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NEWS
Students From START’s Global Terrorism Studies Minor Program Wins the National Invent2Prevent Competition
The students won the Invent2Prevent competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Their project, infOasis, is an online toolkit aimed at improving teens' media literacy, which significantly increased users' ability to identify AI-generated images and boosted their media literacy proficiency. The team was awarded a $10,000 prize and achieved substantial engagement through social media, reaching over 17,000 accounts on Instagram and 60,000 social media impressions overall. Read the full story >
Annual Security Studies Program Enriches Macquarie University Post-Graduates with U.S.-Australia Insights
START recently hosted the seventh annual "U.S. Perspectives on Contemporary Security Issues and U.S.-Australia Cooperation" study tour program from June 16-27, 2024. This joint initiative between START and Macquarie University’s Department of Security Studies and Criminology brought over 20 graduate students to UMD. Read the full story >
Researcher Spotlight: Timothy Clancy
START senior researcher Timothy Clancy brings a unique blend of expertise to his role, focusing on the complexities of violence and instability through innovative modeling and simulation (M&S) techniques. At START, he continues to push the boundaries of research on violent radicalization, the terror contagion hypothesis, emerging-state actors in warfare, and integrating AI with computer simulations for modeling social complexity. Read the interview >
PUBLICATIONS
The War in Ukraine: Understanding Western Tools Short of War
Egle Murauskaite, Salma Bouziani, Steve Sin, Rhyner Washburn, and Elizabeth Radziszewski
Edited by: Egle Murauskaite
Extremists of a Feather Flock Together? Community Structures, Transitivity, and Patterns of Homophily in the US Islamist Co-offending Network
Anina Schwarzenbach and Michael Jensen
Strengths and Weaknesses of Open Source Data for Studying Terrorism and Political Radicalization
Gary LaFree and Paul Gill
The Evasion of Liberal Democracy in the Proxy Warfare Narrative
Mansoor Moaddel
This is a selection of recent publications. For a complete list click here.
EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES
Graduate Certificate in Insider Risk Management and Mitigation
Boost your career with our Graduate Certificate in Insider Risk Management and Mitigation program! Gain cutting-edge skills to identify, assess, and mitigate insider threats across various sectors. Learn more and apply by August 9 for Fall 2024 >
Micro-learnings: Targeted Violence Prevention for the Veteran and Military Family Community
START and We the Veterans (WtV) developed 11 micro-learnings for the veteran and military family community to increase awareness of the issue of extremism, to provide research-supported facts about extremism, and to offer actionable solutions for all those who care about veteran communities. Access the resources >
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES
Open-Source RDBMS and Cloud Application Adviser
START’s ICONS Project is hiring a part-time software developer to advise and work with technical staff on a planned web application migration from a proprietary backend stack (Oracle RDBMS and Oracle REST Data Services) to an open source cloud-based solution (AWS, PostgreSQL, Python). Apply today >
START IN THE NEWS
A Stark Look at the Recent History of Political Violence in America
START's Global Terrorism Database is mentioned in this TIME article on how the troubling rise of political violence is shaping the United States.
America’s Grievance-Fueled Politics Poised to Continue After Trump Shooting
START Research Director Michael Jensen is quoted in this Washington Post analysis of how political rhetoric and recent violence reflect America's growing political tensions.
Trump Rally Shooting Comes Amid Rise in Support for Political Violence
START is mentioned in this Guardian article on the incident at a Trump rally that underscores the escalating issue of political violence.
‘Toxic’ Politics Increase Terrorism, Extremism Risk, DHS Official Says
START is mentioned in this article on how increased toxic political discourse is heightening the risk of terrorism and extremism.
The Digital Weaponry of Radicalisation: AI and the Recruitment Nexus
START’s PIRUS data is mentioned in this article on how AI is transforming radicalization and recruitment in the digital age.
Fostering Social Media Literacy: Addressing Terrorism and Extremism in the Digital Age
START’s PIRUS data is mentioned in this article on the role of social media literacy in combating terrorism and extremism in our digital age.
The Crucial Role of Open Source Data In Combating Terrorism: Unveiling GTTAC and GRID
START is mentioned in this article on the power of open-source data in counter-terrorism with insights from GTTAC and GRID.
Fact-Checking CNN’s Presidential Debate: How Accurate Were Joe Biden and Donald Trump?
START’s Global Terrorism Database is mentioned in this article fact-checking the 2024 presidential debate.
Army Stiffens Rules Barring Extremist, Gang Activity Among Soldiers
START is mentioned in this article on the critical steps the Army is taking to tackle extremism and gang affiliations within its ranks
Imbalanced Sentencing in Federal Terrorism Cases: Research
START researchers Michael Jensen and Elena Akers are mentioned in this article on the imbalance of sentencing in Federal terrorism cases.
This is a selection of news clips from the past month. For a complete list of START’s media coverage click 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 policymakers. 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.