Personal Statement
My teaching and research is situated at intersection points between Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology. Over the last three decades I have been studying the impacts of risk on everyday life across a range of domains, including international security, crime, politics, welfare, work and the lived environment.

During the course of my career, I have been motivated to explore the ways in which threats and harms are socially produced. I am interested in how risks are represented, and communicated as well as how societal risks and perceived by individuals and communities. My research also uses a critical lens to focus on the processes and practices through which government and macro institutions manage, mediate and regulate risk.

My work is underpinned by developing fresh and innovative methods and approaches to understand the many ways in which risk and vulnerability are discursively constructed, embedded in policy and deployed in practice across a variety of contexts, including social work, safeguarding of young people, environmental regulation, anti-terrorism legislation and counter radicalisation strategies. Adopting a grounded and hands on approach to the dilemmas, problems and issues arising in these vital areas of practice has involved working closely with agencies and professional practitioners involved in risk management and risk prevention.

In seeking to create and develop impactful research with ‘real-world’ relevance, I have utilised a variety of methodological modes to sustain a multi-dimensional approach. I have made significant contributions and interventions in the fields of social and security policy, criminological studies and sociological theory.

I have an established international profile, delivering lectures, invited talks and papers in Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Oceania. I have authored several books focussed on the societal impacts and effects of risk and my research is published in a range of high impact social science journals, including the British Journal of Sociology, Sociological Review, Sociology, the British Journal of Criminology, Criminology and Criminal Justice, Critical Social Policy and Security Dialogue.

I sit as an elected member on Steering Committees for a variety of public bodies and am appointed on Advisory Boards advising NGOs, social enterprises and civil society organisations. My expertise is reflected in appointment to international funding and assessment panels, including the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Canada), Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (Portugal), the Economic and Social Research Council (UK) and the Council for Science and Technology (Malta).

In my leadership role within the Department of Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology I am Director of People, Culture and the Environment. This position enables me to design and embed policies and strategies that foster and nurture a vibrant, diverse and inclusive research environment. Contributing towards this goal includes leading on and contributing towards a variety of strategic priorities including public engagement, impact enhancement, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion initiatives and Research Exercise Framework (REF) preparation.

Research Overview
Over the course of my career I have been involved in a broad range of research projects stranding across my core areas of interest, including the formation of national security and counter-radicalisation strategy, examining factors facilitating pathways into extremism, safeguarding of young people, environmental activism and regulation of environmental harms.
I am currently involved in a range of research projects that extend my interest in the ways in which risks are defined, deployed, regulated and managed.

As UK Principal Investigator, I lead a 3 Million Euro European Commission funded Research and Innovation Action project, ‘Determining multi-level led causes and testing intervention designs to reduce radicalisation, extremism and political violence in North-Western Europe through social inclusion’ (DRIVE). Collaborating with a consortium of eight partners from across North-Western Europe, ground-breaking multi-methods research, this project involves extensive fieldwork across four sites: the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. The key objective of this major project is to determine European-wide policy solutions that can inform effective counter-radicalisation and de-radicalisation strategies.

Examining the factors that are common in the life biographies and narratives of people that explore and/or adopt extremist ideologies, DRIVE seeks to shed light on the role of social exclusion within radicalisation processes. Prioritising the experiences of young people sporadically exploring and engaging with extremist ideologies - primarily Far Right and Islamist - DRIVE interfaces with practitioners, civil society organisations and policy makers in order to create more robust approaches to safeguarding and techniques for resilience building at the individual, community and national level.

Cross-fertilising with this large-scale European project, I am involved in two cognate UK projects.

The first initiative, in which I act as co-investigator, is Conceptualising, Understanding, and Preventing Mixed Forms of Extremism (CUPMFE). This is an international collaborative project that seeks to bring together academics, practitioners, and civil society actors in order to better understand the problem of individuals immersed in and/or promoting mixed, unclear and unstable forms of extremism. The ambition of the project is both to identify critical knowledge gaps and to explore creative methods and approaches that can be used to better understand the growing trend of individuals engaging with violence fixated online content and exhibiting support for a variety of forms and blends of extremism, including misogynistic/Incel, conspiracy theories, homophobic, anti-LGBTQ, anti-semitic and far right.

The second ESRC funded project involves partnering with the charity ConnectFutures, an organisation that works closely with families and young people affected by violence and extremism. This project is oriented toward understanding interfaces with mixed, unclear and unstable - or ‘conflicted - forms of extremism amongst young people. The study involves engagement with young adults to learn more about the contexts and conditions in which some boys and men turn to a range of extremist perspectives, including misogynistic, Incel, conspiracy theory and far right ideology.

Working with Dr Laura Naegler, I am also engaged in a study investigating contemporary patterns of climate emergency activism. Focussing on the Extinction Rebellion (XR) movement, we are tracing both transformations in modes of activism and exploring the efficacy of dynamic practices, such as the nurturing of ‘regenerative culture’.

I continue to pursue my long-standing research interest around the theoretical uses of risk and the limits to risk theory. Following on from my critique of the risk society thesis, I am keen to contribute further toward the evolution of interdisciplinary theories and approaches to the study of risk.

I am an accomplished PhD supervisor, having seen more than 20 postgraduate researchers through to completion. I welcome applications from doctoral candidates planning to undertake research in any of the following areas: environmental activism; modes of counter terrorism regulation; contemporary forms of extremism; policing and surveillance of Muslim minority groups, counter-radicalisation strategy and advances in risk theory.