David Yuzva Clement

Dr. David Yuzva Clement is an adjunct research professor and contract lecturer in the School of Social Work, Carleton University (Canada), Associate Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (Netherlands), co-founder of the Inter-Faith Peace Initiative Bonn (Germany), and research advisor at the Canada Centre for Community Engagement and Prevention of Violence (Canada). He earned his Doctorate in Religious Studies from the University of Erfurt (Germany) by completing an interdisciplinary qualitative study on social work and countering violent extremism which examined interventions, knowledge, and attitudes of social workers practicing with youth at-risk of radicalization, and with youth who have become involved in religiously motivated violent extremism.  David’s interdisciplinary program of research centers on the improvement of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) through the development and evaluation of effective multi-sectoral, clinical, and educational programs, empirically demonstrating the importance of community-based and psychosocial approaches and services as key components of P/CVE. David’s research also focuses on advancing knowledge on children, youth, and families who are affected by violent extremism and extremist ideologies, as well as the interplay between community organizing, civic education, and democracy. Rethinking the intersection between social work and P/CVE in particular, David’s research establishes a nuanced understanding of contemporary challenges and effective solutions for policy and practice.

Prior to receiving his doctorate in 2018, David contributed more than twelve years of research, community development, and social work practice within Germany, Turkey, Israel and Palestine. More recently, David successfully established and developed an evidence-based education initiative on P/CVE in the Faculty of Social Work at Akkon University (Germany) in 2022. In the following year, David was awarded a visiting fellowship at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (Netherlands) and led an EU-funded interdisciplinary policy support research paper for the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) concerning exposure to online extremist content among children and multi-stakeholder prevention, education, and sociotechnical safeguards. In 2024, David was appointed as an member of the editorial board of the peer review journal Perspectives on Terrorism. Since 2019, David has advised the Government of Canada on P/CVE in local, national and international contexts.

David has maintained and continues to develop international collaborations and research partnerships between academic and civil society organizations, think tanks as well as government departments in Canada, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and West Europe with the aim to create plausible and multi-sectoral solutions to real-world impacts concerning societal pressures and transnational challenges. Dr. David Yuzva Clement has presented his research to academics, practitioners, and government officials around the world, and has published his work in English and German in peer review journals including Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression, Deviant Behavior, and Central European History, and in several international peer-reviewed edited volumes. He holds a PhD and MA in Religious Studies from the University of Erfurt (Germany), obtained an Master of Social Work (MSW) from Wilfrid Laurier University (Canada), and received his undergraduate degree in Social Work from the Catholic University of Applied Sciences (Germany).

Recent publications (selected)

Hutchinson, J., & Yuzva Clement, D. (Forthcoming). Right-wing Extremist Threat Landscape in Canada: Avenues for Coalescence and Transnationalisation. In R. Gunaratna, & K. Pethő-Kiss (Eds.), A Research Agenda for Far-Right Violence and Extremism. Edward Elgar Publishing.

Gheorghe, R. M., & Yuzva Clement, D. (2023). ‘It's time to put the copes down and get to work’: a qualitative study of incel exit strategies on r/IncelExit. Behavioral Sciences of Terrorism and Political Aggression. https://doi.org/10.1080/19434472.2023.2276485

Gheorghe, R. M., & Yuzva Clement, D. (2023). Weaponized Autism: Making Sense of Violent Internalized Ableism in Online Incel Communities. Deviant Behavior. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2023.2268253

Evans, J., Steinberg, S., Yuzva Clement, D., & Carron, D. (2023). Transatlantic Hate: People, Pathways, and Networks Between Germany and Canada in the 20th and 21st Century. Central European History, 56(4), 513-534. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008938923000432

Yuzva Clement, D., Kiefer, J., Hassan, G., & King, M. (2022). Countering Radicalization to Violence in Canada: A Multi-Sector Perspective. In R. Ceylan, & M. Kiefer (Eds.), Der islamische Fundamentalismus im 21. Jahrhundert (pp. 325-345). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-37486-0_16

Yuzva Clement, D. (2022). Post-Migrant Dynamics of Islam: Muslim Youth and Salafism in Germany. In S. Zarrabi-Zadeh, T. K. Gugler, & A. Omerika (Eds.), Dynamics of Islam in the Modern World (pp. 141-174). Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004512535_008

Yuzva Clement, D., Ostwaldt, J., & Nadar, M. (2022). Religiös begründete Radikalisierung und religiös-rigoristische Kindererziehung als Herausforderungen für die Kinder- und Jugendhilfe. Jugendhilfe, 60(6), 502-508.

Yuzva Clement, D., Wolf, A., & Walkenhorst, D. (2021). Zwischen Online-Lebenswelt und extremistischer Gewalt: „Incels“ als Herausforderung für Pädagogik und Soziale Arbeit. In T. Damberger, I. Schell-Kiehl, & J. Wahl (Eds.), Pädagogik, Soziale Arbeit und Digitalität (pp. 77-91). Beltz Juventa.

Yuzva Clement, D. (2020). Offene Kinder- und Jugendarbeit im Kontext des Salafismus. Soziale Arbeit und Radikalisierungsprävention. Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-30746-2

Schermaier-Stöckl, B., Nadar, M., & Yuzva Clement, D. (2018). Die nächste Generation? Religiös-rigoristische Erziehung im salafistischen Kontext als Herausforderung für die erzieherische Kinder- und Jugendhilfe. FORUM Jugendhilfe, (3), 44-53.