Mafalda Pardal is a research leader at RAND Europe, working in the area of home affairs and social policy. Her research interests include the study of illicit markets, cannabis regulation and drug policy. She is also the European lead for the RAND Drug Policy Research Center.
Prior to (re-)joining RAND, she was affiliated with Ghent University (Belgium) as assistant professor in criminology and postdoctoral research fellow. She has also been a visiting researcher at the Catholic University of Uruguay (in 2018). In recent years, her research has focused on the Cannabis Social Club model in several jurisdictions, and she has edited a book on that topic (published by Routledge in 2022). In 2020–21, Pardal coordinated a research project about the nonmedical use of prescription drugs among young adults in Belgium. Her research has been published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, the European Journal of Criminology, the Journal of Drug Issues, in Methodological Innovations, among others. Between 2012–2015, Pardal was an analyst at RAND Europe.
Pardal holds a Ph.D. in criminology from Ghent University (Belgium), a M.Sc. in criminology from KU Leuven (Belgium), and a B.A. in law from the University of Coimbra (Portugal).
Selected Publications
Pardal, M. (Ed.), The Cannabis Social Club, Routledge, 2022
Pardal, M., Colman, C., Surmont, T. , "Synthetic drug production in Belgium - environmental harms as collateral damage?" Journal of Illicit Economies and Development, 2021
Pardal, M., Decorte, T., Bone, M., Parés, Ò., Johansson, J., "Mapping Cannabis Social Clubs in Europe," European Journal of Criminology, 2020
Bawin, F., Emplit, K., Tieberghien, J., Vandenbogaerde, E., Pardal, M., Guillain, C., Decorte, T. , Young adults using prescription drugs nonmedically, Gompel & Svacina, 2021 (forthcoming)
Pardal, M., Tack, C., Bawin, F. "Media representation of Belgian youth protests: the making of 'climate truants'," in Weis, V. , Criminalization of Activism: Historical, Present and Future Perspectives, Routledge, 2021
Pardal, M., Bone, M., Decorte, T., Queirolo, R., Parés, Ò., Johansson, J., Álvarez, E., Repetto, L. , "Hidden and uninterested populations: methodological insights and unresolved issues from the study of Cannabis Social Clubs," Methodological Innovations, 2020