Pieter Van Ostaeyen
Pieter Van Ostaeyen studied Medieval History with a specialisation in the history of the Crusades (KULeuven 1999) and Arabic and Islamic Studies, focusing on the history of Salah ad-Din al-Ayyubi and the Assassins (KULeuven 2003). Van Ostaeyen has been analysing the conflict in Syria since the outset in 2011. In 2012 he began reporting on foreign fighters and extremist groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar as-Sham, Jund al-Aqsa and The Islamic State. Since September 1st 2016 he is a PhD applicant at the University of Leuven researching the usage of social media in the ideological strife between al-Qaeda and The Islamic State.
This paper critically compares seven widely used risk assessment tools for violent extremism, including the VERA-2R, the ERG 22+, the SQAT, the IR46, the RRAP, the Radar, and the VAF. For each risk assessment method, the authors (1) provide background information about its country of origin, the field of expertise/discipline within which they were created, […]
This study focuses on increasing our understanding of the different pathways converts take during conversion to Islam. It looks specifically at the following research question: “How do the pathways of converts involved in jihadist movements differ from those of converts who are not, in terms of their life prior to Islam, their conversion experience and […]
Introduction The cases considered in Part 1 have illustrated what steps the UK family courts are willing to take in regard to children radicalised at home. In these cases, the courts have demonstrated an ability to be discerning and proactive when faced with new evidence or events impacting on the ongoing welfare of a child. […]