The University of Warwick School of Law has successfully sponsored a Fernandes Fellowship devoted to academics in Ukraine. Dr Maryna Utkina is now at Warwick and will be with us until the end of this calendar year.

Dr Utkina is a Senior Lecturer in the Criminal Law and Procedure Department at Sumy State University. Her research is on financial regulation and criminal law enforcement of illicit proceeds from organised crime -including terrorism, money laundering and corruption. A brief explanation is below:

In my work I define the place of financial intelligence (monitoring) in the system of combating money laundering and compare foreign financial intelligence units. It serves as one of the most sovereign remedies in the system of counteracting money laundering to minimize and effectively combat organized criminality and money laundering. The high level of development of the shadow economy, corruption, ineffectiveness of regulatory and legal support, as well as duplication of functions of individual authorities have become prerequisites for the financial monitoring system formation.

The main issues I would like to research here:

- a comparative analysis of theoretic and legal framework: to compare notions or definitions of financial intelligence (monitoring); acts and codes which regulate this question;

- compare financial intelligence duties: the system of such authorities and their duties;

- research in general this activity, its levels, main points and the process at all;

- research financial intelligence in the system of corruption prevention: best practices and others.

She is based at the IAS and can be contactable at: m.utkina@yur.sumdu.edu.ua. She is very keen on getting to know colleagues while she is here.