King's College London
King's College London is one of the top 30 universities in the world (2011/2012 QS international world rankings), the Sunday Times 'University of the Year 2010/11' and the fourth oldest university in England. A research-led university based in the heart of London, it has nearly 23,500 students (of whom nearly 9,000 are graduate students) from 150 countries and approximately 6,000 employees. KCL has an outstanding reputation for providing world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. The College is in the top seven UK universities for research earnings and has an overall annual income of nearly £450 million.
The Department of War Studies is a unique, world-leading forum for the multi-disciplinary study of war and conflict. For fifty years its scholars and students have engaged with the causes, conduct and consequences of warfare as geopolitics have shifted from Cold War and nuclear confrontation into 'war on terror', counter-insurgency and 'peace-building'. One of its great strengths is a combination of high quality academic scholarship with policy-relevant work.
Role in the project
The Department of War Studies has extensive, complementary experience in the fields of radicalisation studies and risk communication at an international level of expertise. As such, it has responsibility for the development of communication measures requirements in support of strategies to counter lone actor extremism. It also has significant dissemination responsibilities, being tasked with organising a high-profile conference, which will bring together all interested parties around the topic of lone actor extremism and the findings of the PRIME project.
Investigators
Dr. Brooke Rogers is Reader in Risk and Terrorism and Director of the MA in Terrorism, Security and Society in the Department of War Studies at KCL. Dr. Rogers is a social psychologist affiliated with over £11 million GBP of research funding drawn primarily from the EPSRC/ESRC, European Commission (i.e. PIRATE, CIE Toolkit, PRACTICE; Pathways into Violent Radicalisation) and UK Government departments. Her projects investigate public and professional responses to high impact, extreme events with a focus on CBRN terrorism.
Dr. Julia Pearce is a Research Fellow in the Department of War Studies at King’s. Her research focuses on the impact of perceived moral, cultural and health threats on behaviour. Her recent work uses social psychological theories of risk perception and health behaviour to examine the impact of risk and crisis communication on risk perception and behaviours, with a particular focus on extreme events (e.g. chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) terrorism). As a consequence of her research on the impact of risk and crisis communication on risk perception and health behaviours, she has been invited to join a number of advisory boards including the Cabinet Office National Risk Assessment Behavioural Science Expert Group and the Public Health England ERDG Psychosocial and Behavioural Issues Sub-group.
David Parker is a Research Associate in the Department of War Studies at King’s College London. Prior to joining the PRIME project David’s research has focused on U.S.-Russian relations and International Relations Theory. His papers have been published in European Security, The RUSI Journal and The International Spectator. David also contributes to the strategic implementation of the UK Government’s Counter-Terrorism Strategy in London.
