POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER
DR THOM SNAPHAAN
Thom is a postdoctoral researcher in the BIGDATPOL research project. He obtained a PhD in Criminological Sciences (Ghent University, 2023), a MSc in Safety Sciences (University of Antwerp, 2016) and a BBA in Integrated Safety and Security Management (Avans University of Applied Sciences, 2013).
Thom has conducted research on the epistemological, methodological and empirical aspects of big data, and applied the obtained knowledge in practice while he worked for Dutch law enforcement. Currently, he combines his parttime appointment within BIGDATPOL with a position as an associate professor at Avans University of Applied Sciences.
“This project feels like an applied research project that naturally flows from my PhD research. In my PhD research I explored how new and emerging data sources can be used to measure theoretically relevant concepts from environmental criminology. That is the subdomain in criminology that studies the how and why of spatiotemporal crime concentrations. In this project, we apply the knowledge obtained from my PhD research to guide street-level police work by predicting crime risks. I think we are different than other predictive policing projects and applications in the sense that our research is heavily theory-driven. Our research group has a well-established foundation in environmental criminology.”
