Nghe An criminologist and his 'debt' to his homeland

Reasons for choosing to study police and the imprints of criminology research

Born in 1980 in Nghi Loc, Luong Thanh Hai grew up in Vinh city and attended high school inPhan Boi Chau High School for the GiftedHis mother's stroke in 1993 caused his family to fall into financial difficulties. His father was a former fire police officer, and the tuition-free policy and job guarantee after graduation made him decide to register for the People's Police University, majoring in Criminal Investigation.

After graduating with a good degree, the Nghe An boy was retained at the school as a lecturer. He started teaching and researching from here.

After a period of teaching at the school, with the policy of encouraging young lecturers to do practical work at the vocational facilities of the Ministry of Public Security, young lecturer Luong Thanh Hai joined the Criminal Police Department of Nghe An Public Security, his hometown. Three years of working here (from 2004 to 2007) helped him realize and try to fill the gap between theory and practice in professional activities, especially serious crimes and legal procedures. And he realized his passion.

In late 2009, through research, he learned about the Australian Government's Development Scholarship (ADS). However, English became his biggest obstacle when applying for this scholarship. Although he was an English student in high school, his IELTS score at that time was only 3.5, while the minimum requirement for the scholarship was 6.0. He spent 9 months studying hard to achieve that score. And he went to Australia to study for a master's degree in Non-traditional Security at the University of Wollongong, leaving his wife and young children behind in his hometown.

Returning home with a master's degree, in addition to teaching, he always seeks to contribute to academic cooperation activities between Vietnam and other countries in the world. In 2012, he accompanied a high-ranking delegation of the Ministry of Public Security to Australia as an interpreter, laying the first bricks in the bilateral relationship in training law enforcement forces between the Vietnamese police and the Australian police.

Next, he was also in charge of the criminal justice leadership training cooperation program between the People's Police Academy and the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology of the University of Maryland, USA under Project 165. This is the first program marking the direct cooperation and training of a university under the Ministry of Public Security with a leading university in the United States.

In 2013, he continued to apply for a scholarship and went to RMIT University to do a PhD in criminology. Receiving a PhD marked a student becoming an independent researcher, he began a series of publications related to high-tech crime and transnational crime. After a period of post-doc in Australia at the suggestion of his supervisor during his PhD, he has now published two books (including one translated book) at the prestigious British publisher Routled, co-authored 8 other books, more than 30 scientific articles published in prestigious journals around the world and many reports at international conferences.

In 2021, the Global Institute for Security and Crime in Asia (GITOC) was established, Dr. Luong Thanh Hai became a senior researcher of the Institute, and was appointed Chairman of the Asian Drug Crime Research Council. In the same year, he received the Young Criminologist of Asia award from the Asian Criminology Association. Although the award is only for people under 35 years old, after sending his passport, the Organizing Committee realized that he was over 40. However, they still awarded him the award because he was the first Vietnamese.

He is currently on the editorial board of several prestigious international criminology journals.

Hard Choices

Not long after getting married, Luong Thanh Hai went to Australia to do his master's degree, when his eldest child was only 3 years old and his youngest child was just born. Understanding the difficulties of his family, he decided to find a way to bring his family there when he did his PhD in 2013. During that time, his wife studied and worked as a Chinese translator. When he received his degree and returned to Vietnam, his wife remained in Australia to continue her work. He continued to teach at the People's Police Academy and had to send his two children back to Nghe An for his uncle to take care of.

It was a difficult time for the whole family as each person was in a different place, he understood and tried to reunite. At the same time, his PhD supervisor suggested a post-doctoral program in Australia that solved the problem. The whole family was reunited in new roles in a foreign land.

The Covid pandemic was the most difficult time for his family in Australia. In 2021, Melbourne - where he lives - became the city with the longest "lockdown" in the world. The education sector, which is the third largest contributor to Australia's GDP, mainly from international students, now had to close its borders, causing the Australian education system to fall into crisis. An unexpected major surgery in reducing the education staff, many professors were encouraged to retire early. Research and funding became difficult. Curriculum and teaching methods had to be adjusted to suit the situation. However, the shift of crime from society to online platforms became his new research direction.

During that time, he overcame fierce competition with hundreds of competitors to become a researcher at the University of Queensland (top 8 universities in Australia). However, they only gave him 24 hours to decide whether to accept the job or not. Moving to a new state with a new learning and living environment for the whole family in the context of Covid made him consider a lot. And the spring pollen allergy in Melbourne of the residents here with the advantages brought by the new opportunity made his family decide to move to a new land.

“To achieve the success I have today, I am very grateful for the silent sacrifices of my wife and children, especially during the most difficult and struggling times,” Dr. Hai shared.

Desire to connect with home country and create academic networks in home country

During the Covid quarantine period, social distancing along with the stress in life and work due to the huge change in context, he chose running as a sport to improve his health and spirit. Up to now, he has participated in a number of organized marathons and wishes to conquer international competitions. In February 2024, he received an invitation from the Organizing Committee of Win Vietnam Mountain to the first running competition held in Ky Son. He accepted the invitation because he had not had the opportunity to explore this place, and it was also an opportunity to connect more with his homeland after many years away.

In terms of academics, Vietnam has not yet trained bachelors in Criminology, and the number of researchers specializing in this field in our country can be counted on the fingers of one hand. That is what makes Dr. Luong Thanh Hai ponder a lot after a period of pursuing an academic career in this narrow field, as a debt to his homeland.

Therefore, he has continuously supported universities in the field of training related to criminology, including the University of Law (Hanoi National University) and the upcoming Faculty of Law of Vinh University. During the time of separation due to Covid, he established a research group including police, public health and young researchers to publish internationally on the assessment of the impact on biosecurity and the role of frontline security forces in the trade of rare animals with the hypothesis that animals transmit diseases to humans. It was an initial success in establishing a research network in the context of isolation and having to work online.

He hopes to support domestic researchers to develop their research capacity more and get closer to the international scientific community, especially in the field of criminology, through publications bearing the Vietnamese mark in prestigious international journals./.