Dr Georgios Papanicolaou

Associate Professor

School: Northumbria School of Law

Dr. Georgios Papanicolaou is Associate Professor at Northumbria Law School, UK. He has studied law and penal sciences at the University of Athens, Greece, and criminology and criminal justice at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Georgios's research has developed around the following themes:

the political economy of policing and security; the historical development, organisation and functions of the police in national and transnational context
the political economy of organised crime, studied in the context of various illegal markets, and particularly in the context of irregular migration, human smuggling and trafficking
policing, democracy and strategies for innovation and reform.

Key Publications

‘The jeopardy is immense’: Job Insecurity Among Civilian Police Staff in an English Police and Crime Commissioner’s Office, Robinson, P., Ramshaw, P., Papanicolaou, G. 1 Mar 2026, In: International Journal of Police Science and Management
Zemiology and Decoloniality: Panoptification of Victimhood and Epistemic Violence in Anti-trafficking Reporting, Papanicolaou, G., Dimou, E., Avi, B. 5 Jun 2026, Zemiology Beyond the Critique of Capitalism: Harm, Colonialism and Decolonisation, London, United Kingdom, Routledge
Constructing ‘indigenous people’ reproducing coloniality’s epistemic violence: a content analysis of the U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report, Boukli, A., Papanicolaou, G., Dimou, E. 30 Apr 2024, Modern slavery in global context, Bristol, Bristol University Press
The police in neoliberal Greece: Toward a radical confrontation?, Papanicolaou, G., Georgoulas, S. 26 May 2023, No Justice, no police?, Winchester, Zero Books
Young people and the police during the Covid-19 pandemic: the case of Greece, Papanicolaou, G., Giannaki, D. Oct 2023, Transitions on hold? How the Covid-19 pandemic affected young people’s transitions to autonomy, Strasbourg, France, Council of Europe and European Commission
“Νόμος και τάξη", αστυνομία και πολιτικά κόμματα μετά τις εκλογές του 2023, Papanicolaou, G. Dec 2023, In: Antigone: the question
Migration, trafficking and the Greek economy: A comment on ‘the trafficker next-door’, Papanicolaou, G., Antonopoulos, G. 19 Apr 2022, In: Anti-Trafficking Review
Greece’s Right-Wing Government Is Massively Expanding Police Powers, Papanicolaou, G., Rigakos, G. 3 Apr 2021
Migrant smuggling and ICT: Research advances, prospects and challenges, Papanicolaou, G., Diba, P., Antonopoulos, G. 7 Dec 2021, Research Handbook on International Migration and Digital Technology, Cheltenham, Edward Elgar
Η Ελλάδα ως εγκληματολογική πρόκληση: ένα ερευνητικό σχεδίασμα, Papanicolaou, G. 1 Jun 2021, In: Antigone: the question

Professional Activity

Invited talk: Human Traffickers and the Economy in Greece 2022

PGR Supervision

Jack Snell Police Governance in a ‘Northern’ Police Force Area: An Investigation into Police and Crime Commissioners and the Political and Organisational Dynamics of the Governance of the Police. Start Date: 01/10/2022

Further Information

Georgios is

elected member of the Board of the Greek Society for the Study of Crime and Social Control and member of the editorial collective of the Society's journal Antigone
member of the European Group for the Study of Deviance and Social Control and of the British Society of Criminology

Qualifications