Showcasing and Supporting Early Career Researchers

These posters represent innovative work in tackling global security challenges, furthering the mission of IAPSS to advance science and security through collaboration and support. 

See the key highlights for each poster featured below and download the full version for a deeper look into these groundbreaking studies. 

We are proud to promote the work of ECRs and help pave the way for their continued success in making our communities safer and more resilient.

Supporting ECRs

The support of ECRs is crucial for advancing science in security, and IAPSS is committed to fostering their development. As part of these efforts, IAPSS provided travel bursaries to ECRs from Canada, the USA, and the UK, facilitating their participation in the 2024 Megaweek conference hosted by the Canada Centre on Countering Radicalization to Violence. 

This conference was a significant opportunity for networking, knowledge exchange, and professional growth. One ECR noted, “Megaweek inspired ideas for new collaborative projects and greatly contributed to my professional and academic development.”

Megaweek inspired ideas for new collaborative projects and greatly contributed to my professional and academic development.

We are thrilled to see the ECRs returning from Megaweek with fresh perspectives, enhanced networks, and a clear sense of direction for their future work. Their participation in this event not only benefited their own professional development but also contributed to the broader field of CVE.

In addition to supporting conference attendance, IAPSS is committed to ECRs’ professional development through a series of webinars. These webinars feature ECRs presenting their research, alongside sessions focused on effective research design and communication strategies for practitioners and policymakers. This support helps ECRs share their findings with broader audiences and apply their research in practical contexts, bridging the gap between academic research and real-world applications. 

For more information on the Megaweek conference, recent seminars, and to download these posters, please visit crestresearch.ac.uk/iapss and sign up to our newsletter here: www.bit.ly/iapss-news

Cecelia F. Gordon et al. | University of Oklahoma

Navigating Social Media Text Analytics: Overcoming Linguistic Complexity via Advanced Modeling Techniques

This research offers new methodologies to analyse and visualise social media data, aiming to enhance the detection and understanding of terrorist communications online.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:
Through advanced text analytics procedures including hierarchical linear modelling, mixed effects modelling and two-part mixed effects modelling, the technique aims to:

• Enhance the reliability and depth of test analysis in social media and linguistic research.
• This helps to overcome limitations posed by traditional linguistic analysis tools.
• Addresses the inherent complexities of data sparsity, excessive zeros, and positively skewed distributions.

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Emma Theobald et al. | University of Nebraska at Omaha

AI Made Me Do It?: How AI is Used to Enhance Malevolent Creativity Idea Generation

The research aimed to investigate how artificial intelligence (AI) affects the creativity and harm potential of malevolent ideas, focusing on generative AI tools like chatbots and avatars.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:
The study involved 180 participants who were assigned to one of three conditions—avatar AI, chatbot AI, or a control group. Participants generated prank ideas using different AI tools for information gathering or idea evaluation. The study found:

• When using AI for information gathering, the human partner generated more original and higher quality ideas, as opposed to using it for idea generation.
• The use of publicly available AI prevented harmful ideation. Also, AI, used as a tool to gather information or evaluate ideas made ideas more original and harmful rather than relying on AI solely to generate novel threats. 

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Zsófia Baumann | University of Amsterdam / T.M.C. Asser Institute

Communities in Radicalisation and Disengagement: A Comparison between Islamist and Right-Wing Community-Engagement

The study highlights the critical role of community engagement in the radicalisation and disengagement processes, noting differences in approach between Islamist and right-wing extremism due to challenges in defining “community” around the latter.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

• There are similarities in both the radicalisation and disengagement-deradicalisation-reintegration processes into Islamist and right-wing violent extremism but the focus of disengagement efforts (informal or formal) seems to be on different levels.
• Difference in approach could be due to the fact that a “community” is more difficult to delineate around a right-wing extremist, while Muslim communities are often relied upon in the fight against Islamist violent extremism.

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Phoebe Mullis & Julia Mullert | T.M.C. Asser Institute

Weaponising Womanhood: A Comparative Analysis of Rhetoric on Female Radicalisation in Far-Right and Jihadist Groups

The study compares the rhetoric, themes, narratives, and psychological tactics used by far-right and jihadist groups to attract and mobilise women, with the goal of informing counter-radicalisation strategies.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

• Both far-right and jihadist groups are seeing increased participation by women, which poses a significant threat due to their roles in supporting group activities and recruitment efforts.
• Women in these groups take on roles such as wives and mothers, legitimisers, propagandists, facilitators, and occasionally combatants. Their involvement is crucial in maintaining group cohesion, spreading propaganda, and supporting the group’s operations.
• The research suggests several practical outcomes including tailored rehabilitation programs, early prevention efforts by identifying risk factors, informing policy development, improving content moderation online, developing effective counter-narratives, and enhancing community resilience.

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Bella Orpen | Cardiff University

Down the Rabbit Hole: 5 Pathways to High Conspiracy Mentality 

This thesis examines the diverse pathways leading to and from conspiracy mentality, using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis which utilises set theory to compare qualitative style case analysis with variable orientated quantitative analysis.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

• Conspiracy theories can severely affect public health, contribute to violent extremism, and harm the economy.
• Contrary to the assumption that conspiracy theory believers are a homogeneous group, research reveals considerable diversity. There are multiple pathways leading to and away from conspiracy mentality, and the same conditions may not consistently serve as risk or protective factors.
• Strong religiosity acts as a multiplier both towards and away from conspiracy beliefs dependent on the direction of the other conditions, while paranoia is an important condition in 4 out of 5 pathways for high conspiracy mentality.

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Erin Lawlor | CENTRIC / La Trobe University

My Neighbour the Terrorist: A Discussion with the Communities we ask Convicted Terrorist Offenders to Re-integrate into and How we can Increase Resilience in them

This early research explores the radicalisation process and evaluates the effectiveness of de-radicalisation and rehabilitation practices, aiming to provide recommendations for improving public education and policy to combat radicalisation effectively.
KEY HIGHLIGHTS:

• It will examine the effectiveness of current de-radicalisation practices, assessing how well they reintegrate radicalised individuals into society.
• The study highlights a significant gap in public awareness and education regarding the current threat of terrorism and the effectiveness of criminal justice in handling radicalised individuals.
• The research will look at the need for adequate community resources and support systems to aid the rehabilitation of radicalised individuals, preventing reoffending and ensuring successful reintegration.

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