A consortium of researchers dedicated to improving the understanding of the human causes and consequences of terrorism

START News: Boko Haram; Winter Courses; Commercializing Social Science Research

FEATURED RESEARCH
 

Boko Haram: An Assessment of Strengths, Vulnerabilities, and Policy Options

START Research Director Amy Pate recently completed research on the Nigeria-based terrorism group Boko Haram. Her project included a field study wherein she conducted 46 interviews with government officials, diplomatic sources, and civil society actors. Read more.

U.S. Attitudes toward Terrorism and Counterterrorism

A new study from START examines American attitudes toward terrorism and government counterterrorism initiatives. The report was conducted over a two-year period which included the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings. Read more.​


DISCUSSION POINT
 

An End to Business as Usual: An Open Letter to Researchers on Commercializing Social Science Research

START Commercialization Director John Sawyer writes this month’s Discussion Point, about finding revenue sources for social science research, diversifying funding streams, and protecting intellectual property. Read more.


 

Implementing Intelligence-led Policing: An Application of Loose-Coupling Theory

Journal of Criminal Justice

Carter, Jeremy G., and Scott W. Phillips, S. Marlon Gayadeen

How Disaster Information Form, Source, Type, and Prior Disaster Exposure Affect Public Outcomes: Jumping on the Social Media Bandwagon

Journal of Applied Communication Research

Liu, Brooke F., and Julia Fraustino, Yan Jin

Causes and Consequences of Terrorism in Africa

The Oxford Handbook of Africa and Economics: Context and Concepts

Elu, Juliet, and Gregory Price


START Offers New Winter Courses

Geospatial Analysis for Terrorism (BSST339F) and Social Network Analysis (SNA) for Terrorism (BSST399N) now open for registration. Read more or Register now.

From J. Crew to Research Assistant

Mackenzie Harms began her career in retail before transitioning to terrorism research. Read more.

A Summer for the Birds

Before getting into counterterrorism, START intern Claire Weber spent a summer as an avian phlebotomist. Read more.

Institute for International Peace Building Works to Reform Ex-Terrorists

A story on Malaysia’s efforts to prevent its citizens’ from traveling abroad to join violent extremist militant groups like ISIL. Read more.

UMD Honors Students Create Continuing Education Unit for START

QUEST team develops model for research transition. Read more.

Interns Take Advantage of End-of-Semester Presentations

GTD team presents on terrorist groups that have denounced or distanced themselves from ISIL. Read more.


EVENTS

Free Online Course, “Understanding Terrorism and the Terrorist Threat.” Begins Jan. 12.

International Non-Conventional Threat CBRNe USA conference. April 29 – May 1 at University of Maryland.


OPPORTUNITIES

Job Opportunity: Research Software Engineer. Deadline January 21.

Northeastern University Professorship Opening. Deadline January 15.

Call for Papers: NCT CBRNe USA 2015 Conference. Deadline December 31.

Call for Papers: Studies in Conflict and Terrorism. Deadline January 15.

JTSA Call for Papers: The Global Threat: Emerging Issues in National Security. Deadline January 15.


STUDENT BLOG

 

START Intern Develops Skills to Excel in Counterterrorism Research by Oved Lobel

Intern’s Opportunities to Study Conflict Abroad Lead to Interest in Terrorism Research by Julia Marra


START IN THE NEWS

GTI Report

Last month, the Institute for Economics and Peace released its annual Global Terrorism Index (GTI) report. The following are highlights from media coverage of the report:

CNN: Taliban halted after slaughtering at least 137, mostly children, in Pakistan school

CNN cites START data in an article about the recent Taliban attack on a Pakistani school. Read more.

Ars Technica: State-sponsored or not, Sony Pictures malware “bomb” used slapdash code

An article from Ars Technica about the cyber-attack on Sony Pictures features a section about a 2009 study by START Senior Researcher Steve Sin. Read more.

Huffington Post: The Hunt for Terrorist Leaders: Is the Effort Worth It?

START researcher Dr. Arie Kruglanski authors a blog post for Huffington Post on countering violent extremism. Read more.

 

This is a selection of news clips from the past month.
A complete list of START’s media coverage can be found
here.

SUPPORTING START

 
Help Support START Research and Education
The START Consortium is dedicated to generating knowledge of the human causes and consequences of terrorism. Applying rigorous standards to both research and education, START seeks to illuminate one of the most highly politicized and understudied phenomena in the social sciences for students, practitioners and policy-makers. Funded primarily through research grants to date, START is seeking to generate an endowment that will provide the flexibility and autonomy to ensure that it can continue to serve as an objective source of data and empirically based analysis into the future.  To donate, or for more information, please click here.