EAGER: ISN: Network Analysis and Opportunities for Disruption of Organ Trafficking

George Mason University, Fairfax VA

Investigators

Abstract

This EArly-concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) award will contribute to the advancement of national security and welfare through a greater understanding of the worldwide operations of illicit organ trafficking networks. The system of organ trafficking is known to be complex; it consists of multiple players such as kidney sellers (often poor, young and healthy), buyers (affluent but desperate), transplant service providers (surgeons, hospitals and other agents), brokers (who often provide similar services to other illicit trades) and financial institutions that knowingly or unknowingly participate in passing money from the buyers to other actors. Inter-actor social networks are inherent in organ trafficking since the system tends to operate and expand through social connections. This award seeks to establish a fundamental understanding of the network structure, including incentives and behavioral patterns of the participants, linkages between the participants, and its dynamic evolution. The transdisciplinary nature of this project, involving social scientists, operations researchers, and health and health policy professionals, provides an opportunity to examine the nature of organ trafficking networks from multiple perspectives and to discover structural patterns and network disruption strategies that may not be easily discerned otherwise. The results of this research will be disseminated widely to assist law enforcement in detecting trafficking crime and and policy makers in developing effective policies and regulations to disrupt these networks. This research project develops an analytical framework to examine structural patterns and evolution of organ trafficking networks. The framework will: i) deploy an agent-based simulation model to characterize such networks based on limited but reliable data from the field; ii) provide a network analysis to investigate structural connections and their vulnerabilities in the networks; and iii) explore optimization methods to derive effective strategies to disrupt these networks. The impact of properties that distinguish these networks from other illicit supply networks, namely the higher profit per transaction, involvement of highly skilled, often high profile actors (physicians, lab technicians, etc.) and required access to specialized facilities and equipment will be studied as a potential points of leverage. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.