My current research and publications focus on drugs and crime and their role in broader debates about trade, security, the state and health in Africa, China and globally. At the moment, I work on three related research areas all of which are theoretically linked by an interest in the role of ideas and policy transfer, ‘organised crime’, as well as the state and the illicit in the global South.

(1) Pharmaceuticals and their Regulation in the Global South. I have recently completed a British Academy-funded project on the politics of ‘fake prescription drugs’ in Nigeria and a Chinese government-funded project on China’s growing economic and political engagement with Africa in the pharmaceutical sector. I continue working and publishing in this area.

(2) Cannabis Africana. With colleagues in Bristol and Cape Town, I am working towards a history of cannabis use, trade and policy in Africa, which will culminate in a book monograph. As part of this work, I was based at the University of Cape Town in 2016 to conduct research on cannabis and crime in South Africa. In spring 2020 we are starting a new ESRC project on Cannabis and Development in Africa to further develop this research in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa.

(3) Politics of Organised Crime and Drugs in West Africa. I continue researching and publishing on the politics of illegal drugs, crime and policing in Africa. With colleagues in Ottawa and Ibadan, I am currently working on an ESRC project on Hidden Narratives of Organised Crime in West Africa, exploring the criminalisation of the trade in drugs and migration in Nigeria and Niger.