Meet Dr Rasha Kassem, an OU academic working in partnership with the Centre

"Joining the Centre for Policing Research and Learning (CPRL) is a great opportunity to connect and collaborate with other counter fraud professionals. Fraud is a very challenging crime for police forces in the UK given its complexity and scale. I have over sixteen years of experience in Higher Education where I taught and researched Fraud, Financial Crime, Forensic Accounting, Corporate Governance, Audit, and Business Ethics. My doctoral research explored fraudulent financial reporting and the role of governance and audit in countering this.

I joined the Open University (OU) and CPRL in October 2021 and am currently a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Business and Law, the Accounting and Finance Department. Before joining the OU, I have worked at Coventry University, the University of Brighton, Northampton University, the British University of Egypt in collaboration with Loughborough University in the UK, and the MSA University in Egypt in collaboration with Middlesex University in the UK. In addition to my career in academia, I am a Certified Fraud Examiner (CFE), a consultant at Cifas, a member of the Cross Sector Counter Fraud Profession Board at the Cabinet Office, and a member of the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) Fraud Advisory Council. To date, I have published four book chapters and sixteen academic and professional articles in Fraud, Financial Crime, Corporate Governance, and Audit.

My research tackles societal and business issues such as accountability and the role of various stakeholders in countering fraud, including auditors, law enforcement, anti-fraud professionals, and regulators. I am currently collaborating with business partners and several academics in the UK and Europe in a research project funded by the European Union to explore the use of forensic accounting in countering fiscal corruption and tax fraud (RESEARCH ASSOCIATES | VIRTEU). I have engaged in government consultations and policy advice in accountability and counter fraud. This includes the recent review of Sir Donald Brydon about the quality of audit in the UK with a focus on fraud risk assessment in audit (Independent Review into the Quality and Effectiveness of Audit) and the Financial Reporting Council's (FRC) consultation on the fraud-related audit standard (News I Financial Reporting Council). Over the past three years, I have been working closely with the City of London Police, regulators, and Cifas to develop online fraud courses and engage in anti-fraud research that enhance the skills of fraud investigators, anti-fraud professionals, and law enforcement in countering fraud. I have also led and taught on the PGCerts in Fraud and Financial Crime qualification offered by Coventry University and delivered to law enforcement and anti-fraud professionals.

I am very much looking forward to collaborating with colleagues at the CPRL through research, knowledge exchange initiatives, teaching, and developing CPD courses. Some of the policing areas I could contribute to include Policing Governance and Leadership; Ethics in Policing; Countering Fraud and Financial Crime, Fraud Investigation; the Fraud Investigation Model in Policing; Accountability in Policing and the Public Sector; Ethical Leadership; Supporting Fraud Victims; and Teaching & Learning in Policing." Dr Rasha Kassem