International CVE Research Conference, Wales 2018 Day 2

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Monzer Monzer
PUBLIC RELATIONS AND COMMUNICATION OFFICER

Thursday morning saw the opening of the second day of the International Countering Violent Extremism Research Conference. This day allowed for more in-depth conversations  on specific challenges within the field of CVE.

The first session was specifically focused on the role of women in communities and P/CVE. This initial scope lead participants into a highly engaging conversation that looked not only at the different roles that women play but also the ways in which masculinity and femininity effect radicalization.

The second session was concerned with reintegration and rehabilitation of individuals who have been engaged with radical extremist groups. This session was careful to incorporate approaches from multiple geographic regions and contexts. Participants were able to learn more about projects that were being run in communities, incarceration centers and online. One researcher, for example, presented their analysis of media representations and its role as a primer for community reception for reintegration of individuals.

The second day ended with participants splitting into three breakout session that covered Ethics in P/CVE research, the relationship between research and program design for P/CVE, and the drivers of radicalization. In these sessions participants were encouraged to work in groups of five to seven people to respond to series of questions. These questions guided group conversation to forming recommendations on the main themes of each working group. Ultimately, many of groups presented similar themes after conversation. The main themes were focused on the need for more collaboration at all levels from policy makers to the grass roots, and the need for consolidated methodology within CVE research.

Upon leaving the conference on the second day the atmosphere was one of heightened  collaboration and the desire to find more cross disciplinary partners for common initiatives. Events like this are of the utmost importance for the exchange of best practices and the expansion of new concepts and endeavors by CVE practitioners, researchers and policy makers.