Bank of Experts

Jason Ipe is Chief of Operations for the Global Center. He is responsible for oversight of all programmatic activities across the organization. He has over a decade of experience developing and managing research, international programming, and technical assistance on countering terrorism and violent extremism. Before joining the Global Center, he worked previously analyzing terrorist and illicit financial flows with the Global Financial Integrity program of the Center for International Policy. He holds a BA in international relations from Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut and an MA in international security policy from the Elliott School of International Affairs at The George Washington University in Washington DC.

Full Professor at the School of Political Science of the University of Diego Portales (UDP); Senior Researcher of the Political and Social Conflicts Area and Researcher in charge of the Observatory of Multidimensional Conflicts of the Center for Studies on Social Conflicts and Cohesion (COES). D. in Political Science from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, he was President of the Chilean Political Science Association from 1998 to 2000, and has been a visiting professor at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Pablo Neruda Chair of Chilean Studies) and at the Institute of Political Studies of Grenoble. His research topics include political elites and their legitimacy, political and institutional charisma, the sociology of the political field, capital and resources in political competition, and the politics of memory. Mr. Joignant is an associate member of the UNESCO-PREV Chair.

Michael King is the Director of research at the Organization for the Prevention of Violence. He is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. He held several positions in the field of counter-terrorism; most recently as senior research advisor at the Canada Centre for Community Engagement and the Prevention of Violence, housed within Public Safety Canada, where he helped develop the Government of Canada’s National Strategy on Countering Violence Extremism, and helped establish a community of practice for professionals who work with individuals and families affected by violent extremism. Previously, Mr. King has done contract work for community-based NGOs, think tanks, and Canada’s Department of Defence and Ministry of Public Safety. He completed a PhD in social psychology from McGill University, where he researched how individuals legitimize the use of terrorism.

Director of the German Institute for Radicalization and Deradicalization Studies (GIRDS); Editor-in-Chief of the open access journal Journal on De-radicalization; Fellow of the Program on Extremism at George Washington University. He also advises the Ministry of the Interior of Baden-Württemberg, Germany, on the direction of statewide CVE activities. Mr. Koehler studied religion, political science and economics at Princeton University and the Free University of Berlin. After completing the postgraduate Master of Peace and Security Studies program at the University of Hamburg, he specialized in topics such as terrorism, radicalization, and deradicalization. He has worked as a deradicalization and family counselor in multiple programs and has developed several methodological approaches to deradicalization, especially family counseling programs, around the world. Dr. Koehler is an associate member of the UNESCO-PREV Chair.

Simon Kuany is a Specialist in the Prevention of Violent Extremism through Education at UNESCO’s Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) in Iraq. An international nomad from South Sudan, Mr. Kuany completed his secondary education in Kenya while a refugee. He received a joint scholarship from the Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Symbiosis International University, where he earned his MBA and gold medal. Self-taught in global geopolitics and philosophy, he is trained in inquiry-based education and critical thinking. He is currently involved with #YouthWagingPeace and Talking Across Generation on Education (TAGe). Mr. Kuany is also a trainer with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Young Peacebuilders program for the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) regions. His book, The Enlightened Darkness (2017), is an intimate meditation on the causes and consequences of the civil war in Sudan. Proceeds from his book support the education of orphans in South Sudan. Kuany is an associate member of the UNESCO-PREV Chair.

Holder of a doctorate in political science and international relations from Sciences Po, Pascale Laborier is a full professor in Political Science; co-director of the Master 2 Political Science; first vice-president of the University of Paris Lumières in Nanterre; chair of the Political Science Department at the University of Paris Ouest Nanterre, France; scientific coordinator of the Scientific Committee on Radicalization Processes (COSPRAD) within the Athena Alliance. She is a member of the International Scientific Council of the journal Violence: An International Journal, and a member of the InSPIREurope Scientific Committee of the Scholars at Risk network.  From 2005 to 2010, she was director of the Marc Bloch Center of the Mixed Units of French Research Institutes Abroad (UMIFRE) in Berlin. Ms. Laborier’s publications focus on public action and police or cameral sciences. Since 2016, she has been on a thematic research mobility on the history of forced academic migration that focused specifically on the Tupamaros and Uruguayan refugees welcomed in France. From 2015 to 2017, she was an advisor – humanities and social sciences to the State Secretariat for Research and Higher Education and was in charge of issues related to the transfer of research to public policies. Ms. Laborier is an associate member of the UNESCO-PREV Chair.

Stéphane Leman-Langlois is Full Professor at the École de travail social et de criminologie of Université Laval. Member of the Intersectoral Team on the Prevention of Social Polarization and Radicalization Leading to Violence of the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale, Mr. Leman-Langlois is Chairholder of the Chaire de recherche du Canada en surveillance et construction sociale du risque. He is Director of the Centre sur la sécurité internationale (CSI) and Co-Director of the Observatory on Radicalization and Violent Extremism (OSR). His research has focused on domestic and international terrorism and right-wing extremism. Mr. Leman-Langois has a doctorate in criminology from the University of Toronto since 2000 and a postdoctoral degree in criminology from the University of Montréal since 2003. Mr. Leman-Langlois is an associate member of the UNESCO-PREV Chair.

Lasse Lindekilde is professor at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University. He holds a PhD from the European University Institute. His research is focused on political mobilization, violent radicalisation, online political hostility and the implementation and effects of counter-terrorism policies and communication, and interventions to prevent online political aggression. He has published more than 40 articles and book chapters in this domain. His work is interdisciplinary linking insights from political science, political sociology, criminology, social psychology and communication studies. Methodologically he has published work building on both field work, survey research and experimental techniques. His research is funded by, amongst others, the European Commission, the Minerva Research Initiative and the Danish Research Council. He has close collaborations with authorities at a local, national and international level.

David is a senior research fellow at Leeds Law School, Leeds Beckett University. His research areas include terrorism and security, extremism, policing and human rights, with his interest in these areas emanating from his previous career as a police office in the UK. His work has been widely published work covering a doctrinal legal as well as a socio-legal analysis in a comparative study of legislation, case reports and policies in various states’ jurisdictions. He is a member of the UK’s Counter Terrorism Advisory Network and an external member of UK Parliament’s All-Party Parliamentary Committee on a Fit and Healthy Childhood where David providing advice on how extremism impacts on children and young people. David is assisting the Northern Ireland Assembly on the introduction of hate crime legislation and a strategy to prevent persons from being drawn towards extremism and sectarian groups.

A graduate in philosophy and teaching from the American University of Beirut (AUB), Amer Y. Makarem is a blind Lebanese citizen. Director of the Youth Association of the Blind (YAB) based in Lebanon since 1989, he develops projects for the inclusion of the blind in public and private schools. Mr. Makarem is a pioneer advocate and practitioner in promoting inclusive education in Lebanon and the region. A professor of special education at the University of Saint Joseph (USJ), he is also the coordinator of the Network for Inclusion in Lebanon, a board member of the Asian Blind Union, and a member of the executive committee of the World Blind Union. His latest publication, released in 2019, is a guide on training teachers and special educators to include and support students with visual impairments in inclusive schools. Dr. Makarem is an associate member of the UNESCO-PREV Chair.