In order to combat crime, collaboration between public and private parties is very important, particularly with the increasing digitalisation. Researcher and lecturer Sanne Boes of the Cybersafety professorship conducts research into this collaboration and makes the knowledge gained available to those working in the field.

“I studied criminology at the University of Leiden, after which I worked as a researcher at the Police Academy. Since 2012 I have been working at the Cybersafety professorship, first as a PhD student and now as a lecturer and researcher. My work includes collaborating in the research project Teenage Crimefighters on the Internet. My most important research subject, which is also my doctoral research, is the public-private collaboration between investigating authorities and ‘others’, for example banks.”

Necessity of collaboration

“It is interesting to see how the public-private collaboration takes form in practice whilst legislation cannot actually sufficiently accommodate this yet. And due to the digitalisation, the necessity of collaboration is only becoming greater, as is the importance of adequate legislation.
Translating scientific research into a practical product is a considerable challenge. The thing I like the most about practically-oriented research is resolving problems that arise in the field by using scientific knowledge, and making this knowledge available for those working in the field.”