Past Events

Handa CSTPV will be hosting this year’s Society for Terrorism Research Postgraduate Conference in St Andrews. Featuring a keynote presentation from Prof Joel Busher, Professor of Political Sociology at the Centre for Peace and Security, Coventry University, the conference will be a great opportunity to hear more about the research being undertaken by PhDs and…

The purpose of this talk is to open a discussion on the positive role which the research ethics process can play in the conduct and design of terrorism research. Within this talk there will be a discussion of key aspects relating to research ethics, with a particular focus on the protection of the researcher. The…

Are terrorist organisations political actors aiming to reshape the world, or criminal enterprises chasing profit? Can ideology and criminality coexist in these groups — and how do they finance their operations? This conference, hosted by the MCC Migration Research Institute and the Handa Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence, will explore the…

In this session for the Terrorism and Political Violence Next Generation Network, we will explore the challenges and opportunities of doing research in contentious political times, grounded in an example of a US-based, volunteer research initiative. Through a focus on strategies of data resiliency, we will discuss how scholars and practitioners can protect their own well-being…

Radicalization continues to be addressed in binary (i.e. simplistic) ways, with involvement often considered the product of either “top-down” or “bottom up” processes. Yet these characterizations, and many others like them, have effectively obscured the role of actual recruiters in the process. Even in the smallest of terrorist groups, recruiters continue to be essential for…

This talk explores when and why governments negotiate peace and/or demobilization with “pro-state” paramilitary groups/pro-government militia. I argue that governments are more likely to negotiate with paramilitary groups when the government has limited control over paramilitaries, when paramilitaries conduct mass human rights violations, and when the government faces domestic and international pressure to account for…

Learn how to consider the news potential of your expertise, how to look for story hooks and angles from the news, how to write a quality story pitch to section editors, and other advice. We will explain how The Conversation works, the benefits of writing for the public and how to go about it.

The Stop Cop City movement represents a convergence of racial justice, anarchism, and environmentalism. Activists employ a diversity of tactics to halt the construction of an unwanted police training facility, with canvassers, litigators, and civil resistors sharing space with rioters and arsonists. Based on participant observation and dozens of interviews collected in the movement’s forest…

In the decades following the 9/11 attacks, complex webs of anti-terrorism laws have come into play across the world promising to protect ordinary citizens from bombings, hijackings and other forms of mass violence. But are we really any safer? Has freedom been secured by active deployment of state power, or fatally undermined? In his recent…