Elza Veldhuizen

Elza Veldhuizen has a Masters degree in International Crimes, Conflict and Criminology from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and a Bachelor’s degree from University College Utrecht in Sociology and Psychology with a minor in Cognitive Neuroscience. During her studies, she focused on the nexus between conflict and organised crime, conducting research including on human trafficking in the Philippines as a result of the Southern Insurgencies Conflict and the terror-crime nexus in Nigeria and Colombia.

Furthermore, Elza has worked at Mercy Corps where she focused on the conflict aspect of her studies, particularly in the field of on communications and supporting with policy and advocacy. In addition she has interned at the Cambridge Centre for Applied research on Human Trafficking and The Hague Humanity Hub.

Elza has published research on the Nexus between Human Trafficking and Organised Crime and has also spoken as a guest lecturer at the Human Trafficking course at Utrecht University. She has further built upon this lecturing experience with her work for The Profs and Scriptiemaster where she taught university students studying criminology.

At IPS, Elza Veldhuizen is assigned to the Radicalisation, Violent Extremism and Organised Crime portfolio.