Thomas Cantens

Thomas Cantens is the Director of Policy at the World Customs Organisation. Previously, he was resident Advisor of the Director General of Niger Customs, and was the head of the Research Unit at the World Customs Organization in Brussels. Prior to taking his position at the WCO, he also served in investigation and intelligence in French Customs and in three sub-Saharan Customs administrations. Thomas is an Associate Researcher at the Research Centre on International Development of the Auvergne University (CERDI, France). Having initially graduated as an engineer (POLYTECH Montpellier, France), he holds a PhD in social anthropology and ethnology (Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, France) and a certificate in geospatial analysis (Ecole Nationale des Sciences Géographiques, France). He has published articles, research papers and books on customs reforms, quantification, and fragility and taxation.”