CORE RESEARCH TEAM

VIRTEU

Vat fraud: Interdisciplinary Research on Tax crimes in the European Union
(Grant Agreement no: 878619)

VIRTEU Core Research Team, that is led by Dr. Costantino Grasso, is composed of highly-qualified academics and research assistants. The team is tasked with developing and answering the project questions; gathering, systematising and analysing all the data collected; and preparing the deliverables of the project.

 PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR 

Dr. Costantino Grasso

Dr Costantino Grasso is Associate Professor (Reader) in Business and Law at Manchester Law School and Global Module Leader for Corporate Governance and Ethics at the University of London. His areas of expertise are economic crime, corporate governance, and corporate social responsibility. Costantino serves as an international expert in the area of corruption, good governance, and tax crimes for the Council of Europe and is included as an expert in the anti-corruption Knowledge Hub of Transparency International. He is also a member of the Society for Business Ethics (USA) and the Editor in Chief of the Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics Blog. He is has published papers in the area of corporate crime and corruption, and he is the co-author of the volume "Fighting Fraud and Corruption at the World Bank." 

 CO-INVESTIGATOR 

Dr. Lorenzo Pasculli

Dr Lorenzo Pasculli is Associate Head for Research at Coventry Law School and Associate of the Centre for Financial and Corporate Integrity at Coventry University. He is also Sessional Lecturer in Conflict, Crime and Justice and Law and Professional Ethics for Science and Technology at Imperial College London. He is the founding Director of the Global Integrity Research Network. His main research interests are the globalisation of crime, crime prevention and criminal justice. He has been visiting researcher at many institutions in the UK and overseas, including Oxford University, Queen's University Belfast, Columbia University, Fordham University, University of Adelaide, Florida International University and Bahcesehir Universitesi Istanbul. Lorenzo has recently co-edited the collections of scientific chapters "Corruption in the Global Era" and "Corruption, Integrity and the Law." 

 RESEARCH ASSISTANT 

Engin Erken

Captain Erken is a PhD candidate at the Research Centre for Financial and Corporate Integrity at Coventry University. He used to be a lecturer in criminalistics at Gendarmerie and Coast Guard Academy, Turkey, teaching how to identify illegal criminal conducts, including pecuniary offences. His current research focuses on law enforcement practices in countering financial crimes with a specific interest in preventing money laundering and its underlying predicate crimes, including tax evasion and corruption.

 RESEARCH ASSISTANT 

Stephen Holden

Stephen Holden is currently a PhD candidate at the Centre for Financial and Corporate Integrity of Coventry University. His research has a specific focus on empowering whistleblowing. Having achieved an LLB (Hons) from the University of Lincoln, Stephen went on to complete a master’s degree in Law and Human Rights at Distinction level from the University of Kent. Stephen has extensive experience working within the public sector, including developing care pathways for mental health and elective care, and project management on a regional level within the NHS.

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