Dr Ingrida Kerusauskaite
Ingrida is an Intellectual Forum Senior Research Associate.
Dr Ingrida Kerusauskaite is a globally recognised expert on anti-corruption, integrity in the public and private sectors, irregular migration, and international development.
Spanning a range of private sector, academic and non-profit sector roles, Ingrida has worked with government agencies, multilateral organisations, judiciaries, law enforcement, private sector and NGOs around the world.
She has taught at the University of Cambridge, Centre for Development Studies from 2013-2023, and continues to undertake research and deliver global programmes on pressing matters of international development, irregular migration and corruption.
What are you working on now?
I focus on anti-corruption and irregular migration within development. I’ve worked on a range of projects in this space, which I find particularly interesting as we try to address long-standing and complex issues in different environments, working with local stakeholders.
I currently lead a UK government-funded project on community cohesion between Ukrainian refugees and host communities in Central Europe, exploring the risks that might arise to social cohesion as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues and both Ukrainian and host communities face various pressures including economic challenges and disinformation efforts from Russia and Russia-aligned actors.
I also recently started as Knowledge Management Lead on a large global US government-funded project. I’ll lead the research and learning work to better understand the causes and manifestations of corruption, as well as what works to combat corruption and illicit finance.
My on-going research projects are on irregular migration, anti-corruption and countering illicit finance, as well as situating such interventions within broader development and philanthropic policies and practices.
How has your career to date led to this?
Having grown up around the world, my decision to work in international development was made up quite early on, even before I fully knew what the industry was really like. In the 2000s I undertook a few internships at UN offices in Syria and China, studied development studies from undergraduate to PhD level and grasped at opportunities to work on various aspects of development.
For more than a decade I have maintained roles in both academia and project design and delivery. I combine project delivery around the world – from the Caribbean, to West and East Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans and Asia – with undertaking research and teaching in an academic capacity. This includes a decade of teaching MPhil students at the Centre of Development Studies at the University of Cambridge as an Affiliated Lecturer and Guest Lecturer.
I very much enjoy being able to alternate between project implementation pressures and demands, stepping back to reflect on some of the bigger questions we’re faced with as well as debating theories and case studies with students.
What one thing would you most want someone to learn from what you’ve done or are doing now?
I believe in casting the net wide for ideas when working on complex phenomena such as corruption, irregular migration and other development challenges that have been around for decades or even centuries. The experiences and opinions of people from different geographies, social backgrounds, disciplines and organisations, can help inform better analysis, policy- and decision-making.
In the many conferences and panels I’ve organised, as well as within projects I’ve delivered, I’ve sought to bring together this diversity of ways of thinking and working. For example, one of the most interesting projects I led brought together a team of youth and development specialists, social anthropologists and law enforcement experts to strengthen alternative options to engagement with serious organised crime for youth. That’s also the inter-disciplinary and diverse environment that the Intellectual Forum provides.
What do you think of Jesus College and the Intellectual Forum?
Having been a PhD student at Jesus College, I regularly return to College, including, for more than a decade, to support the organisation of the annual Cambridge Symposium on Economic Crime. The College has a truly unique atmosphere for productive engagement with complex issues, collaboration and for recharging.
I am delighted to be a part of the Intellectual Forum, and look forward to working with other Intellectual Forum and College members, and to contribute to the community.
You can meet the rest of the Intellectual Forum team or contact us via email.
