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Members of the EGRN are researchers, practitioners, and public/private sector service providers with a vested interest in understanding the links between gaming(-adjacent) platforms and radicalization, extremism, and preventing/countering violent extremism. If you’re interested in learning more about the Network and our work, please look through the pages here and use the contact form at the bottom of the page to get in touch with us.
We offer several types of membership:
All categories are open to the public to apply for via an online form below. These are reviewed by the EGRN administrators and, if necessary, the Steering Board prior to admission. Criteria for membership includes: a genuine expression of interest in the EGRN, relevant professional or academic experience, a suitable public record and lack of known offences, extremist, terrorist, or criminal activity.
Members also must meet the following requirements and opportunities to remain a publicly listed member of the EGRN:
For Individuals and Students, a commitment to:
For Institutions, a commitment to:
*Becoming a member of the EGRN, whether individual or institutional, does not incur any costs
Our individual membership includes qualified individual researchers, practitioners, public servants, and more (listed below) who actively engage in EGRN outputs and activities.
Galen is a senior researcher and management professional working at the nexus of violent extremism, conflict, and tech issues. His work promotes human rights and positive, sustainable peace. For over 10 years, Galen has worked across 30+ countries to manage projects for humanitarian and development NGOs, United Nations agencies, governments, think tanks, and many of the largest tech platforms. Galen co-founded and jointly convenes the Extremism and Gaming Research Network. He is a Preventing & Countering Violent Extremism (P/CVE) advisor to various clients and is an Associate Fellow at RUSI.
Dr Jessica White is a Senior Research Fellow in RUSI’s Terrorism and Conflict group. Her expertise encompasses counter-terrorism and preventing and countering violent extremism policy and programming, as well as gender mainstreaming strategies. She has over a decade’s worth of experience as a researcher and security practitioner, with a prior career as an intelligence and language analyst in the United States Navy. Jessica conducts research and manages projects on a range of topics including far-right extremism and terrorism, security policy, gender, and terrorism in the media and online. She is also an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism (ICCT).
Petra Regeni is a Research and Project Officer in the Terrorism and Conflict group at RUSI Europe, focusing on the Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) Policy Support programme. Prior to joining RUSI, she worked for the research and analysis department at Hedayah on VE/CVE-related projects and served as a capacity building and third-party M&E officer at Trust Consultancy in Gaziantep, Turkey. Petra holds a BA with Honours in Political Science from Dalhousie University, having also studied international security at the Australian National University, where her dissertation examined the fluctuating interpretation and operationalization of ‘jihad’ among radical Islamist groups and across time. She is also completing her MSc in International Crimes, Conflict and Criminology at the VU Amsterdam with a focus on terrorism and extremism.
Claudia Wallner is a RUSI Associate Fellow and was formerly a Research Fellow in RUSI’s Terrorism and Conflict research group. Her research focuses on preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE), including a multi-year project assessing the evidence base for P/CVE interventions in different thematic areas, as well as contributions to EU-funded P/CVE training and the EU Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN) Policy Support. Aside from her focus on P/CVE, Claudia is also conducting research on radicalisation and recruitment into violent extremism, with a particular focus on far-right extremism and terrorism.
Dr. Rachel Kowert is a research psychologist and the Research Director of Take This. She is a world-renowned researcher on the uses and effects of digital games, including their impact on physical, social, and psychological well-being. An award-winning author, she has published a variety of books and scientific articles relating to the psychology of games and, more recently, the relationship between games and mental health specifically. In 2021, Dr. Kowert was chosen as a member of The Game Awards Future Class, representing the best and brightest of the future of video games.
Linda Schlegel is a PhD student at the Goethe University Frankfurt and a Research Fellow at modus zaD in Berlin. Her research focuses on the nexus between gaming and extremism, gamification, the use of gaming content in P/CVE projects, and storytelling in narrative campaigns against extremism. She has published multiple articles on gaming and (counter-) extremism, including for the Radicalization Awareness Network, GNET, and academic journals.
Dr. Suraj Lakhani is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the University of Sussex. He also holds the roles of Research Fellow at VoxPol, Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, and Core Member of the Extremism and Gaming Research Network. His research interests include the sociology of terrorism, (violent) extremism and the internet, radicalisation, violent extremism and video-gaming, and counter-terrorism policy. He has published a number of peer reviewed journal articles in internationally recognised academic publications, including Critical Studies on Terrorism, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism, Terrorism and Political Violence, and The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, amongst others. He also has a number of book chapters in edited collections. Suraj has acted as primary investigator, both individually and leading recognised international consortiums consisting of a number of renowned world-leading experts on terrorism, on research projects funded by, for example, the Home Office, European Commission, Research England, ESRC, British Academy, and the Leverhulme Trust.
Dr. Erin Saltman is the Director of Programming at the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT). She was formerly Facebook’s Head of Counterterrorism and Dangerous Organizations Policy for Europe, the Middle East and Africa; working with multi-sector stakeholders and building out CVE programs for Facebook in partnership with international NGOs. Dr Saltman’s background and expertise includes both far-right and Islamist extremist processes of radicalization within a range of regional and socio-political contexts. Her research and publications have focused on the evolving nature of online extremism and terrorism, gender dynamics within violent extremist organizations and youth radicalization. Previous roles include Senior Research and Programs positions at Quilliam Foundation and the Institute for Strategic Dialogue (ISD Global), where she remains a Research Fellow.
Dr. Ashton Kingdon is a lecturer in criminology as the University of Southampton. Her research is interdisciplinary combining criminology, history, and computer science to explore the ways in which technology and imagery act as accelerators of radicalisation. Additionally her research analyses the relationship existing between terrorism and climate change.
Katie works on the design and delivery of digital counter-messaging and intervention projects at Moonshot, specialising in the monitoring and evaluation of online at-risk user activity. Her work includes both the violent far right and Islamism across a wide range of geographical regions including North America, Europe and Asia.
Scott is the Tech Lead at the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT). Scott worked for over fifteen years in the technology industry for a variety of companies and in various roles including software engineering, systems and data analysis, and product development management. As an engineer, Scott designed and delivered backend systems, microservices and APIs, developer infrastructure, and platform integrations. Scott specializes in applied research on the intersection of technology, social knowledge, and collective behavior. Scott is a graduate of The College of William & Mary (B.S. in Computer Science) and is currently pursuing a Master’s of Library and Information Science at the University of Washington with a focus on understanding the information science of disinformation and extremism.
Nusrat is the Technology and Programs Associate at the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism (GIFCT). She has worked as a Lead Research Assistant, under Professor Tamar Mitts, at the Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies, Columbia University. She’s also worked as a Consultant to the World Bank, New America Foundation and UNICEF-India. Before completing her Masters in Public Administration from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, Nusrat worked as a Project Manager at India Institute, a non-profit think tank in India. She is an alumna of International Academy for Leadership-Germany and a core member of Women’s Regional Network-India.
Kesa is a Program Research Associate at PERIL. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and a Master of Science degree in Terrorism and Homeland Security from American University. Her work focuses on white supremacy, violent extremism in online spaces, and de-radicalization with a focus on homeland security.
Kesa’s interest in the far-right came after she was the victim of a hate crime. She realized that anyone can be a victim of a hate crime, and these are issues that must be studied to deter them. Since then, she has completed classes and research to develop her expertise in the subject in order to speak authoritatively on the far right. In the future, Kesa hopes to become a distinguished scholar and have a direct impact on policymaking.
George is the founder and CEO of Radio La Benevolencija Humanitarian Tools Foundation (“RLB”), an organization that sets up media projects to teach populations to resist hate speech and incitement to identity-based violence. RLB is one of the first to use long-duration nation-wide broadcast campaigns to mass audiences for the purpose of a citizen “inoculation” against scapegoating and propaganda, as well as teaching trauma healing techniques to wounded populations. Based on Weiss’ experiences working for La Benevolencija Sarajevo, a unique local NGO during the Bosnia War of 1992-95, RLB’s work promotes an agenda of sanity, empathy and mutual help among minorities and individuals who are target of hate speech- and those who want to protect them.
Dr. Ashley A. Mattheis is a scholar of communication. Her work brings together cultural studies, media studies, and visual rhetorical criticism, through the lens of feminist theory to explore the material effects of cultural production and consumption online. Her areas of inquiry include the digital cultures of the ‘Momosphere,’ the Alt-Right, the ‘Manosphere,’ and #Tradwives with a goal of better understanding how gendered logics are used to promote racial hate, discrimination, and to promote violence. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Rachel is an International Project Manager at Moonshot where she oversees projects in Indonesia. Rachel works to build impactful and sustainable mechanisms to prevent intolerance, violent extremism and disinformation online. In these efforts, Rachel and her team designed and developed gamified inoculation tools to deliver media literacy to audiences in Indonesia. The game, called Gali Fakta, has since been awarded a bronze Webby award and second place in the U.S-Paris Tech Challenge.
Elisa is Senior Research Fellow at PIER (The Policing Institute for the Eastern Region at Anglia Ruskin University), where she leads research on extremism and counter-terrorism. Elisa’s research focuses on the liminality between vocal and non-violent extremism and she is currently working on three main areas: extremism in the online space; the shift from vocal extremists to terror offenders in the UK; and the commonalities across different expressions of extremism. Elisa has published extensively on these topics. She is the author of Hizb Ut-Tahrir and the Caliphate (London: Routledge, 2020), editor of the first Routledge Handbook on Non-Violent Extremism (London: Routledge ,2023) and a variety of journal articles, book chapters and research papers.
Mariana is a Senior Campaign Director and Head of Office at Purpose Brazil. She bring over a decade of experience working on urgent social and environmental issues, collaborating with philanthropic organizations, multilateral agencies, corporations, NGOs, faith groups, grassroots networks, activists, and filmmakers from across the globe. Her expertise lies at the intersection of strategic comms, movement building, and storytelling, with a steadfast commitment to amplifying marginalized voices and driving tangible, mensurable change on both a global and hyperlocal scale. She is the principal of LIGA (Laboratório de Impacto Gamer or Gamer Lab), an initiative created by Purpose Brazil in 2022 to occupy the social spaces of gamer cultures in order to promote social participation and combat the advance of extremism.
Chris is a Digital Police Community Support Officer at North Yorkshire Police in the UK. He has 15 years of community policing, and his current role is centred around using digital technology to engage with communities within North Yorkshire, and supporting early intervention and prevention, problem solving and safeguarding the vulnerable. Chris is also a keen gamer and been gaming for over 30 years, he has managed to combine his love for gaming and his role within North Yorkshire Police to produce and implement his idea of ‘Cops v Kids Esports’. The idea of which is to use esports as a way of engaging with children and young people and potentially vulnerable adults.
Chris is the Digital Organizer for Veterans For Peace and the lead organizer for the Gamers For Peace initiative. Chris was a civil affairs operator in the United States Marine Corps from 2004 to 2010 with combat deployments to Fallujah, Iraq and Helmand Province, Afghanistan. Chris is a life-long gamer, who is committed to using digital gaming and hobby spaces to engage antiwar and social justice activism, while combating the predatory recruiting practices of the military.
Mick is the project manager of Good Gaming – Well Played Democracy. After studying social sciences, he started working at the Amadeu Antonio Foundation in Berlin. His main focus is the instrumentalization of German gaming spaces by the far right. Apart from that, he is interested in how narratives are utilized in video games and loves creative open world designs.
Dan Panneton is the Director of Allyship and Community Engagement at FSWC, where he works on policy, advocacy, and allyship. He holds masters degrees in History from Queen’s University and Museum Studies from the University of Toronto and brings experience as a historian and anti-hate researcher to the position. Dan is on the Board of Directors at the Toronto Ward Museum, was the recipient of the Ontario Historical Society’s 2018 Public Programming Award, and led the creation of the Government of Canada Anti-Racism Action Program funded resource Hatepedia at the Neuberger Holocaust Education Centre. He speaks regularly on issues related to Holocaust memory, online hate, antisemitism, and extremism, and his writing has appeared in outlets like The Atlantic, The Globe and Mail, and The Walrus.
Nauval El Ghifari has two years of experience in research and publishing roles, and worked with organizations like LP3ES, MAARIF Institute, DASPR, and I-KHub BNPT. He is currently a contributing writer at K-Hub PVE Community/Peace Generation Indonesia. During his tenure, his responsibilities included extensive research on violent extremism and terrorism in Indonesia, covering the historical evolution from NII and JI to Pro-ISIS Groups. This research significantly contributed to the development of a guidebook by DASPR, intended to provide community advisors in the rehabilitation of individuals impacted by terrorism.
Our institutional members are formal organizations, non-profits, companies, agencies, and other legal entities that engage actively in the EGRN outputs and activities.
Our student members are current students of higher education institutions (undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral) who engage in EGRN outputs and activities.
Khaoula El Khalil is a PhD candidate in Political Science at McGill University. She is also a research advisor at the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence in Quebec, Canada. She is also a member of the CECD (Centre pour l’étude de la citoyenneté démocratique) and Le laboratoire de recherche sur la Technologie, l’Activisme et la Sécurité – LarTAS). Her Master’s thesis focused on the framing done by right-wing influencers in Quebec during the Covid-19 pandemic. Her current research interests are closely related to cyber violence. Specifically, her doctoral thesis will examine the use of discursive opportunities of gamification (i.e. the use of game rhetoric in a non-gaming context) by Canadian far-right groups for propaganda and recruitment purposes.
Thomas is a 4th Year Undergraduate Student pursuing his Bachelor of Arts in Global Political Studies at York University in Canada. His research focuses on the far-right, as well as research interests on the alt-right, the Holocaust and Canadian Politics.
Our supporters are organizations interested in the research and activities of the EGRN, which may have a complementary or enabling role in the Network while not engaging in day-to-day outputs and activities.
