Amber Marks is a barrister who has worked in private practice and in the Government Legal Service. She is undertaking doctoral research into the legal implications of the growth in surveillance at King’s College, London where her work is jointly supervised by the Forensic Science Unit and the Law Department.

Amber has presented academic papers on surveillance to the Ministry of Defence and the annual Crime Justice and Surveillance conference at Sheffield University. Her academic paper on the legal implications of olfactory surveillance was published in the journal Surveillance and Society in December 2006 and a joint paper with Professor Ben Bowling on the impact of new technologies on criminal justice is due for presentation at the opening of the Centre for Technology, Ethics and Law in Society, based at King’s College.

Amber has published articles on surveillance in The Guardian and The Register.

A chance encounter with a police sniffer-dog puts gonzo investigator Amber Marks on the trail of strange developments in olfactory surveillance. Armed with finely-honed legal training, razor-sharp wit and a keen sense of the absurd, she sets off into the wonderland of contemporary surveillance technology, where dog-handlers, bee keepers, scientists and security bigwigs are harnessing the capabilities of Mother Nature to build a `secure world' of bio-intelligence.

As Amber delves deeper into the science of smell, she discovers that security research is not limited to gathering information. The direct link between the brain and the sense of smell has potentially sinister applications in the subliminal conditioning of human behaviour. As her emerging status as a security expert brings her into closer contact with representatives from business and policy development, she asks: who stands to benefit from the New World Odour?

The question sends her on a bizarrely hilarious and ultimately terrifying journey to the dark heart of the security-industrial complex.

Praise for Headspace

'Amber Marks lifts the lid on a conspiracy of odours and the militarisation of whiffs, pongs and stinks. Great.'
Mark Thomas

'Highly personal and revealing... far-reaching, incisive and witty... this is an absolute must-read.'
Tony Hanania, author of Unreal City