People

Dr Samuel Singler

Lecturer
Department of Sociology and Criminology
Dr Samuel Singler

Profile

Biography

Samuel's research is situated within the field of Border Criminology and focuses on the effects of novel border security technologies on the global criminalization of migration. His empirical work on the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) capacity-building practices in Nigeria illuminates how and why security technologies diffuse across and through borders, how they shape contemporary ‘crimmigration’ policies, and how they are deployed and contested on the ground. He has also made theoretical contributions to the study of technology from a criminological perspective, by combining insights from the tradition of pragmatism with the theory of performativity. Samuel holds a DPhil in Criminology and MPhil in International Relations from the University of Oxford. Prior to taking up his current position, he worked as a Departmental Lecturer in Criminology at the Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford. He has also worked as a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Law and the University of Roehampton. Outside of academia, Samuel has been employed as an independent border management consultant for the IOM, and has research experience from organizations such as RAND Europe and the Cambridge University Forum on Geopolitics. In 2022, he contributed to a report on the use of biometric technologies in the humanitarian sector published by The Engine Room. Since 2020, he has acted as an Associate Director for Events of the Border Criminologies network.

Qualifications

  • DPhil in Criminology University of Oxford,

  • MPhil in International Relations University of Oxford,

  • BA in International Relations Queen Mary University of London,

Appointments

University of Essex

  • Criminology degrees coordinator, University of Essex (1/9/2023 - present)

  • Director of Admissions, Department of Sociology and Criminology, University of Essex (1/9/2024 - present)

Other academic

  • Research Associate, Centre for Criminology, University of Oxford (19/6/2023 - present)

Teaching and supervision

Current teaching responsibilities

  • Crime, Control, and the City (SC102)

  • Formative Debates in Criminology (SC555)

  • PhD Colloquium 1: Defining Your Research (SC800)

  • Migration: Theory, Concepts and Selected Issues (SC982)

Publications

Journal articles (4)

Singler, S., (2024). “Do It Yourself!” Pedagogical Performances, Technical Expertise, and Crimmigration Control in the IOM’s Capacity-Building Practices in Nigeria. Geopolitics, 1-25

Singler, S. and Babalola, O., (2024). Digital Colonialism Beyond Surveillance Capitalism? Coloniality of Knowledge in Nigeria's Emerging Privacy Rights Legislation and Border Surveillance Practices. Social and Legal Studies

Singler, S., (2023). Performativity, Pragmatism and Border Control Technologies: Democratising the Ontologies of Border Criminology. International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy. 12 (2), 13-24

Singler, S., (2021). Biometric statehood, transnational solutionism and security devices: The performative dimensions of the IOM’s MIDAS. Theoretical Criminology. 25 (3), 454-473

Book chapters (2)

Singler, S. and SingIer, S., (2023). Peripheral parliament: Sovereignty, Indigenous rights and political representation in the architecture of the Sámi Parliament of Finland. In: Parliament Buildings: The Architecture of Politics in Europe. Editors: Psarra, S., Staiger, U. and Sternberg, C., . UCL Press. 391- 406

Singler, S. and Bosworth, M., (2022). A Mundane Spectacle? (In)visibility, Normalisation and State Power in the UK's Migrant Escorting Contract. In: Privatising Border Control Law at the Limits of the Sovereign State. Editors: Bosworth, M. and Zedner, L., . Oxford University Press. 170- 188. 0192857169. 9780192857163

Reports and Papers (1)

Tsui, Q., Perosa, T. and Singler, S., (2023). Biometrics in the humanitarian sector: A current look at risks, benefits and organisational policies

Contact

samuel.singler@essex.ac.uk

Location:

6.343, Colchester Campus

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