studies, gender studies, political violence, terrorism, and social stratification.
Francisco Javier Castro Toledo (C.A). Doctor in Criminology, with a degree and master’s in Philosophy. He is currently a professor of Criminal Law and Criminology in the Department of Legal Science at Miguel Hernández University and CEO and co-founder of Plus Ethics. His research interests focus on research designs in crime sciences, epistemology in social sciences, and ethical analysis applied to R&D.
Ainhoa Coloma Carmona. Assistant Professor at Miguel Hernández University of Elche in the area of Behavioural Sciences Methodology. Researcher at the Addictive Behaviours and Brief Intervention Unit of the Applied Psychology Centre at UMH.
Enrique Conejero Paz. Senior Lecturer at Miguel Hernández University of Elche in the area of Political Science and Public Administration. His research interests focus on public policies, social innovation, public administrations, and security.
Ignacio Díaz Castaño. Graduate and Master in Criminology. He is a researcher at the CRÍMINA Centre for the Study and Prevention of Crime and an associate professor at Miguel Hernández University of Elche. His research interests focus on cybercrime, transnational crime, and wildlife crime.
María Contreras Román. Doctor in Social and Legal Sciences from the University of Malaga. She has been a professor of Criminology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the University of Malaga, and Pompeu Fabra University. She is currently conducting postdoctoral research at CRÍMINA under the Margarita Salas Fellowship. Her research interests revolve around evaluating the effectiveness of the criminal justice system.
José Carlos Espigares Huete. Senior Lecturer at Miguel Hernández University of Elche in Commercial Law. Graduated in Law from the University of Granada. His research interests include credit guarantees and bankruptcy law.
Zoraida Esteve Bañón. (C.A). Doctor and Graduate in Criminology. She is Vice-Dean of the Degree in Public and Private Security (SEPP). She is also a professor in various master’s programmes and degrees at UMH. In recent years, she has specialised in studying violent crime, traffic crime, psychopathy, and hate speech on the internet.
Dra. Cordelia Estevez Casellas. (C.A). Professor in the Department of Health Psychology at Miguel Hernández University. Director of the Master’s in Criminological and Victimological Intervention at Miguel Hernández University and co-founder of Centro Cares. Her interests focus on studying and treating the impact of violence on the development of socio-emotional skills in minors.
Carlos Enrique Falces Delgado. Associate Professor at Miguel Hernández University of Elche in the field of Social Psychology. His research focuses on social cognition and its application to studying economic behaviour and consumer behaviour.
Braulio Figueiredo Alves da Silva. Doctor in Sociology and Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at the Federal University of Minas Gerais / UFMG. Researcher at the Centre for the Study of Criminality and Public Security – CRISP / UFMG and currently Maria Zambrano visiting scholar at CRÍMINA / UMH. His interests focus on applied criminological theory, developing public policies for violence prevention, victimisation, and criminal analysis.
Ana Belén Gómez-Bellvís (C.A.). Assistant Professor in Criminal Law. Graduated in Law and holds a Master’s in Criminological and Victimological Intervention from Miguel Hernández University of Elche. Her research interests focus on public opinion and its influence on criminal law and policy, evidence-based criminal policy, intuitions of justice, experimental philosophy, among others.
Rocío Martinez Almanza. Predoctoral student at UMH. Graduated in Social Work and Social Anthropology and holds a Master’s in Criminological and Victimological Intervention. Her research interests focus on social perceptions and attitudes towards prostitution, organised crime, drug trafficking, and the stigmatising impact on vulnerable groups of social research.
Esther Nanclares González. Predoctoral student at the CRÍMINA Centre. Graduated in Criminology and holds a Master’s in Criminality and Social Intervention with Minors. Her research interests focus on juvenile justice intervention and prevention. At the CRÍMINA Centre, she currently works as a researcher and secretary of the Master’s in Criminological and Victimological Intervention (MICv).
María del Carmen Ortiz del Valle. Vice-Dean of Law and Business Administration and Management (DADE). Head of the Projection Area of the Degree in Business Administration of the Faculty of Social and Legal Sciences of Elche.
Sandra Pérez Domínguez. Predoctoral student at the CRÍMINA Centre and UMH in collaboration with Plus Ethics. Graduated in Psychology and holds a Master’s in Criminological and Victimological Intervention. Researcher at the CRÍMINA Centre. Her research interests focus on the influence of biases, artificial intelligence, and digitalisation on public security, the prison system and justice, and the ethical implications of new digital tools in criminology.
Sara Sampayo Sande. Predoctoral student at the CRÍMINA Centre at UMH. Graduated in Criminology from the University of Santiago de Compostela and holds master’s degrees in Criminological and Victimological Intervention and Crime Analysis and Prevention from UMH. Her research interests focus on the influence of communication and social networks on crime perception and criminal policy.
Maria del Carmen Segura Cuenca (C.A). Doctor in Law, Politics and Justice. Associate Professor Political Science and Public Administration at Miguel Hernández University of Elche. Her publications and research focus on ageing policies, social participation, elections and political parties, public policies, and social innovation.
Esther Sitges Macia (C.A). Senior Lecturer at Miguel Hernández University of Elche in the area of Developmental and Educational Psychology and Director of the Comprehensive Programme for People Over 55 at Miguel Hernández University of Elche Her research interests focus on active ageing, vulnerability, and cybervictimisation in older adults..
Rosario Tur Ausina. Full Professor of Constitutional Law at Miguel Hernández University of Elche. Her research interests include multi-level constitutionalism; fundamental rights; constitutional justice and forms of government; the territorial model of the state; democracy and citizen participation; and gender equality.
ASSOCIATE RESEARCHERS
Dr. David Buil-Gil. Senior Lecturer in Quantitative Criminology, Open Research Leader in the Department of Criminology, and Academic Lead for Digital Technologies and Crime at the University of Manchester. He holds a PhD, a degree in Criminology from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, and a Master’s in Crime Analysis and Prevention from Miguel Hernández University of Elche. His research interests focus on the statistical analysis of crime data, measurement errors in crime data, new methods for data collection, and emotions and perceptions of crime.
Tobias Gretenkort. Predoctoral student in Hispanic Linguistics at RWTH Aachen University, with a degree in Hispanic and French Languages & Cultures and a Master’s in Cognitive Semiotics. He is currently a consultant in communication and linguistic competencies in Spain. His research interests include the development of experimental and computational methods and the applicability of linguistic methods in criminology.
Steven Kemp. Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Girona, collaborating lecturer with the UOC and the Institute of Public Safety of Catalonia, researcher in various projects, and translator. His main research areas are economic cybercrime, white-collar crime, and quantitative methods.
Alex Piquero. Professor and Chair of the Department of Sociology and Distinguished Scholar of Arts and Sciences at the University of Miami. He also holds other academic appointments, such as: Professor of Criminology at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia; Adjunct Professor at the Griffith Criminology Institute at Griffith University (Brisbane, Australia); Member of the Life Course Centre at the University of Queensland; and Member of the Corrections Institute at the University of Cincinnati. He has published over 400 scientific articles in the areas of criminal careers, crime prevention, criminological theory, and quantitative research methods. His work has been cited over 44,000 times (h-index=113) and he has been ranked as the number 1 criminologist in the world since 1996 in terms of academic publications in prestigious criminology/criminal justice journals.
Fernando Llorens Cobos. Senior Military Career Officer. Technical Engineer in Management IT. Master’s in Planning and Management of Natural Risks. Diploma in Operational Research. Lecturer in the Master’s in Crime Analysis and Prevention. His research interests focus on Environmental Criminology, Crime Mapping, and the collection and management of data for crime prevention purposes.
Nahikari Sanchez Herrero. Doctor in Criminology from Miguel Hernández University of Elche, with a degree in Criminology and a Master’s in Security. She is currently a lecturer in the Degree in Criminology as well as in various master’s programmes at UMH. Her research interests focus on the assessment and management of recidivism risk, the study and validation of risk assessment tools, the analysis of protective factors, theoretical criminology, and the evaluation of detection, prevention, and criminological intervention programmes.