Cathy Haenlein is an interdisciplinary leader directing high-impact research in the think-tank sector, with a proven record shaping global decision-making on organised crime, illicit finance, environmental crime and corruption.
She is currently Director of Organised Crime and Policing Studies at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI). Here, she founded two pioneering programmes: the first department on crime and policing in RUSI's 180-year history, and its inaugural environmental security initiative, both instrumental in expanding the Institute's global reach and impact.
Her research explores the multilayered threat posed by serious and organised crime, including the shifting intersections between transnational criminal markets, licit economies and other threat areas. She is a recognised subject-matter expert in organised crime, illicit trade, corruption, natural resource governance and environmental security.
Cathy has authored over 75 research-led publications on these topics: 25+ peer-reviewed papers, 50+ short-form articles and the 2016 book 'Poaching, Wildlife Trafficking and Security in Africa'. She has presented insights at some of the world’s most influential platforms, including the UN, G7, G20 and OECD. Her research has wide reach and impact across scholarly, government and media circles, with commentary and insight featuring in the BBC, Economist, Guardian, BBC, New York Times and Financial Times, among others.
Cathy has extensive experience delivering complex research programmes relating to crime and insecurity worldwide. She has established a proven record in securing major international research funding from governments, foundations and the private sector, having raised over £10 million for pioneering research targeting critical gaps in the global evidence base.
Before RUSI, she spent five years living and working in Italy, including on European journals on EU–African relations, with a focus on migration and organised immigration crime, and a year working in southern Madagascar in the international development sector. She holds an MSc (distinction) in African Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, with a focus on crime, conflict and governance. She holds a first-class BA (Hons) in Social Sciences (Criminology, Geography, Politics).
RECENT PUBLICATIONS
Cathy Haenlein (ed), 'Special Issue: The Changing Face of Organised Crime', RUSI Journal (Vol. 141, No. 4, June 2026).
Guest edited special issue of the flagship RUSI Journal, bringing together leading experts to examine how crime is evolving in a period of technological disruption, geopolitical competition and profound changes in the international order. The collection considers how key institutions are responding, and whether existing analytical and operational frameworks remain fit for purpose in 2026. Against a backdrop of fragmented geopolitics and hybrid threats, the contributions reflect a shared concern that organised crime is no longer adequately captured by the prevailing policy and academic vocabulary, with many of our collective approaches struggling to account for the polycriminality, hybrid features and digitally enabled criminal ecosystems that characterise today’s threat environment. The special issue therefore asks a foundational question: do existing frameworks continue to illuminate the dynamics of contemporary organised crime, or are they increasingly obscuring them?
Guest edited special issue of the flagship RUSI Journal, bringing together leading experts to examine how crime is evolving in a period of technological disruption, geopolitical competition and profound changes in the international order. The collection considers how key institutions are responding, and whether existing analytical and operational frameworks remain fit for purpose in 2026. Against a backdrop of fragmented geopolitics and hybrid threats, the contributions reflect a shared concern that organised crime is no longer adequately captured by the prevailing policy and academic vocabulary, with many of our collective approaches struggling to account for the polycriminality, hybrid features and digitally enabled criminal ecosystems that characterise today’s threat environment. The special issue therefore asks a foundational question: do existing frameworks continue to illuminate the dynamics of contemporary organised crime, or are they increasingly obscuring them?