Dr Donna Yates, Ph.D.
Dr Donna Yates is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology at Maastricht University, where she is a leading authority on the transnational illicit trade in cultural objects, art and heritage crime, and grey markets. She holds dual PhDs in Archaeology (University of Cambridge) and Criminology (University of Glasgow), representing her interdisciplinary expertise bridging humanities-focused heritage research and sociological criminology.
Through research projects and fieldwork across multiple continents and digital projects including Trafficking Culture and Property of an Anonymous Swiss Collector, Yates has established herself as a recognised expert in cultural heritage crime reduction, law, and protection. Yates is Principal Investigator and/or Work Package Leader of multiple major research grants, including the European Research Council Starting Grant "TRANSFORM" (€1.5 million), the Dutch Research Council "PRICELESS" project examining financial crime and valuation of unique goods (€1.3 million), and the WIDERA Programme "REVITALISER" focused on archaeological site protection (€1.5 million). She is on the Management Committee of the COST Network "Cultural Property Protection 4 All", sits on the European Commission Expert Sub-group on "Dialogue with the Art Market", and serves as an expert for the EU Global Facility on Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism. She regularly provides consultation to governments, international organisations, and law enforcement agencies on matters of cultural property crime and money laundering. Her work has been featured in major international media and she has published extensively in leading criminology and heritage journals.
Yates has published over 60 journal articles, book chapters, and books, and has delivered more than 100 conference presentations, workshops, seminars, and invited lectures on topics related to art, cultural heritage, and crime. Her research is regularly featured in major international media outlets including The New York Times, Washington Post, and The Economist.
At Maastricht University, Yates is an elected member of the University Council and teaches on undergraduate programmes in the Faculty of Law. She supervises doctoral students across criminology, law, and heritage studies, and maintains many active research partnerships.
See:
Expertises
- Heritage and art crime
- Crime related to cultural, collectable, and rare objects
- Grey markets and Grey criminology
- Heritage and museum studies
- Cultural property ethics and law
- Transnational Crime
- White Collar Crime
Career history
Yates has held a number of grants and awards related to researching art and cultural heritage crime, including funding from the European Research Council, the Horizon WIDERA programme, the Dutch Funding Council, the Leverhulme Trusts, the Scottish Funding Council's Global Challenges Research Fund, the Carnegie Trust, and The Royal Society. She is a founding member of the Trafficking Culture research consortium.
She has provided expert consultation, training, and advice to multiple governments and agencies, and relevant intergovernmental organisations.
Prior to joining the Faculty of Law at Maastricht University, Yates was a Lecturer and Research Associate at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research at the University of Glasgow.