Angus Bancroft | School of Social and Political Science

Professor Angus Bancroft

Professor of Sociology

angus.bancroft@ed.ac.uk

Profile
Publications

Research interests

Criminal justice Data & Digital Digital sociology Health & Well-being Methods Science, technology and innovation

I research cyber-crime, illicit markets, the darknet, new forms of illicit drug consumption, and emerging societal health challenges. I use a range of methods from big data, machine learning and LLMs to interactional sociology and ethnomethodology. Among my current projects are:

Developing work with Reddit moderators on AI informed use of the platform for harm reduction
Developing new data scraping methods to analyse change in darknet markets and online drug forums
Research on national darknet cultures with colleagues at the University of Tampere and Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz

Works within

Sociology

Publication	Research Explorer link
Scheibein F, Caballeria E, Taher A, Arya S, Bancroft A, Dannatt L et al. Optimizing digital tools for the field of substance use and substance use disorders: A backcasting exercise. JMIR Human Factors. 2023 Dec 12;10:e46678. doi: 10.2196/46678	View
Sawicka M, Bancroft A, Rafanell I. The emotional infrastructure of a cybercrime collective: Evidence from Dark0de. Criminology & Criminal Justice. 2023 Nov 18. Epub 2023 Nov 18. doi: 10.1177/17488958231212412	View
Bancroft A. ‘Waiting for the delivery man’: Temporalities of addiction, withdrawal, and the pleasures of drug time in a darknet cryptomarket. In Tzanetakis M, South N, editors, Digital Transformations of Illicit Drug Markets: Reconfiguration and Continuity. Emerald Group Publishing. 2023. p. 61-72. (Emerald Studies in Death and Culture). doi: 10.1108/978-1-80043-866-820231005	View
Bancroft A. The Darknet, Bitcoins and the Role of the Internet in Drug Supply. In Ayres TC, Ancrum C, editors, Understanding Drug Dealing and Illicit Drug Markets: National and International perspectives. 1st ed. Routledge. 2023. p. 311-324 doi: 10.4324/9781351010245-18	View
Tapiwa Bandura C, Giulianotti R, Martin JG, Bancroft A, Morrow S, Hunt K et al. Alcohol consumption among UK football supporters: Investigating the contested field of the football. Drugs: Education, Prevention, and Policy. 2023 Jun 21. Epub 2023 Jun 21. doi: 10.1080/09687637.2023.2219370	View
Chen K, Babaeianjelodar M, Shi Y, Aanegola R, Cheung LY, Nakov PI et al. US news and social media framing around vaping. In Dinh TN, Li M, editors, Computational Data and Social Networks: CSoNet 2022. Vol. 13831. Springer. 2023. p. 188-199. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS)). doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-26303-3_17	View
Schofield J, Dumbrell J, Matheson C, Parkes T, Bancroft A. The impact of COVID-19 on access to harm reduction, substance use treatment and recovery services in Scotland: A qualitative study. BMC Public Health. 2022 Dec;22(1):500. Epub 2022 Mar 15. doi: 10.1186/s12889-022-12873-y	View
Bancroft A, Parkes T, Galip I, Matheson C, Crawshaw E, Craik V et al. Negotiating an illicit economy in the time of COVID-19: Drug selling and buying dilemmas in the lives of people who use drugs in Scotland. Contemporary Drug Problems. 2022 Dec;49(4):369-384. Epub 2022 Sept 8. doi: 10.1177/00914509221122704	View
Bancroft A. Potential influences of the darknet on illicit drug diffusion. Current Addiction Reports. 2022 Dec;9(4):671-676. Epub 2022 Sept 10. doi: 10.1007/s40429-022-00439-2	View
Bancroft A. Producing planned hedonism among opiate users in an online drug market. In Hunt G, Antin TMJ, Frank VA, editors, Routledge Handbook of Intoxicants and Intoxication. 1st ed. London: Routledge. 2022. p. 101-112. (Routledge International Handbooks). Epub 2022 Oct 27. doi: 10.4324/9780429058141-9	View
Martin JG, Giulianotti R, Bandura C, Morrow S, Hunt K, Bancroft A et al. Stakeholder views of current laws surrounding alcohol at UK football matches: Is it a case of using a “sledgehammer to crack a nut”? International Journal of Drug Policy. 2022 Sept;107:103789. Epub 2022 Jul 9. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2022.103789	View
Bancroft A. Applying crime script analysis to darknet data. In Kozinets R, editor, SAGE Research Methods: Doing Research Online. SAGE Publications. 2022	View
Purves RI, Critchlow N, Richard G, Hunt K, Morrow S, Bancroft A. Sport fan attitudes on alcohol: Insights from a survey of football supporters in Scotland and England. Journal of Sport and Social Issues. 2021 Dec 23. Epub 2021 Dec 23. doi: 10.1177/01937235211067192	View
Sawicka M, Rafanell I, Bancroft A. Digital localisation in an illicit market space: Interactional creation of a psychedelic assemblage in a darknet community of exchange. International Journal of Drug Policy. 2021 Nov 9;100:103514. Epub 2021 Nov 9. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103514	View
Bancroft A. The influence of the darknet on illicit drug diffusion. Current Addiction Reports. 2021 Jun 4.	View
Moore K, Bancroft A. Drugs, technologies and cyber markets: An introduction. Drugs and Alcohol Today. 2021 May 19;21(2):97-101. Epub 2021 May 14. doi: 10.1108/DAT-06-2021-084	View
Kean S, Donaghy E, Bancroft A, Clegg G, Rodgers S. Theorising survivorship after intensive care: A systematic review of patient and family experiences. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 2021 Apr 7. Epub 2021 Apr 7. doi: 10.1111/jocn.15766	View
Bancroft A. How to use the darknet for social science research. In Kozinets R, Kirby J, Hewson C, Sugie N, Wong M, Munk AK, editors, SAGE Research Methods: Doing Research Online. SAGE Publications. 2021	View
Matheson C, Parkes T, Schofield J, Dumbrell J, Browne T, Bancroft A et al. Understanding the health impacts of the COVID-19 response on people who use drugs in Scotland (PWUD): Implications for COVID-19 infection and transmission among this group and impacts on harm reduction, treatment and recovery. Edinburgh: Chief Scientist Office, 2020. 5 p.	View
Bancroft A, Squirrell T, Zaunseder A, Rafanell I. Producing trust among illicit actors: A techno-social approach to an online illicit market. Sociological Research Online. 2020 Sept 1;25(3):456-472. Epub 2019 Nov 12. doi: 10.1177/1360780419881158	View
Zaunseder A, Bancroft A. Pricing of illicit drugs on darknet markets: A conceptual exploration. Drugs and Alcohol Today. 2020 Jul 13. Epub 2020 Jul 13. doi: 10.1108/DAT-12-2019-0054	View
Bancroft A. Illicit drugs and intoxication. In Hutton F, editor, Cultures of Intoxication: Key Issues and Debates. 1 ed. Palgrave Macmillan. 2020. p. 67-86	View
Bancroft A. The model of a man: Masculinity and body image in men’s lifestyle magazines. In Richardson J, Shaw A, editors, The Body in Qualitative Research. 1 ed. Routledge. 2019. p. 26-38. (Routledge Revivals). doi: 10.4324/9780429438592-3	View
Bancroft A. The Darknet and Smarter Crime: Methods for Investigating Criminal Entrepreneurs and the Illicit Drug Economy. 1 ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. 235 p. (Palgrave Studies in Cybercrime and Cybersecurity). doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-26512-0	View
Zaunseder A, Bancroft A. The fuzzy ideological and social space of the cryptomarkets: Libertarian ideology, agorism and exchange performances. In Tzanetakis M, Stöver H, editors, Drogen, Darknet und Organisierte Kriminalität: Herausforderungen für Politik, Justiz und Drogenhilfe. Nomos. 2019. p. 137-160	View
Bancroft A. Research in fractured digital spaces. International Journal of Drug Policy. 2019. Epub 2019 May 16. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.05.007	View
Masson K, Bancroft A. ‘Nice people doing shady things’: Drugs and the morality of exchange in the darknet cryptomarkets. International Journal of Drug Policy. 2018 Aug;58:78-84. Epub 2018 Jun 2. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.05.008	View
Bancroft A, Scott Reid P. Challenging the techno-politics of anonymity: the case of cryptomarket users. Information, Communication and Society. 2017 Apr 3;20(4):497-512. Epub 2016 May 20. doi: 10.1080/1369118X.2016.1187643	View
Bancroft A. Responsible use to responsible harm: Illicit drug use and peer harm reduction in a darknet cryptomarket. Health, Risk & Society. 2017;19(7-8):336-350. Epub 2017 Dec 12. doi: 10.1080/13698575.2017.1415304	View
Bancroft A. Social Class and Deprivation. In Kolind T, Wolff K, Thom B, Hunt G, Karch S, White J, editors, The Sage Handbook of Drug and Alcohol Studies. Vol. 2. SAGE Publications. 2016	View
Bancroft A, Scott Reid P. Concepts of illicit drug quality among darknet market users: purity, embodied experience, craft and chemical knowledge. International Journal of Drug Policy. 2016 Sept;35:42-49. Epub 2015 Dec 11. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.11.008	View
Boswell C, Bancroft A, Kyambi S. Human Trafficking and Exploitation (Scotland) Bill Written Submission from Researchers at the School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh. 2015.	View
Bancroft A, Zimpfer MJ, Murray O, Karels M. Working at Pleasure in Young Women's Alcohol Consumption: A Participatory Visual Ethnography. Sociological Research Online. 2014 Aug 15;19(3):20. doi: 10.5153/sro.3409	View
Bancroft A, Karels M, Murray ÓM, Zimpfer J. Not Being There: Research at a Distance with Video, Text and Speech. In Hand M, Hillyard S, editors, Big Data? Qualitative Approaches to Digital Research. Bingley: Emerald Group Publishing. 2014. p. 137-154. (Studies in Qualitative Methodology).	View
Bancroft A. Drinking With and Without Fun: Female Students' Accounts of Pre-Drinking and Club-Drinking. Sociological Research Online. 2012 Nov 30;17(4):7. doi: 10.5153/sro.2785	View
Bancroft A. Neuropolitics, memory work and intoxication problems. In Darin W, John H, editors, Intoxication: Socio-Legal Perspectives. Vol. forthcoming. Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan. 2012. p. forthcoming	View
Wilson S, Cunningham-Burley S, Bancroft A, Backett-Milburn K. The Consequences of Love: Young People and Family Practices in Difficult Circumstances. Sociological Review. 2012;60(1):110-128. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-954X.2011.02049.x	View
Bancroft A. In the Field: Research Relationships. In Jamieson L, Simpson R, Lewis R, editors, Researching Families and Relationships: Reflections on Process. 1st ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 2011. p. 71-95. (Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family and Intimate Life). doi: 10.1057/9780230347960_4	View
Fevre R, Bancroft A. Dead White Men and Other Important People: Sociology’s Big Ideas. Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.	View
Bancroft A. Drugs, Intoxication and Society. Polity Press, 2009. 224 p.	View
Backett-Milburn K, Wilson S, Bancroft A, Cunningham-Burley S. Challenging Childhoods: Young People's Accounts of 'Getting By' in Families with Substance Use Problems. Childhood. 2008 Nov;15(4):461-479. doi: 10.1177/0907568208097202	View
Bancroft A. Untitled. Public Health. 2008 Jan;122(1):105-105. doi: 10.1016/j.puhe.2007.07.008	View
Wilson S, Cunningham-Burley S, Bancroft A, Backett-Milburn K. ‘Joined up' Thinking? Unsupported 'Fast-track' Transitions in the Context of Parental Substance Use. Journal of Youth Studies. 2008;11(3):283-299. doi: 10.1080/13676260801946423	View
Bancroft A, Wilson S. “The ‘Risk Gradient’ in policy on children of drug and alcohol users: Framing young people as risky”. Health, Risk & Society. 2007;9(3):311-322.	View
Wilson S, Cunningham-Burley S, Bancroft A, Backett-Milburn K. “Young People, Biographical Narratives and the Life Grid: Young People’s Accounts of Parental Substance Use”. Qualitative Research. 2007;7(1):137-153.	View
Bancroft A, Wilson S, Cunningham-Burley S, Masters H, Backett-Milburn K. Children managing parental drug and alcohol misuse: Challenging parent-child boundaries. In McKie L, Cunningham-Burley S, editors, Families in Society: Boundaries and Relationships. Policy Press. 2005. p. 111-125	View
Wiltshire S, Bancroft A, Parry O, Amos A. “I came back here and started smoking again: perceptions and experiences of quitting among disadvantaged smokers.”. Health Education Research. 2003;18(3):292-303.	View
Bancroft A, Wiltshire S, Amos A, Parry O. “It’s like an addiction first thing … afterwards it’s like a habit: daily smoking behaviour among people living in areas of deprivation.”. Social Science & Medicine. 2003;56(6):1261-1267.	View
Parry O, Bancroft A, Amos A, Wiltshire S. “Smoking & disadvantage: the importance of taking an in-depth, inter-disciplinary approach,”. Journal of the Irish Colleges of Physicians and Surgeons. 2002;31(4):197-199.	View
Wiltshire S, Bancroft A, Amos A, Parry O. "They're doing people a service"-qualitative study of smoking, smuggling, and social deprivation. British Medical Journal (BMJ). 2001 Jul 28;323(7306):203-7. doi: 10.1136/bmj.323.7306.203	View
Parry O, Bancroft A, Amos A, Wiltshire S. “They're Doing People a Service: A qualitative study of smoking, smuggling, and social deprivation. British Medical Journal (BMJ). 2001;323:203-207. doi: dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.323.7306.203	View
Parry O, Bancroft A, Gnich W, Amos A. “Nobody Home: Issues of Respondent Recruitment in Areas of Social Deprivation,”. Critical Public Health. 2001;11(4):305-317.	View
Bancroft A. Closed spaces, restricted places: Marginalisation of Roma in Europe. Space and Polity. 2001;5(2):145-157. doi: 10.1080/13562570120104454	View
Bancroft A. Globalisation and HIV/AIDS: Inequality and the boundaries of a symbolic epidemic. Health, Risk and Society. 2001;3(1):89-98. doi: 10.1080/713670174	View
Bancroft A. 'No interest in land': Legal and spatial enclosure of Gypsy-Travellers in Britain. Space and Polity. 2000;4(1):41-56. doi: 10.1080/713697750	View
Bancroft A. "Gypsies to the camps!": Exclusion and marginalisation of Roma in the Czech Republic. Sociological Research Online . 1999 Sept 1;4(3):206-219. doi: 10.5153/sro.250	View

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Professor Angus Bancroft

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