I am an Applied Sociologist of Deviance and Crime and Associate Professor in Criminology (Research) at the University of West London, UK . I have achieved Certified Sociological Practitioner Status (C.S.P.) which is granted by the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS) and recognised by the USA Commission on the Accreditation of Programs in Applied and Clinical Sociology (CAPACS) and the American Sociological Association (ASA).
I abide to the Codes of Ethics of the Association for Applied and Clinical Sociology, the British Sociological Association and the American Sociological Association.
The Ethics Codes can be found here
I am internationally recognised as expert on the European Far Right Extremism and violence and in sport on Hooliganism, crowd violence, prevention and policing. In all my studies; I use empirical evidence so evidence validated by direct experience and observation . My aim is to ‘get inside‘ the way each social group sees the world. Speaking and interacting with participants is crucial for me.
I have also built an international reputation as an authority in the following research areas: Italian Society (Corruption and Mafia) and the Sociology of Sport (Islamophobia/Racism and sport for all/social inclusion policies).I am currently focusing on Mafia, Football and Match-fixing
Research Interests
- Ultras, Hooliganism violence, prevention and policing
- European Extreme Right:Italian Neo-Fascism , Neo-Nazism Activism and violence-White Jihad
- Italian Society (Politics, Corruption and Mafia)
- Sociology of Sport (Deviance /Racism/Corruption)
1. The rise of the Extreme right in the European Football Terraces:
My research network is composed by 8 European research institutions :
- UK (University of West London, the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, The Keele University Policing Academic Collaboration
- Russia (National Research University Higher School of Economics)
- Italy (Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna)
- Germany (Deutsches Jugendinstitut, University of Leipzig)
- Ukraine (National Technical University of Ukraine; Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute)
- Hungary (Hungarian Academy of Sciences)
This project is highly topical considering the violence at the last European Cup in France and the forthcoming World Cup in Moscow (2018) and issues of prevention, and policing.
2. Football, Corruption and the Mafia: This important study explores the intricate relationships between politics, business, sport and organised crime in Italy and Europe.
3. ENABLE: in collaboration with national police forces, aims to prevent and tackle football spectators’ violence (HOOLIGANISM). ENABLE is led by Professor Clifford Stott; Alberto Testa is member of the scientific committee and Director of the ENABLE Italy
4. BRISWA (the Ball Rolls In the Same Way for All)
I work as expert in the steering group of the EUROPEAN UNION -funded project BRISWA, a project co-financed under the E+ programme (EAC/A04/2015). The project aims to study RACISM how it manifests (recent trends), how the police and decision-makers have approached it (best and failed practices) and it aims to provide policy recommendations.
Esteem Indicators
- Research Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies (RUSI); UK independent think tank engaged in cutting edge defence and security research .
- Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the SportComLab- Centre for Research on Sports Communication , Department Of Education Science, at the “Alma Mater Studiorum”-Bologna University (Italy).
- Associate Editor of the Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology
- External Examiner for the Applied Sociology programme, University of Suffolk.
Latest Books
- Corruption, Mafia Power and Italian Soccer . This is a unique study which explores the intricate relationships between politics, business, sport and organised crime in Italy (and in some European countries).
- Sport in Islam and in Muslim Communities. Selected by the Olympic Studies Center to be included in the Olympic World Library catalogue
Selected Latest Media Contributions
- Dr Alberto Testa; TalkRadio (News UK group) The Week with Jonny Gould; Topic : The Italian Constitutional Referendum and Brexit, (December, 2016)
- Dr Alberto Testa; TalkRadio (News UK group) Sunday Breakfast show with Jake Yapp; Topic: The rise of the “Alternative Right “ in the USA and the Extreme Right in Europe, (November, 2016)
Dr Alberto Testa took to the airwaves again over the weekend in an interview and phone-in with LBC journalist Tom Swarbrick about football hooliganism in the Euro 2016 finals. Watch a small clip from the program
Dr Alberto Testa; THE VOICE OF AMERICA (the official external broadcast institution of the United States Government );Topic: Violence and Neo Nazism at the European Cup in France (June, 2016) Click for the Interview
