The Illicit Trade Group (ITG) is an interdisciplinary research environment formed by a group of students, researchers, professors and experts working at the University of Groningen. The goal of ITG is to create a university-wide debate on topics related to illicit trade, by creating the conditions for academic cross-fertilization in a research area that is fundamentally interdisciplinary. ITG’s intention is to foster a discussion on the causes, consequences and solutions to the challenges posed by illicit trade. We aim to contribute to government capacity-building to counter illicit trade practices and to increase societal resilience to it.