Ana Isabel Barros

At the Policy Academy, Ana Isabel is responsible for the intelligence research program of the Dutch Police Academy and for stimulating the embedding of intelligence methods and trends in the training and education of intelligent officers. Her police knowledge portfolio also includes the potential and caveats of new technology (with a focus on Artificial intelligence) in a police context. Her role as external researcher at the Institute for Advanced Study ensures a strong link with the scientific research on complex systems.

Professorship chair

Anticipatory Intelligence (Police Academy, University of Applied Sciences)

Research area

Ana Isabel has been actively involved in a wide scope of international and national security projects in the areas of operational analysis, intelligence and complex systems modelling as well as artificial intelligence applications for intelligence analysis, operational planning and policy evaluation. Currently her focus lies on the area of anticipatory intelligence analysis and modelling. This research area combines complex systems and intelligence modelling in order to better anticipate risks and emergent behaviours and provide insight into possible intervention effects on the short and long term.

Her involvement in several international (cooperation) projects and activities, together with her large international network, academic experience and strong communication skills facilitate the establishment of links between practice and theory in an international environment.

Top publications

• Barros, A. I., Keijser, B., van der Zwet, K., & Wemmers, S. (2022). Being Two Steps Ahead: The Added Value of Anticipatory Intelligence Analysis in Law Enforcement. In Disruption, Ideation and Innovation for Defence and Security(pp. 243-266). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-06636-8_12
• van der Zwet, K., Barros, A. I., van Engers, T. M., & Sloot, P. M. (2022). Emergence of protests during the COVID-19 pandemic: quantitative models to explore the contributions of societal conditions. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 9(1). https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-022-01082-y
• Evers, L., Dollevoet, T., Barros, A.I. et al.Robust UAV mission planning. Ann Oper Res 222, 293–315 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10479-012-1261-8. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10479-012-1261-8
• Barros, A. I., Dekker, R., & Scholten, V. (1998). A two-level network for recycling sand: a case study. European journal of operational research, 110(2), 199-214.https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221798000939