Visiting Fellowship at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism 

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The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) is looking for a Visiting Fellow to support its Current and Emerging Threats programme. Visiting Fellows are researchers who are employed at universities, think tanks or other research organisations and who join ICCT for a period of one month to three months to work on a Policy Brief related to a topic that aligns with their and ICCT’s research interests. (To learn more about previous Visiting Fellows at ICCT, see here.) 

Who we are looking for 

The Visiting Fellow supports ICCT in developing knowledge and insights that are relevant to the research interests outlined above. We welcome applications from early-career professionals as well as more established researchers, but a background in (counter)terrorism / extremism research is required. 

The Visiting Fellow is expected to deliver the following at a minimum: 

  • An ICCT Policy Brief, to be delivered towards the end of the Visiting Fellowship (for more information on the Policy Brief format, see here). 

  • A presentation related to the research project to an audience of Dutch policy makers, to be held towards the end of the Fellowship. 

The topic of the Policy Brief should be closely aligned with the Current and Emerging Threats research priorities mentioned above. We will consider all proposals that fall into the research priorities of the programme  (see below), but we particularly welcome candidates with research proposals that cover either one or more of the following three topics: 

  • Online dimension of extremism;  

  • Utilisation of AI and gaming by extremists;  

  • Role of external actors in development of extremist scenes in the West 

  • In addition, we prefer candidates who are willing to participate in other ICCT-related (research) activities and events, as well as in ICCT’s office life in general. In return, the candidate will find ICCT to be a welcoming and supportive environment that is well-suited for establishing new contacts and a sustainable relation to the organisation. 

Practical matters 

We are looking for a Visiting Fellow who would ideally join us in September or October 2024 and who can stay in or near The Hague for at least one and at most three months. We are expecting the Visiting Fellow to work full-time (38 hours a week) for the duration of the Visiting Fellowship. The Visiting Fellowship is not a salaried position, but ICCT does provide a honorarium of up to €4,000 to help cover the costs of travel, living expenses and daily living costs for the duration of the fellowship.  

Throughout the Visiting Research Fellowship, the selected candidate will work closely with Kacper Rekawek, the ICCT Programme Lead Current and Emerging Threats and Barbara Molas, the programme’s research fellow, to further refine the research topic, timeline, and outputs. 

How to apply 

Interested candidates can apply by submitting: 

  • A cover letter, including a motivation; 

  • A curriculum vitae and a list of publications; 

  • A research proposal with a clear research question (one page maximum). 

All documents should be submitted in English to ICCT via cet@icct.nl, mentioning “CET Visiting Fellowship 2024” in the subject line. The deadline to submit applications is 4 July 2024. Interviews will take place at a mutually agreeable time throughout the Summer. For any questions on the Visiting Fellowship, feel free to contact Barbara Molas (b.molas@icct.nl).  

Who we are 

The International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT) is a think-and-do tank based in The Hague, Netherlands. We provide research, policy advice, training and other solutions to support better counter-terrorism policies and practices worldwide. We also contribute to the scientific and public debates in the fields of counter-terrorism and countering violent extremism, notably through our publications and events. 

We work with various governments, international organisations and international agencies. Our activities are global, with a focus over the past few years on Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 

For more information about ICCT, see here. 

The Current and Emerging Threats programme 

In order to prevent or counter terrorism, we need to understand existing threats and anticipate new ones. Both policymakers shaping CT strategies and front-line practitioners must be informed by evidence-based assessments of the various terrorist and extremist threats. 

To that end, ICCT’s Current and Emerging Threats-programme develops a thorough understanding of the ideologies and worldviews that drive those who commit terrorist or extremist violence. In addition, we assess more broadly what draws people to extremist movements. We pursue these research strands for a variety of ideologies, including jihadism, right-wing extremism, left-wing extremism and anti-institutional extremism. 

But our research in this programme doesn’t end with the motivation of terrorists and extremists. We are not only interested in the ‘why’, but also in the ‘what’ and the ‘how’. Our research is therefore also focused on how terrorists and extremists run their day-to-day operations, including those that take place in online environments. We examine, to give just a few examples, how they recruit new members, how they spread their ideas and how they plan and commit their attacks. 

On the basis of such assessments we advise stakeholders about how to deal with extremist and terrorist actors, and about how to respond to new trends and developments in the threat landscape. We are also alert to the emergence of new movements, ideologies and operational trends and are therefore well-positioned to provide up-to-date solutions to stakeholders. 

 

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