Meropi Tzanetakis is a Senior Postdoctoral Researcher and FWF Elise Richter Fellow at the Institute for Sociology and Social Research at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business. She currently serves as the principal investigator of the FWF Austrian Science Fund project ‘A Socio-Technical Framework for Online Drug Markets’. This project builds upon her earlier achievement as recipient of the FWF Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship for the project ‘Dealing with Uncertainty on Anonymous Online Drug Markets’.

Meropi holds a PhD in Political Science (with distinction, 2013) from the University of Vienna, where her doctoral research explored the relationship between drug trafficking and the restructuring of the European Union. She also obtained an MA in Political Science, Media Studies and Communication Science (with distinction, 2005) from the University of Vienna.

Before joining WU Vienna, Meropi was Assistant Professor in Digital Criminology at the University of Manchester. Previously, she held positions as Senior Scientist at the University of Innsbruck and Senior Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Vienna. Her international experience includes visiting research fellowships at the University of Essex, the University of Oslo, and the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society in Berlin. In addition, she has taught at the Freie Universität Berlin and worked as Senior Researcher at the Vienna Centre for Societal Security.

Dr Tzanetakis’ research has been published in leading academic journals, including the International Journal of Drug Policy and Qualitative Research. She is co-editor of Digital Transformations of Illicit Drug Markets: Reconfiguration and Continuity (with Nigel South), Drugs, Darknet and Organised Crime: Challenges for Politics, Judiciary and Drug Counselling (with Heino Stöver), and a special issue on Drugs and Digital Technologies (with Bernd Werse) for Kriminologisches Journal. Her work is regularly featured in national and international media outlets.

She also serves as Series Editor for Emerald Studies in Digital Crime, Technology, and Social Harms, as a member of the Editorial Board of Kriminologisches Journal, and as an elected board member of the Economic Sociology Research Network of the European Sociological Association

Research Interests

Meropi’s research explores how illegal markets are embedded within society and the broader economy. Her work forms part of a wider research agenda examining the transformation of markets through processes of digitalisation. Specifically, she investigates the socio-technical embeddedness of illicit markets across global, national, and local contexts, with a focus on how platform business models and emerging technologies such as AI reshape social practices, trust relations, and governance. Her research advances understanding of the increasing complexity and interdependence between markets, technologies, and societies in transition. This knowledge contributes to evidence-based policymaking and informs contemporary debates on how to govern societies undergoing digital transformation.

Further information: https://research.wu.ac.at/en/persons/meropi-tzanetakis/

Personal website: https://meropitzanetakis.com/

Raum D4.3.108