Leadership Team

Shabana Fayyaz is professor at the Defense & Strategic Studies Department, Quaid-I-Azam University, Islamabad. Holds a PhD from University of Birmingham, UK. Prof Fayyaz’s expertise covers the themes of non-traditional security; online violent extremism; countering violent extremism (CVE); online and offline policy analysis; Pakistan’s security policy; and South Asian politics. Authored book: Pakistan’s Response to ...

Jamie R. Noulty holds an MA in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies from Simon Fraser University and is currently enrolled in the PhD Cultural Studies program at Queen’s University. His research focuses on gendered violence, masculinity, post-conflict extremism, and emerging men’s studies. ...

Catherine Girard is a PhD candidate in Political Science at Masaryk University in the Czech Republic, specializing in Security and Strategic Studies. Her research focuses on the far right and lies at the nexus of gender, radicalization, and extremism. Much of her work examines the role of women in far-right movements, as well as how ...

Dr. Michael Loadenthal serves as a Research Professor with the Center for Cyber Strategy and Policy, at the School for International and Public Affairs, at the University of Cincinnati. He serves concurrently as the founding Executive Director of the Prosecution Project (tPP) tracking political violence through the US courts, and a subject matter expert, consultant, ...

Jeremiah Perez-Torres is an Assistant Professor of Crime and Justice Studies at Marist University, a researcher, and a foster youth advocate. He holds a doctorate in criminal justice, and his primary teaching and research interests are at the intersection of extremist propaganda and radicalization. LinkedIn | Bluesky ...

Broderick McDonald is a Research Associate at the University of Oxford’s Emerging Threats Group and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Alan Turing Institute/CETaS working on counterterrorism and AI security. Prior to this, he served as an Advisor to the Government of Canada and was a Fellow with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC). ...

Jessica Sciarone is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the University of Washington. Her research investigates how fringe ideologies and conspiracy theories move from the margins to the mainstream. She examines these processes through a cultural lens, focusing on the role of symbols, national myths, and nostalgia in legitimating radical ideas. Specifically, she examines ...

Sam Jackson is an assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Management and Homeland Security at the University at Albany. His research focuses on antigovernment extremism in the U.S., conspiracy theories, extremism online, and contentious activity on the internet more broadly. His book, Oath Keepers: Patriotism and the Edge of Violence in a Right-Wing Antigovernment Group, ...

Joe Whittaker is a lecturer in Cyber Threats at Swansea University. His primary research interest is online radicalisation. For his doctoral research he created a database of 231 Islamic State terrorists that operated within the United States. He also researches how recommendation algorithms promote extremist content, as well as counter-narratives. He is also interested in ...

Dr Katy Vaughan is a Senior Lecturer in Law and member of the Cyber Threats Research Centre (CYTREC) at Swansea University. Katy’s research focuses on counterterrorism law and policy and the impact of this on the protection and promotion of human rights. Her approach to research is rooted in the belief that these global challenges ...