News / Research
Funding secured for major study on crime and asset seizures
Researchers at UWE Bristol have secured £90,000 from the National Crime Agency and the Home Office to examine how asset recovery can deter offenders and disrupt organised crime networks.
The 15-month project, led by Dr Amber Phillips with support from Dr Jonathan Gilbert and Dr Ian Walmsley, will assess how seizing criminal assets influences offender behaviour.
It is funded entirely through the Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS), which reinvests money recovered from crime into further enforcement and prevention work.
Asset recovery can involve confiscating items used in crimes – such as vehicles used to smuggle drugs – and auctioning them, with proceeds compensating victims or returning to the public purse.
Dr Amber Phillips, a senior lecturer in criminology at UWE Bristol leads the 13-month research project – photo: UWE Bristol
Where assets are believed to be the proceeds of crime but are not linked to a conviction, the National Crime Agency can pursue them using civil recovery and tax powers under the Proceeds of Crime Act.
Government figures show £284.5m was recovered through confiscation, forfeiture and civil recovery orders in the year to March 2025.
Dr Phillips said the project would help broaden the evidence base for asset recovery interventions and support more targeted policy responses to economic crime.
She said: “Using the proceeds of crime to contribute to positive social change is something I’ve been passionate about throughout my career, so I’m especially excited that this project will be funded through ARIS.
The new research project was commissioned to examine how asset recovery can deter offenders and disrupt organised crime networks – photo: Martin Booth
“As a team, our hope is that this work will contribute to broadening the evidence base for asset recovery interventions and help lay the foundations for future work on this topic, building on UWE’s growing reputation for research on economic crime.”
Sal Melki of the National Crime Agency added that understanding how asset recovery affects criminal behaviour would enable law enforcement to develop more effective interventions.
Main photo: NCA
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