Eric D U Gutierrez is a practitioner-scholar with over 25 years of experience as a knowledge worker for three international NGOs before joining academia. He started in the Philippines, working for the think tank Institute for Popular Democracy, before moving to Europe and Southern Africa. He obtained his MSc at Birkbeck, University of London, and completed his PhD (cum laude) with his groundbreaking study of illicit crops at the ISS-Erasmus University Rotterdam. Routledge published his book “Rethinking Illicit Economies” in January 2024. A multi-awarded investigative journalist in the Philippines, he continues to study Filipino political families, corruption, and the conflict in southern Philippines.