The radicalisation of European citizens towards violent extremism is a potentially devastating process, for the individual, their family, and externally towards society, the state, and the international community. Many parts of the process include a dynamic array of potentially observable behavioural developments, including, but not limited to changes in; attitude, aptitude, beliefs and norms, choice of company (and equally choice of isolation). A variety of risk factors that indicate vulnerability have been identified which not only impact violent extremism but also other key aspects of health and wellbeing (e.g. social marginalisation, identity crisis, significant experiences of loss).
Whilst there may be many potentially observable caveats of violent radicalisation, they are becoming increasingly vague, ambiguous, and inapplicable to the modern forms of terrorist threats to Europe. Therefore, the MINDb4ACT act project seeks to:
- Systematize the available knowledge and expertise to support strategic decision-making
- Enhance interdisciplinary fieldwork on terrorists’ recruiting grounds, socialisation and techniques
- Utilise big data in order to analyse the information related to the communication practices of violent radicalisation
- Improve existing links between academia including non-EU researchers, policy-makers and other stakeholders
MINDb4ACT will contribute to such priorities for the improvement of the current counter-violent extremism policies (CVEs) in the countries represented in the consortium (Austria, Belgium Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and United Kingdom) and the generation of new ones exploring new insights and connecting to LEAs through collaboration ecosystems (innovative, open, participatory, user-centred environments). Our main goal will be to deliver policy recommendations extracted from validated results obtained from four kinds of interventions (research actions, exchanges among LEAs, strategic-policy exercises, training courses and pilot projects) with contributions from technology industry, social innovation and civic engagement schemes.