Annette Hübschle

Senior Research Fellow

Room 6.23 - Kramer Law Building

Dr Annette Hübschle is a senior research fellow in the Global Risk Governance programme in the Public Law Department at the University of Cape Town. She is responsible for the Global Risk Governance programme’s Environmental and Planetary Futures research group. Her research group is currently conducting research on illegal flows of collectable wildlife (the TRANSFORM project: a five-year project funded by the European Research Council), COVID-19 impacts on the wildlife economy of southern Africa  (USAID Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER) grant) and design principles for pragmatic conservation. She is also part of a multi-disciplinary international consortium undertaking research into the intersectionality of wildlife trafficking and biosafety from zoonotic pathogens.

Annette holds a PhD in Social Sciences and Economics from the International Max Planck Research School on the Social and Political Constitution of the Economy and the University of Cologne and a Master of Philosophy in Criminology from the University of Cape Town. While studying towards her PhD, Annette was a member of the Illegal Markets research group at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Germany. In the past, Annette worked as a senior researcher for the Institute for Security Studies, a pan-African applied policy institute. She led and conducted research into organised crime and terrorist financing in Africa. Annette has worked as a researcher, consultant, and practitioner on a variety of organised crime, environmental security, and broader African security issues. She also acts as a senior research advisor to the Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime and is a member of the South African Department of Environmental Affairs-appointed task force against wildlife poisoning, the IUCN Green Criminology Specialist Group, IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy and IUCN Species Survival Commission on Sustainable Use and Livelihoods Group, Environmental Restorative Justice Network and several academic and policy review boards.

Teaching and Supervision

Annette supervises Masters and PhD students in the Law Faculty and teaches seminars on wildlife crime, securitisation and community-based conservation.

Research Interests

Annette Hübschle’s current research focuses on the governance of safety and security with a specific focus on the structure and functioning of illegal markets, environmental restorative justice and natural resource extraction (especially oil and gas) and the illegal wildlife trade, as well as the interface between licit and illicit economies and criminal networks. 

Publications (recent)

Annette and Clifford Shearing are working on a joint book project that explores why African rural communities might participate in illegal and legal wildlife economies and how alternative, community-oriented strategies can build community resilience against organised wildlife crimes. Governing wildlife security: Towards pragmatic conservation will be published by Routledge in 2023.

Books

Book Chapters

Reports

Journal Articles

Teaching Module

Hübschle, A. 2022.  Sustainable livelihoods and community engagement. UNODC module on Wildlife Crime.